Constructive Criticism?

François-Marie Arouet better known by the pen name Voltaire (Yes, François-Marie is a man's name!)

   The novel Candide by Voltaire is a satirical criticism of European society in Voltaire's age. As I read the first few pages, I noticed it contains all of the four elements of satire: hyperbole, irony, absurdity and target. The novel is full of it, and its tone makes anyone doubt whether he is talking seriously or sarcastically. At every point of the book, you have to stop and think: Was that a true fact or a clever joke? Voltaire used these strategies to criticize the errors he saw in society. 

   For me, the element that I can most recognize in the novel is irony. He uses irony to criticize Dr. Pangloss' ideas. The narrative takes such unexpected and ironical turns that they are hard to believe. For example: How can such an "educated" and correct man like Dr. Pangloss, teaching to the most influential family of Westphalia, end up with an STD from the West Indies and sleeping in Holland's streets? Not only this, but the grandest irony of them all is that this happened in what he explained as "the best of all possible worlds". 

  After some research, I learned that this view of the world is called Leibnizian Optimism, which consists of believing that all is for the best because God is a benevolent deity. This view was taught by Dr. Pangloss to the Thunder-ven-tronckh children as their tutor. As said before, it is just simply ironic that a man who firmly believed in this would end up so bad off in the "best of all worlds".

   Another criticism I enjoyed was the part about war. He starts by implying that war is more about displaying one's power rather than using it. He says:

Those who have never seen two well-trained armies drawn up for battle, can have no idea of the beauty and the brilliance of the display. Bugles, fifes, oboes, drums, and salvoes of artillery produced such a harmony as Hell itself could not rival. (page 25)

   In this scene, Voltaire makes both armies look like just marching bands instead of brutal armies. Voltaire takes out the seriousness of battle and mocks them by stating this. He then goes on to say that all the casualties of the Bulgar-Abar war were just the result of a "heroic butchery" (page 25), and sarcastically says that the war liberated the world from nine or ten thousand villains. One can clearly see Voltaire's views on war. He thinks it is a dumb tradition with no clear or effective results, because he later says that after all the killing, both Kings were celebrating. 
   He later describes with brutal detail the image of Candide going through some burned down villages which were results of the war. Afterwards, Pangloss tells Candide that the Baron's country seat was burned down, but that everything was all right because it was avenged by burning another town. This gives us an idea of what Voltaire portrays about war. He hints that it is the pure degradation of the human spirit.