Candide: Difference between revisions

The religion of [[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/Candide#Candide]] and [[Voltaire]] is Deism, an eighteenth century belief that God made the universe, but then left it to run on its own, rather like a watchmaker who makes a clock and then leaves it to run on its own. Voltaire thought there were rational grounds for believing that the universe was created and governed by "a necessary eternal supreme intelligent being....Although Voltaire did not think one could prove the existence of God, he thought the order and harmony of the universe strongly suggested that it had been created by a supreme intelligence, not by random events." (Ayer, 110)  

As we all know the world of ''Candide'' is full of absurd/ridiculous events and the existence of the mysterious land, El Dorado and its myth of being "a land of gold somwhere in Central or South America" (406) suggests that there could be something better if men were more in harmony with the nature of the world and of God. God is rather like the Lord described by the [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Dervish] (the 172 year old man, p.406) who sends a ship full of goods to another country, but doesn't worry about the condition of the mice in the hold. But the ship is in good condition, and the voyage has a purpose, to the lord, if not to the mice.  

"So, even if this world seems utterly mad, no suggestion exists that it lacks a final arbiter of order and sanity. Even the most pessimistic figure, [[http://litmuse.maconstate.edu/litwiki/index.php/Candide#Martin]], never denies God, espousing rather a philosophy according to which the Devil seems on level terms with Him." (Mason, 64)