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Exaggeration is another way Voltaire satirizes the idea that we live in the "best of all possible worlds." Satire often works by exaggeration: making something unreal -- exaggerating it -- exposes it to ridicule, and if something is ridiculed, it becomes an obje

Exaggerating a situation turns it into an object of ridicule instead of awe, and instead of confirming a belief, makes fun of it.

This fun is best illustrated by the physical torture many of the characters endure in the novel. For instance, early in the novel, Candide must endure " ." Obviously such punishment is a comic exaggeration, yet its outlandishment exposes the falsity of Pangloss’s optimism. The excess of the punishment only makes the sentence more ridiculousness. The existence of flogging itself proves that our world is not the best. More broadly, the idea of "true love" is mocked by the exaggerated persecutions of Cunegonde, including stabbing, rape, and servitude,

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Exaggeration is another way Voltaire satirizes the idea that we live in the "best of all possible worlds." Exaggerating a situation turns it into an object of ridicule, and instead of confirming a belief, makes fun of it. This fun is best illustrated by the physical torture many of the characters endure in the novel. For instance, early in the novel, Candide must endure " ." Obviously such punishment is a comic exaggeration, yet its outlandishment exposes the falsity of Pangloss’s optimism. The excess of the punishment only highlights the ridiculousness of the sentence itself. The suggestion here is that the existence of flogging itself proves that our world is not the best. More broadly, the idea of "true love" is mocked by the exaggerated persecutions of Cunegonde, including stabbing, rape (at various hands), and servitude. If we truly lived in the best of all possible worlds, lovers would not be separated, and women would not be subjected to such horrific ____. Exaggerated situations like these support Voltaire’s belief that far from being the best of possible worlds, our world is, often, the worst.

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Exaggeration is another way Voltaire satirizes the idea that we live in the "best of all possible worlds." Exaggerating a situation turns it into an object of ridicule, and instead of confirming a belief, mocks it. This mocking is best illustrated by the physical torture many of the characters endure in the novel. For instance, early in the novel, Candide must endure being "flogged thirty-six times by the entire regiment" (523). Obviously such punishment is a comic exaggeration -- no one could survive such treatement -- yet its excess exposes the hollow core of Pangloss’s optimism. The punishment only highlights the ridiculousness of the sentence itself: such a brutal flogging would not exist in "the best of all possible worlds." An extended exaggeration occurs in the form of Cunegonde's travails. The idea of "true love" is mocked by her hyperbolic persecutions: stabbing, rape (at various hands), and servitude. Of course, if we truly lived in the best of all possible worlds, lovers would not be separated, and women would not be subjected to such horrific treatment. These exaggerated situations mock the exaggeration of Pangloss’s statement. To assume that a world filled with brutality, natural disasters, and suffering is "the best" is itself a gross exaggeration: in his descriptions of the historical reality of the world, which exist outside of the "alternative facts" of Pangloss, lies Voltaire’s most wicked use of satire. Instead of being the best of possible worlds, the exaggerations reveal a world beset with calamity and violence.

Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet de. Candide, or Optimism. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. D, ed. Sarah Lawall, et al. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. 520-80. Print.

Exaggeration is another way Voltaire satirizes the idea that we live in the “best of all possible worlds.” Oxford English Dictionary defines exaggeration as “a statement or description that makes something seem larger, better, worse or more important that it really is.” People exaggerate facts when make a satire to emphasize the fault of people or things. Consider, for example, an all too typical line from an exasperated friend: “I called you a hundred times last night! Where were you?!” The exaggerated number of calls (no one actually calls a hundred times) is used to make your point that your friend was supposed to pick up the phone when you really needed to talk. In Candide, Voltaire uses exaggeration in many instances to satirize the optimism. Like the friend that's annoyed with you, he uses large numbers. Consider Voltaire's dismissive, offhand description of a battle. In short two sentences -- "First the cannons battered down about six thousand men on each side; then volleys of musket fire removed from the best of worlds about nine or ten thousand rascals who were cluttering up its surface. The bayonet was a sufficient reason for the demise of several thousand others" (523) -- “thirty thousand men or so” (523) men are killed. Even the "or so" illustrates lack of concern for human life: the actual number doesn't matter just as their lives don't matter. By exaggerating number of causalities, Voltaire focuses readers on the world's cruelty to satirize the faulty notion of optimism.

De Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet. Candide, or Optimism, The Norton Anthology of World Literature Vol. D, ed. Sarah Lawall. W.W. Norton & Company. New York.

Exaggeration is another way Voltaire satirizes the idea that we live in the "best of all possible worlds." After getting tormented for almost the entire book I think he was just really poking fun at "the best of all possible worlds" idea. One of the ways he shows this is when Candide is tricked into forcibly joining the army. After he joins the army he is mercilessly beaten. He is flogged for his wrongdoings and punished more than once. The story says " At the court marshall they asked which he preferred, to be flogged thirty-six times by the entire regiment, or to recieve summarily a dozen bullets in the brain"."That made four-thousand strokes." Candide also has the over-the-top notion of getting to Cunegonde by any means necessary. Cunegonde was taken out of the castle, sold into slavery, mistreated by all of her owners, used as a love interest, and finally at the end reunited with Candide. Also there is the character trait of Brother Pangloss whereas he can't seem to change his opinion because of his post. He says "I am still of my first opinion, for after all I am a philosopher, and it would not be right for me to recantsince Leibnizcould not possibly be wrong."

Arouet de Voltaire, Francois-Marie. "Candide." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. D. Eds. Sarah Lawall, et al. New York: W.W. Norton & Company 2002. 520-580. Print.

Exaggeration is another way Voltaire satirizes the idea that we live in the “best of all possible worlds.” Voltaire uses exaggerated excess in the land of Eldorado, to make it seem like the most desirable destination and than satirizes the idea of faith and religion in his "heaven". He uses the opulence and abundance to make Eldorado a utopia with unbelievable wealth and exalted people. This starkly contrasts the brutality and suffering in the real world Candide is in. Voltaire uses Eldorado to satirize religion and blind faith. Upon meeting a one hundred seventy-two year old man, Candide and Cacambo are whisked into a land that is physically magnificent and is described as a place where red sheep fly, and as the old man told Candide "we are all priests; the king and all the heads of the household sing formal psalms of thanksgiving every morning, and five or six thousand voices accompany them. (549)." This exaggeration satirizes Voltaire's opinion of the place of religion in man's life. If as the old man states, "we are all priests" he is saying that everyone is empowered with a direct relationship with God, it points out the hypocrisy of priests in real life being the only link to God. When Candide delights in the "palace of sciences, in which he saw a gallery two thousand paces long, entirely filled with mathematical and physical instruments (550)", it is Voltaire's commentary of a time of enlightenment, while substituting buildings of science for cathedrals, he is showing that in this utopian world, science and education take the place of blind faith in religion. The extravagance of Eldorado serves as a foil to the real world the characters live in and a vehicle for Voltaire to create a heaven-like place that does not operate with the conventional value on religion. If Eldorado is created as the ultimate destination where religion does not dictate the law, and the real world is where religion is practiced and is incredibly brutal and unfair, how can the real world be the "best possible world".

Voltaire. "Candide." The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vol. D. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York, New York: WW Norton & Company. 2002. 549-550. Print

Instead of looking at the entire paragraph and throwing up your hands in frustation, take it step by step.

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