The nature of man in the story of Candide by Voltaire is portrayed in a very satirical way. Voltaire satirizes human life and ways of living in various ways. He basically does this by depicting three main themes: the extreme optimism of Candide and his teacher Pangloss, the hypocritical ways of religion, and the power of money. All of these themes reveal the strange and bizarre spirit of man.
It is the belief of Candide and his teacher, Pangloss, that "everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." This is a very simple philosophy of excessive optimism that has influenced many philosophers in the past. It is thought that anything that happens, whether appearing to be good or bad, happens for the best no matter what the case. Pangloss and his student Candide feel that they live in a perfect world with no evils present. The two men also believe that their world is run by a perfect God, and anyone who thinks differently simply does not understand God's reasoning and planning. This aspect of Voltaire's Candide is satirical because he feels that there cannot be a perfect God or a perfect world. Therefore, he decides to mock the idea of everything being perfect in his book because the thought of it seems very humorous to him. Through their travels, Pangloss and Candide experience many cruel and unusual things such as rapes, disease, and executions. However, the men still try to find just reasoning for these horrible actions. They come up with insane and unrealistic reasoning, and continue to appear more and more blinded to evil each time they do so. Their beliefs of unimaginable optimism and perfection are fake and portray a way of life that Voltaire makes sure to show that nobody would ever live. For example, everyone is satisfied and content with their jobs and nobody feels jealousy or envy. Everyone is created the same and to like or dislike certain things.
