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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—The Battle:
Voltaire employs verbal irony, metaphor, and simile in his depiction of the battle between the Bulgarian and Abarian armies:
THERE WAS NEVER anything so gallant, so spruce, so brilliant, and so well disposed as the two armies. Trumpets, fifes, hautboys, drums, and cannon made music such as Hell itself had never heard. The cannons first of all laid flat about six thousand men on each side; the muskets swept away from this best of worlds nine or ten thousand ruffians who infested its surface. The bayonet was also a sufficient reason for the death of several thousands. The whole might amount to thirty thousand souls. Candide, who trembled like a philosopher, hid himself as well as he could during this heroic butchery.
In Candide, the war between the Bulgariand and Abarians represents the Thirty Years War, during which bloody clashes between the French and Prussian armies scarred Central Europe. Here, Voltaire describes, in a metaphor, the “ music” of the cannons as they shoot out across the field of battle. Here, Voltaire’s language is drenched in irony, as he mockingly praises the glory of a battle that leads to the violent deaths of “thirty thousand souls,” and so too does he ironically employ the optimistic philosophical language of Leibniz in his references to “the best of worlds” and “sufficient reason.” Throughout the battle, Candide “trembled like a philosopher,” a simile that emphasizes the gulf between his high-minded philosophical ideas and the practical realities of life and war.
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Love:
After escaping from the Bulgarian army, Candide flees to Holland, where he meets an ill and impoverished old man who, to his surprises, is revealed to be Professor Pangloss. In their conversation concerning Pangloss’s poor state of health, the result of a venereal disease, Pangloss and Candide both use various metaphors to describe love:
Alas!” said the other, “it was love; love, the comfort of the human species, the preserver of the universe, the soul of all sensible beings, love, tender love.”
“Alas!” said Candide, “I know this love, that sovereign of hearts, that soul of our souls; yet it never cost me more than a kiss and twenty kicks on the backside. How could this beautiful cause produce in you an effect so abominable?”
When Candide asks Pangloss how he came to be in such a dire situation, he is surprised when the professor responds that “love” is responsible. Pangloss describes love as “the preserver of the universe” and “the soul of all sensible beings,” metaphors that emphasize the spiritual importance of love. In his response, Candide describes love, in a metaphor, as “the sovereign of hearts,” suggesting that love rules over the hearts of men, much as a king rules over a kingdom. There is irony to these glowing descriptions of love, as Pangloss has, in fact, contracted a sexually transmitted disease following from the chambermaid Paquette. In this way, he seems to be more interested in sexual pleasure than true love—even at the cost of his own health.
Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—French Society:
In his comedic depiction of upper-class French society, Voltaire employs metaphor, allusion, and satire. After leaving South America with some of the valuable gold and diamonds which he received in El Dorado, Candide travels to France, where, accompanied by Martin and the Abbé of Périgord, he visits a building where upper-class men engage in card-playing, debate, and prostitution. There, Candide asks a French scholar if he agrees with Pangloss’s argument, derived from Leibniz, that Earth is “the best of all possible worlds.” The scholar responds:
“I know nothing of all that; I find that all goes awry with me; that no one knows either what is his rank, nor what is his condition, what he does nor what he ought to do; and that except supper, which is always gay, and where there appears to be enough concord, all the rest of the time is passed in impertinent quarrels; Jansenist against Molinist, Parliament against the Church, men of letters against men of letters, courtesans against courtesans, financiers against the people, wives against husbands, relatives against relatives—it is eternal war.”
In this passage, Voltaire satirizes his own class and nation, as a member of the French intelligentsia. The scholar, who in some ways resembles Voltaire himself, argues that everything in his life “goes awry” and that, aside from supper, “the rest of the time is passed in impertinent quarrels.” Here, Voltaire alludes to various groups, classes, and parties in French society in the 18th century, including the Jansenists (followers of bishop and theologian Cornelius Jansen) and the Molinists (followers of the theologian Luis de Molina), who were opposed on various spiritual and political grounds. In a metaphor, the scholar suggests that everyday life is “eternal war,” an all-out conflict between all parties, even “wives against husbands.” The scholar, then, provides a distinctly cynical perspective on human society and relations.
Related Themes:
Conclusion
Explanation and Analysis—The Mice on Board:
At the end of the novel, the primary cast of characters, including Candide, find themselves in Turkey, where the last of Candide’s gold from El Dorado is spent in securing a modest farm upon which they can live. When Candide, Pangloss, and Martin visit a Dervish who is renowned as the greatest philosopher in Turkey, Candide asks him about human nature, and the philosopher responds to his question with a metaphor:
“Master,” said he, “we come to beg you to tell why so strange an animal as man was made.”
“With what meddlest thou?” said the Dervish; “is it thy business?”
“But, reverend father,” said Candide, “there is horrible evil in this world.”
“What signifies it,” said the Dervish, “whether there be evil or good? When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he trouble his head whether the mice on board are at their ease or not?”
By this point in the novel, Candide’s once-strong faith in Pangloss’s optimism has begun to wane as a result of his experiences and the monotony of farm life. The Dervish responds to Candide’s question by asking him why he is bothering to think about topics that cannot help him in any way, and which are perhaps not even his “business” to think about. Explaining his perspective on the question of God and humanity, the Dervish uses a metaphor that compares humankind to mice. He asks Candide whether or not a king “troubles his head” about “whether the mice on board” a boat “are at ease or not,” suggesting that God does not concern himself with the minor affairs of individual people.
Related Themes:
