Irony At A 99.9%

Seeing that there is no much left to talk about Candide, or at least there is but I am not in the mood of thinking I thought it would be interesting to apply the characteristics of satire to these chapters.

We already know that it is a parody in which most of its writing create the a bitter satyrical humor. What I noticed in these chapters is how irony is the strongest characteristic. Most of the events that happened in the story have a meaning that Voltaire wants to criticize using the opposite. One of the strongest criticism used in Candide is the church, Voltaire in a very subtle way makes the reader realize the corruption and the oppression the church managed in that time. We can see this when the old woman tells her misfortune, "But I have never forgotten that I am the daughter of a Pope"(57). Here we can see how irony is used, a Pope is not suppose to reproduce and clearly in the story he did. Another clear example of Voltaire's irony is when he wrote: "It was a friar with long sleeves who had stolen Cunégonde's money and jewels at Badajoz"(60). Again with the church, Voltaire is showing how a friar, who is supposed to be benevolent is steeling from people and is taken my men's strongest desire: money.

The irony is quite clear in these chapters and is one of the strongest characteristics of satire that make create as such a strong and emotive parody.