Study Questions for Voltaire's Candide

Read about the Lisbon earthquake of 1755

Penguin Classics Reading Guide for Candide
The Voltaire Society of America
The French text of Candide, at the University of Virginia's E-Text Center.

• Candide is a satire.  What is a satire, and what is the object of Voltaire's satire in this novel?  (Read about the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, above--it may help you think about this question.)

• How would you describe Pangloss's view of the world?  Is there anything problematic about it?

• What role does religion play in Candide?  Compare the treatment of religion in this novel to the treatment of religion in Dante's Inferno and Lazarillo de Tormes.

• What does Eldorado represent in this story?  How is the theme of greed handled in the novel?

• What is the novel's attitude toward the problem of evil?  If God is good, and omnipotent, and omniscient, why does evil exist?  If God is benevolent and beneficent, why did he allow tens of thousands of innocent children to die in the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean?

• Who is the most likeable character in this novel?  Who is the least likable?

• What kinds of comments about human nature are made in this novel?

• How does the novel use the theme of resurrection from the dead? 

• By the end of the novel, has the relationship between Pangloss and Candide changed?  Has Candide's attitude changed?

• What is the significance of Candide's garden?  What does the final sentence of the novel mean?