Candide Outline

I. Thesis: Martin's pessimism has to be preferred over Pangloss's optimism, even though it is good to have an optimistic view of things because one cannot be happy with the unfortunate events Candide had to go through.
A.Voltaire's entire purpose of writing Candide was to implicate the faults of Liebnitz's optimistic philosophies
B. Liebnitz's optimism said that everything that happened, no matter how unfortunate was the best case scenario.
II. There are two sides to this optimism pointed out in Candide; Martin's pessimism and Pangloss's optimism
A) Martin believes that the worst will always happen, he believes in Murphy's law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
B) Pangloss is Liebnitz in Candide, teaching him that anything that happen must be the best case scenario, no matter how terrible
C) "It is clear, said he, that things cannot be otherwise than they are, for since everything is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the best end. Observe: noses were made to support spectacles, hence we have spectacles. Legs, as anyone can plainly see, were made to be breeched, and so we have breeches. . . . Consequently, those who say everything is well are uttering mere stupidities; they should say everything is for the best." Pangloss' explanation for his optimism
III. Martin's pessimism is better to believe in that Liebntz's optimism
A) Martin is more realistic in his approach to life.
1) he believes that the worst will always happen, and has a negative outlook on his own life
2) however, he is overcome with joy when a fortunate event takes place
B) He questions why bad things have to happen, and can attempt to make them better, when Candide believes they are the best that they can ever be.
1) when the ship sank and most of the people aboard drowned, he believed God was punishing them
2)"You see, said Candide to Martin, crime is punished sometimes; this scoundrel of a Dutch merchant has met the fate he deserved. —Yes, said Martin; but did the passengers aboard his ship have to perish too? God punished the scoundrel, the devil drowned the others."
IV. Pangloss's optimism is not good to believe in because terrible things are never the best, everything can always get better.
A) He believes nothing can possibly be better than it is, and that there is no room for improvement.
B) If he fails, or is robed he is happy because he believes something worse would have happened.
C) At the end, Pangloss shows exactly why a life of optimism is not ideal. "—Let’s work without speculating, said Martin; it’s the only way of rendering life bearable. The whole little group entered into this laudable scheme; each one began to exercise his talents. The little plot yielded fine crops . . . and Pangloss sometimes used to say to Candide: —All events are linked together in the best of possible worlds; for, after all, if you had not been driven from a fine castle by being kicked in the backside for love of Miss Cunégonde, if you hadn’t been sent before the Inquisition, if you hadn’t traveled across America on foot, if you hadn’t given a good sword thrust to the baron, if you hadn’t lost all your sheep from the good land of Eldorado, you wouldn’t be sitting here eating candied citron and pistachios.
—That is very well put, said Candide, but we must go and work our garden"
D) "A hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our worst instincts; is anything more stupid than choosing to carry a burden that really one wants to cast on the ground? to hold existence in horror, and yet to cling to it? to fondle the serpent which devours us till it has eaten out our heart?" And old woman explaining her take after unfortunate events happened to her.
V. Both philosophies are flawed, but Martin's is more realistic
A) there will always be unfortunate events, but there is room for improvement.
B) Nothing is ever the best it can be, there is always a better option.
C) At the end, there is peace between the group, but not happiness. They determine they must make the best of what they have. "It’s a hard question, said Candide. These words gave rise to new reflections, and Martin in particular concluded that man was bound to live either in convulsions of misery or in the lethargy of boredom."