Experiencing Satirical Enlightment

Have you ever realized that when discussing something that you've never experienced it seems simple?  But after you actually do it, you have a newfound respect for the degree of difficulty that it entails.  This has happened to me with Satire.  In previous posts, I may have described Voltaire's use of this literary genre as confusing or obscure.  After writing my own satirical essay, I realized that finding a balance between an outrageous hyperbole and a subtle message is key to success in satirical writing.  For that reason, this blog will be dedicated to textual examples of masterful use of irony, hyperbole, or absurdity in Candide.

"While each passenger was telling his story the ship was making good progress, and at last reached Buenos Ayres, where Cunegonde, Captain Candide, and the old woman landed and went to wait upon the governor, Don Fernando d'Ibaraa y Figueroa y Mascarenes, y Lampourdos y Souza, a noble business man with a degree of pride appropriate to one who bore so many names." p.58

In this except Candide achieves several underlying messages through Satire. The first, and perhaps the most obvious, is the amount of names that the governor bears.  The hyperbole present represents Spaniards, and the aristocratic nature they must have in their blood in order to be considered respectable.  The second is more general.  Voltaire has demonstrated that he despises everything that relates to religious institutions and aristocratic social structures.  When he says that this man is as respectable as the amount of names he has, he's mocking him.  Think of it as the opposite of what he wrote.  In truth, Voltaire respected those who made of themselves what they were, philosophers like himself.

"'Madam,' said the old woman to Cunégonde, ‘you have seventy-two quarterings to your coat of arms but not a farthing to your name; you have only yourself to blame if you do not become the wife of the greatest nobleman in South America with the most handsome of moustaches.”  Pg 59

The wise Old Woman knows that in order to make herself valuable and guarantee wealth in the future is marriage. By marrying a man with such an honorable reputation, she will be safe.  There is a correlation between this episode of the story and the Old Woman's dreadful life.  When the Old Woman started her story, one of the first thing she mentioned is that she is "...the daughter of Pope Urban X and the princess of Palestrina.*" The footnote is the important part!  Voltaire wants to play with the condemnable Catholic Church.  He wants to emphasize that the Old Woman is of the purest blood. How does this relate to the excerpt from page 59?  In both points Voltaire wants to note that the fact that you are of a rich family doesn’t guarantee wealth.  It is contradictory however, that the Old Woman thinks that marrying into aristocracy is better than being born into it. 

“The reverend fathers own the whole lot, and the people own nothing: that’s what I call a masterpiece of reason and justice.  I don’t think I have ever seen such godlike creatures as the reverend fathers.” Pg. 62

With this excerpt I find an extended hyperbole.  Voltaire is known to be against religious dogma and to oppose most, if not all, religious institutions.  Some might have thought that the Jesuits would be left out of this satirical massacre because of…pity?  Don’t be naïve.  Voltaire went all out when saying that they are reason and justice.  This, according to his philosophy, couldn’t be further from the truth.  He also plays with word choice in the second sentence.  Godlike reverends?  No coincidence.  I have come to realize that satire is based on details, one of the reasons why Voltaire is praised in this genre: word choice.