Voltaire's Perspective On Religious Hypocrisy And Wealth

Alaina McGuire
Dr. Katie Jarvis
History 1307
October 2, 2015
Voltaire’s Perspective on Religious Hypocrisy and Wealth
Francois-Marie Arouet goes by the pen name of Voltaire. He is a French Enlightenment writer and philosopher whose works have become famous because of his wit. He is an advocate for freedom of religion, expression, and also fought for the separation of church and state. One of Voltaire’s most famous works is a satire called Candide. The novel starts out when the two main characters Candide and Cunegonde fall in love. When Cunegonde’s father finds out, he banishes Candide. This propels Candide on a dangerous and exciting journey. Through Candide’s global journey, Voltaire critiques European society mainly through their religious
leaders who show hypocrisy and immortality, but also through how wealth is a focal point of European society.
To begin, one of the prominent ways Voltaire critiques society in this novel is through the hypocrisy shown in religious leaders throughout the story. One of Candide’s first encounters on this unknown journey is with a protestant minister. The Protestant minister had recently finished preaching about charity and the importance of giving. Candide seizes the moment and approaches the Protestant minister asking him for food. The minister then proceeds to ask Candide if he believes the Pope to be the anti-Christ, Candide replies that he has no opinion on the matter, but that he is simply hungry and needs bread. The minister then gets angry and tells him to go away and not come back again. Even though Candide says he has no opinion on if the Pope is the anti-Christ, this also shows that he does not have an opinion on religion. In this instance, Voltaire is critiquing a religious figure, the protestant minister. He is being overtly hypocritical in that he just finished preaching about charity. However, he is not willing to show that with his own actions. This is one of Candide’s first encounters in European society. Voltaire uses this illustration early on in the book. This display that he desires to make a statement right away.
In addition, hypocrisy continues to be a common theme in religious leaders throughout the novel. A bit later on in the book an old woman comes into the story. She encounters two instances where religious leaders actions do not reflect their beliefs. The first account is when the money was stolen from Cunegonde. The old women suspects that reverenced grey friar stole Cunegonde's money. This would be hypocritical since it is against his religion to steal. This is especially important because he is someone of such religious importance. The other example of the old women is when she talks about how her supposed father is the Pope Urban X but shared how he went against the expectation of celibacy. The Pope, a religious figure, did not follow this code in religion. All of these are examples of how religious figures show hypocrisy in the book of Candide.
Voltaire also critiques European society by pointing out the mortality in religious leaders.
Panquette is a prostitute and has a friar as her current client. Paquette says, “That is precisely one of the agonies of this profession. Yesterday I was robbed and beaten by an officer, and today I must appear in good spirits in order to give pleasure to a monk.” A friar is normally thought of as a type of religious leader. He is immoral because he is the client of a prostitute, despite his religion. The friar is living one life, but is clearly showing his immorality in engaging in the sinful act of prostitution. Later on in the story we are introduced to an Abbe, a man who is the head of the abbey monks, another religious figure. The Abbe tricks Candide into going into a dark room thinking he would be seeing Cunegonde. However, in actuality it is a woman who works for the Abbe. Candide gives her diamonds thinking he is giving them to Cunegonde. If that wasn’t enough, then the Abbe has Candide and Martin arrested for being “suspicious foreigners”. The Abbe is more concerned about himself and his own personal wealth than his moral conduct. Earlier on in the story the old woman is attacked and says, “At last I saw all our Italian women, and then my mother, ripped and sliced and massacred by the monsters who disputed over them.” A few lines later she says, “As everyone knows, scenes like these were occurring for more than seven hundred and fifty miles around, without anyone failing to observe the daily prayers prescribed by Mohammed.” The contrast between the supposed religious devotion and immoral actions of the Old Woman’s attackers suggests a gap between religious standards and the actions of religious men. In this quote and section of the story hypocrisy is once again shown in how even these religious men who are supposed to be “Christian’s” actions do not reflect religious standards for the time period. Voltaire shows repeatedly in these three examples that
religious leaders are more concerned about what is best for them rather than staying firm in their religious beliefs. This is a common theme that Voltaire continues to bring in throughout the book emphasizing his opinion on the subject.
Furthermore, wealth is one of the main focal points in European society and attributed to power. As the story continues Cunegonde has the opportunity to marry a Governor who is very wealthy. Even though Cunegonde loves Candide the old women still advises her to look out for herself and her wealth first and marry the Governor. She convinces Cunegonde that this will help Candide as well. In this example, Voltaire shows that the importance is not in love here it is in self-perseverance and wealth. In the end Cunegonde is just looking out for herself and not for Candide. Cunegonde ends up becoming a servant, so putting wealth above love did not work out in her favor. It is a recurring theme in this novel that wealth is one of the most important things in European society. Another example of how wealth is powerful and a focal point in European society is when Candide and Cacambo travel through Eldorado there they encounter the King of Eldorado. In this land of Eldorado there is no such thing as wealth. The King says “What pleasure you Europeans find our yellow clay, but take as much as you like, and great good may it do you.” He thinks it is not normal to be so consumed with wealth as the Europeans are, he does not understand how you find happiness that way. Candide and Cacambo end up leaving the country to find somewhere where their wealth can earn them more status than it can in the land of Eldorado. When Candide and Cacambo leave it shows how important wealth is to them and that they could not be happy in Eldorado because they believed that their wealth could buy them more “happiness” and “power” somewhere else. The fact that Candide and Cacambo believe that they cannot find happiness without wealth is a parallel with an overall in theme in the book that wealth is attributed with power.
Although wealth is one of the most important things in European society and is attributed to power it does not protect the wealthy from violence and crime, and does not ultimately fulfill people. Even though Baron is one of the wealthiest men in Westphalia, it still does not mean his family is safe from rape and murder. This is an idea Voltaire presents that is still true today. No matter how much wealth or money you acquire it does not provide you with complete safety. This example also contributes to a common theme throughout the book; that wealth will not ultimately protect or fulfill you. Another example is when Candide was trying to sell two small diamonds for money to a Dutch skipper. The skipper ended up sailing away with the diamonds and the sheep leaving Candide on the shore feeling dismayed and stupefied. Candide came into this scenario with wealth. Having this wealth though did not protect him from being robbed. This example shows how wealth also did not leave them fulfilled. Voltaire is repetitively showing through these examples that when people put their identity into wealth it does not turn out in their favor. He shows how it doesn’t ever live up to their expectations. In all, Voltaire critiques European society through the religious leaders lack of faith because of their hypocrisy and subsequent lack of morality. Furthermore, Voltaire critiques society through the accumulation of wealth and how it represents the main way people seek power and particularly seek money as a means of happiness. Voltaire ultimately suggests that money does not, indeed it cannot, give true fulfillment or protection from the world. This assertion provides the reader with a sense of hope that has no boundaries and no confines. The unending and perpetual cycle of the pursuit of money has continually shown to be vain and in all his wisdom, Voltaire exposes this truth and seeks to bestow it upon society as a whole!