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
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