On the surface, Voltaire’s Candide seems to be about every stupidity, every transgression, and every immoral act conceivable to man. It is a satirical and absurd look at life and religion. It makes a mockery of organized religious institutions and leaders. The hypocrisy of the actions of these leaders makes the reader wonder if Voltaire is against every religious order and even God, or is it simply the hypocrisy he abhors. In examining this book, it is a satirical way of looking at the hypocrisy of actions while holding true that goodness outside of these institutions and inside the person is what is important and imperative. Voltaire seems to write this book as a rebuttal of the theory of Leibniz.

The two people in Candide that have a
The woman also tells of the horrors of rape and violence she has endured and how she was not protected by her father. The old woman also talks about suicide, another act that is forbidden in the Catholic beliefs. She clings to life as being better than death, but makes this bold statement against God or the church.

Candide meets a Jesuit colonel who is also a homosexual in chapter 15. The colonel tells Candide that he is taken in by a Jesuit priest because he is “a very pretty boy” which suggests that the Jesuit priest is a homosexual. Homosexuality is condemned by the Jesuits.

In chapter 24, Candide meets his friend Paquette. She is now a prostitute and she is walking arm in arm with a monk. Paquette tells Candide, “Oh sir, if you could only imagine what it’s like to be forced to caress without discrimination an old merchant, a lawyer, a monk, a gondolier, or a priest” (91). Amongst her clients are two men who took vows of chastity.

The last notable hypocrisy is shown in chapter 30 when the group, now Candide, Pangloss and Martin, meet a dervish Muslim Holy Man and try to discuss the questions about good and evil. The Muslim slams the door in their face after telling them, “What does it matter whether there’s evil or good?” (111). Voltaire shows the reader that it is all organized religions he rejects.
Leibniz's Beliefs

In chapter 17, Candide visits a place called Eldorado, which is a Utopia and perhaps the