Topic > Essay on Voltaire's Candide: A Freudian Interpretation

A Freudian Interpretation of CandideVoltaire's Candide is a humorous work describing the misadventures of a German man who has fallen from pseudo-nobility and is forced to wander the world in search of his love and his identity. In his adventures, he encounters enormous bouts of violence, both inflicted by himself on others, and by those around him. This enormous amount of violent behavior raises surprising questions about morality and justice in Voltaire's time. It becomes apparent that Candide, among other things, is a satire focused on justice. Sigmund Freud, the well-known psychologist, created three states of consciousness: the Id, which is the instinctive quality of human beings; the ego, which is human reason; and the Superego, which is a person's morality or conscience. The characters and actions of Candide can easily be classified into these three states of consciousness to determine much of what Voltaire satirized in his work. The intermediate group of states of consciousness, the ego, is the middle of the brain. It is the bridge from the external world to the inner workings of the mind. It is also the rational part of the psyche, which relies on reason. From the story, which is noticeably biased towards Candide's point of view, the obvious symbol of the ego is Pangloss, the philosopher. He is Candide's idol and the model of right-thinking among the main characters, despite appearing as a total buffoon to both the audience and the other characters with his assumptions that all things are "for the best". Distorted views of the ego are also evident in most of the main characters, including Candide and Cunegonde, in particular. Although they are certainly not the images of logic, the... center of the paper... in their personal El Dorado, the microcosmic garden. An Edenic farm becomes their new home. On the other hand, the rest of society is forced to live with the monstrosity that it has created. Candide and his friends can live in peace for the rest of their existence while the rest of humanity, including perhaps even the real El Dorado, must suffer a series of consequences. Voltaire is obviously satirizing the vision of justice of that period. He makes his points through biting sarcasm using the roles reversed of what he believes it should be. These points are not stated, but laboriously simple and clear. He obviously hoped to reform the systems of the time. These ideas of reform are made even clearer by Freud's ideas. Voltaire seeks to refocus society's efforts on morality and thought, rather than on tradition and blind submission.