Voltaire and Rabelais

Voltaire and Rabelais satirize war and religion in their works. Voltaire goes after religious hypocrisy in chapter three of Candide. An orator asks Candide whether or not he supports â€Å"the good cause†. Candide, being a man of reason, responds by saying â€Å"there is no effect without a cause†. The orator, feeling challenged by Candide's reaction challenges him right back by asking Candide if he believes the Pope to be the Anti-Christ. Candide doesn't know and changes the subject bringing up the fact that he's hungry.The orator declares that Candide does not deserve to at because of his lack of affirmation toward believing in the Anti-Christ. The orator's wife suddenly enters the scene and sees Candide as one who does not believe that the Pope was Anti-Christ. She proceeds to pour trash on his head. This is an example of Voltaire Jabbing at Protestants and Catholics of the world. He is explaining his views, through the use of satire, on religion. War is an evil that is satirized in Candide. Voltaire as a foundation for his war satire uses the Bulgarians.Voltaire explains on page 13 how the Bulgarians seized Candide and then gave him the option to be â€Å"thrashed thirty-six times by the whole egiment, or receive twelve lead bullets at once in his brain. † Candide decides to run the gauntlet but comes up about 34 short. He pleads that the Judges would Just smash his head instead. Voltaire shows more war satire on page 14 in Candide when the Bulgarians' burn down the Abarian village â€Å"in accordance with the rules of international law†. Voltaire satirizes war in another sense.He goes on in chapter three by writing about the atrocities that the Bulgarian soldiers would indulge in. Not only did they kill people but they also raped, disemboweled, and dismembered innocent women and children. As a matter of fact, Candide's was trained as a soldier by being abused and pummeled. Voltaire uses this to show his hatred toward the cruel a nd vulgar acts of war and which such belligerent groups like the Bulgarian soldiers demonstrated. Voltaire believed these acts of injustice to be morally wrong. Voltaire in this section of Candide is now showing his true thoughts towards Leibniz's theory of optimism.Leibniz believes that if this is â€Å"the best of all possible worlds† then innocent women and children would not be slaughtered and dehumanized and there would be no bloodthirsty Bulgarians. Rabelais rejects all types of war. On page 299 Grandgousier explains his thoughts to Picrochole about going to war: â€Å"†¦ l shall nevertheless go to war before trying all the arts and ways of peace. Of that I am resolved†. This shows Rabelais' opposition to war. Rabelais also mentions Pangrue's absurd Justification of the killing of 660 knights on pages 124-125 of Gargantua and Pantagruel.Pangurge says to them: â€Å"Gentlemen, I believe you have brought some harm on yourselves. We are sorry, but it was none of our doing: it was because of the lubricity of the sea-water – sea-water is always a lubricant and we entrust ourselves to your good pleasure. † This example of satire lso shows Rabelais' opposition to war. In canto XVII in lines 92 and 93 ot Dante's Purgatorio Dante's guide Virgil explains to Dante the two types of love (natural and mind directed) and the differences between them. He goes on to explain to Dante that some people choose to love the wrong thing or sin by loving something too much or something not enough.Virgil's main point of his speech is that love is the inspiration to people's action. Love is the only thing that motivates people. Love and Justice are basically one in the same. According to Dante, God created the Justice system (the system we see throughout Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven) based out of love. And because love inspires Justice, love and goodness are practically synonymous. It is safe now to connect this Justice to the gift God gives to man. In Paradiso Dante explains on page 43 in canto V on lines 20-30 â€Å"God's greatest gift†.Lines 20-22 specifically give the reader Dante's interpretation of God's grace: â€Å"God's greatest gift, the gift in which mankind is most like Him, the gift by Him most prized, is the freedom He bestowed upon the will. † Goodness comes from free will according to Dante. On line 27 Dante goes on to remind readers that â€Å"God ives his consent when [one] consents. † It is in this sense that we must realize that evil exists in this world even though God is good. Voltaire, a very skeptical man, believed that people did not get what they deserved.He makes it clear through his satire that he was against Leibniz's idea of life being the best of both worlds. Voltaire says that evil is random. It comes at random moments Just as the 1746 and 1755 earthquakes in Lima, Peru and Lisbon, Portugal did. There was an imbalance of Justice at this time because Jews were assumed to be t he cause for this natural disaster and then publically killed for their wrongdoings. People believed that the disaster happened because God was angry. However Voltaire's point is proven when the second earthquake strikes. He is proving that things Just have the ability to sporadically happen.Three deists influenced Voltaire John Locke, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant. Their theories encouraged Voltaire to understand that there is no balance of Justice. To explain his point Voltaire creates the character: Dr. Pangloss – a wholehearted believer of Leibniz's philosophy. Voltaire discreetly states Leibniz's idea early on Candide by stating on page 16, â€Å"Dr. Pangloss was right in telling me that all is for the best in this world†¦ . To contrast Pangloss, Voltaire creates Martin, a more practical thinker to point out the flaws of Leibniz's philosophy. St.Augustine understands that solved his problem of evil by believing that there was a lack of goodness in something. He exp lains that if something is corruptible and thus evil then it is good by nature because it exists. If something can be tarnished by means of evil or by vices it's because there is goodness that can be taken away from it. Basically saying that everything is good because it is corruptible St. Augustine explains himself on the bottom of page 127 of his Confessions: â€Å"And I made an effort o understand what I had heard, that free will is the cause of our doing evil†¦ 3) Quote A is taken from Act l, Scene Ill, lines 201-207 of Shakespeare's King Hamlet IV. In this section we see another classic ABA rhyme scheme. Hotspur, a very valiant soldier, is worried about his honor. He is demonstrating his concern for his honor by ranting on about his excitement to take down King Henry. Hotspur's initiative is so strong that he claims, on line 202, that it would not be difficult for him get honor from â€Å"the pale-taced moon†. This is Shakespeare's way ot saying that Hotspur could get light from the sun, or â€Å"the pale-faced moon†.Shakespeare continues in this passage with a clothing metaphor in lines 206-209. Hotspur is saying that his honor would show the same way clothes show on people. These lines show that he's not only ready for battle but also that he has a very tangible idea of honor. Honor, according to Falstaff is useless because it means nothing if you're dead. Fallstaffs view of honor clearly undercuts Hotspur's. Falstaff sees honor in a different sense. He sees it as something that is useless. This is an important quote that relates to the larger work because it shows an aspect that is seen throughout the story: honor.Honor, as we earn throughout King Henry ‘V, is perceived in a different sense in the end of the book. It goes from a goal to be achieved with direction to something that is more personable and to be reached to a more personal idea to treasure. Quote B is from Chapter 20 of Candide. On page 68 Martin is explaining how corrupt the world can be. Candide does not believe Martin when he says that he is indeed a Manichaean. This quote puts into perspective Voltaire's idea of the world and how he believed it to be a cruel place.This quote relates to the larger work because it reinforces what Voltaire is attempting to get across to the reader. The corrupt families who seek to destroy others and acquire power through it are examples of an evil that comes from his belief that bad things can still happen even in a world where there is goodness. Quote C is from Dante's Paradiso on page 134, Canto XIII, line 130-135. In this passage we see Dante using his standard ABA rhyme scheme. St. Thomas of Aquinas is giving Dante advice. He is warning is warning Dante not to Judge too soon because things could change and go the opposite way.He explains this through two metaphors. He explains how a bush has the capability to lose all of its leaves but hen eventually blossom to a beautiful rose when the springtime comes around. By these two examples St. Thomas means that a change can pop up out of nowhere. He explains his point in another fashion on this in the third stanza of this passage in lines 133-135. These lines explain that St. Thomas has seen a strong ship sail and eventually sink Just as it was about to set anchor at its port. Quote D is a portion of Rabelais' Gargantul and Pantagruel on page 229 of chapter six.Gargantua crying is being described here. It is explained that if he were to start crying out of annoyance then he would drink all of his tears and use them to bring im back to his original condition. Quote E is a passage from Shakespeare's Hamlet. In this quote Ophelia is commenting on how she misses when Hamlet's mind was noble. She's beginning to realize now that Hamlet is going mad. She claims that he wouldVe been considered noble and possibly a King if he had not gone so mad when she says: â€Å"Th' expectancy and rose of the fair state† on line 166.She goes on to note that he used to be idolized by all. She explains this by saying on line 167 that he was â€Å"The glass of fashion and the mold of form†. â€Å"The glass of fashion† is Shakespeare using a metaphor for saying that he was respected by all. When she says, â€Å"the observers quite, quite down! † she is commenting that the observers of Hamlet no longer think of him the same way they used to. This passage is basically Ophelia realizing that Hamlet is changing and she cannot believe it. This quote relates to the larger work, Hamlet because it sums up basically the thoughts ot the rest ot the kingdom.Ophelia speaks tor everyone else when she says notes that Hamlet's behavior has drastically changed. As the story goes on it changes even more and more as we learn how complex of a character Hamlet is. Quote F is taken from page 43 of Beowulf, specifically lines 2529-2531. This assage follows the speech that Beowulf gives his warriors. Beowulf, who is getting old and wor n down, explains to his men the importance of this battle. He salutes his men then explains that he will not give up no matter what. The brave warrior that this passage describes is indeed Beowulf.The poet is emphasizing the fact that he is indeed the bravest of all warriors the Danes have ever seen. The poet hopes to get the reader to comprehend the amount of courage he has for standing up to the dragon to defend his honor and his community. This quote relates to the larger work because it clearly shows the Beowulf's heroic qualities. It also relates to the larger work because it shows a Germanic value. Beowulf is showing that he's not afraid of death. Quote G is a passage from Part IV, lines 2025-2030 of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.The narrator is explaining the gear that Gawain is putting on as he gets ready for his rendezvous with the Green Knight. The poet is using alliteration to give better detail of the attire Gawain is donning. The letter R is used significantly on line 2025, the letter C on line 2026, the letter S on line 2027, the letter W on line 2029, and both letters L and G are used simultaneously in line 2030. The poet aims to grasp the eaders attention at the beauty of his battle outfit. However the last line of this passage is most important: Yet he left not his love-gift, the ladys girdle.The hosts's wife promises to Gawain that this magic girdle save from one from death. This quote relates to the larger work because this girdle ends up being a major symbol of the book. The girdle is a way to show that Gawain is weak for using it as a way of cheating to survive against the Green Knight. Quote H is from Act Ill Scene II of Shakespeare's Hamlet. In this scene Hamlet makes it clear to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern that he is not tricked by their phony riendship. In Hamlet's speech from lines 393-402 Shakespeare uses a play on words with a musical metaphor.Pluck, an action used to play a string instrument, is said on line 395. Hamlet is accus ing his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of playing him. The same way a musician would pluck (play) a string instrument. Another music reference Shakespeare makes is found on lines 396-397. The lines read: â€Å"†¦ you would sound me from my lowest note my compass†¦ † A note is basically a note or pitch that is made from an instrument. Here Hamlet is saying that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern bring him up and down yet he is not fazed by it.