As a novel that ingeniously skewers the fashionable misinterpretation of doctrinal optimism, Candide succeeds in disgusting, amusing and surprising its audience. With an endless dose of irony and sarcasm, Candide propels us into a world where we meet numerous characters who suffer somewhat exaggerated misfortune. As a result, we see several doctrinal beliefs, such as that of Pangloss and Martin. Pangloss, Candide's mentor and philosopher, is a man with optimistic feelings. Maintaining the conviction that all is well in this “best of all possible worlds” (1.4), Pangloss later reveals himself to be rather stupid in his complacency. In contrast to our rather optimistic philosopher, we meet Martin, a well-traveled and experienced scholar who displays extreme pessimism. Although a more honest interpretation of Candide's philosopher, Martin's unenthusiastic view of the world does not always serve him well. As can be seen throughout the text, both doctrines of thought contain imperfections, due to the extremes to which they are pushed. Rather than adhering to dogmatic statements based on generalizations, it is better to adopt a flexible philosophy so that you can adopt a reasonable and less erroneous position. Throughout this novel, we see the naïve protagonist Candide, and later his mentor Pangloss, venturing into a world of horrors. True to his mentor's beliefs, Candide's innocent nature and mentality fail to realize the fallacy of Pangloss's optimistic and causal philosophy. After being ravaged by syphilis, nearly hanged, dissected and incarcerated, Pangloss's doctrine is based on overwhelming real-world evidence, even as he remains faithful to it. In the midst of an unbelievable situation... middle of paper ......ide's once loyal friend will have changed his motivation and will most certainly cheat on him. Yet Cacambo's unyielding honesty toward Candide succeeds in defying Martin's pessimistic doctrine. Because of the closed philosophies of Pangloss and Martin, a glut of indifference and irrationality was allowed to spread. Both absolute optimism and absolute pessimism fall into the category of dogmatic statements based on concepts that are not intended to be rigid. Rather than admitting no exceptions, it is important to adopt a flexible philosophy based on concrete evidence. By having an absolute belief, Pangloss and Martin believed in something that encouraged them to take a nonchalant and biased view. In this novel, rigid philosophical speculation repeatedly proves unnecessary and destructive, an important point that Voltaire was trying to make through satirical means..