Voltaire's Candide bears the mark of a play written in an era of reform. It's heavy on satire, poking fun at all the issues that get tangled up in its storyline. The topics covered range from politics to religion, and each receives its share of criticism. In many ways, this is what we should expect from a work of the Enlightenment: a critique of the old ways. In a time when political, religious, and scientific beliefs are changing, the literature produced should often aim to reflect this changing attitude. Candide achieves this easily by criticizing class boundaries, religion, slavery and, most importantly, the military. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay Thanks to Candide, Voltaire is able to criticize many subjects. The premise of the story is that Candide is kicked out of the Baron's house for ignoring class rules and falling in love with Miss Cunégonde (Gordon 43). This incident sets the story in motion and shows quite clearly that Voltaire did not believe in the legitimacy of such class boundaries. Religion is another subject attacked by Voltaire – although perhaps in a slightly less brutal way. There is a utopia in which religion is delegated to the people and, therefore, there are no priests or other clergy (79); Voltaire, it seems, rejected the idea that ecclesiastics were liaisons with God. Even the question of slavery is raised when Candide comes across a slave who has lost a hand and a leg (82). Although the slave seems to think it is normal for a master to treat a slave this way, Candide recoils in horror, just as Voltaire himself probably would have done (83). Furthermore, Voltaire repeatedly attacks the army as useless or convoluted. Voltaire first criticizes the military by having Candide recruited solely on the basis of his size. Upon seeing him, a soldier remarks: “Comrade... he's a well-built boy, and he's also the right size” (Gordon 43). Candide is invited to dinner and asked to drink to the health of the king of the Bulgarians (44). Once he has done so, the men declare "Enough...you are now the pillar, the defender, the defender, the hero of the Bulgarians: your fortune is made and your glory assured" (44). By having Candide recruited after such a servile action and by choosing him on such useless grounds, Voltaire criticizes the objectives of the military. Because size is generally not a factor that can inspire or discourage a successful military career, Voltaire seems to be saying that the military is primarily concerned with trivial and superficial matters. Furthermore, by only asking that Candide drink to their king, the soldiers accept him without knowing his true intentions. They don't care if he really wants to be loyal to the king or the country. By presenting the recruiters from this angle, Voltaire gives the impression that the military is more concerned with numbers and appearances than with the real causes. Voltaire continues his attack on the military by describing a battle between the Bulgarians and the Abars. It begins by focusing on contradictory notions; the battle is first described as "splendid... lively... [and] brilliant", but contains mention of how the "cannons felled about six thousand men on each side; then the musketry was withdrawn from the brave new world around nine thousand men. or ten thousand..." (Gordon 45). Voltaire inspires readers to think about how the death of thousands of men can be both splendid and brilliant and, in doing so, to conclude that the army must truly to be a horrible thing.for mass death to be associated with such glorious superlatives, there must be something weird, and that thing is the military. After the battle, “each king [asks] his forces to celebrate the victory with a Te Deum” (46). Obviously, the battle is pointless if each side celebrates victory despite such heavy losses. Later in the story, Voltaire criticizes the Pope's army in the story of the old woman. She recounts being attacked by pirates and how "[their] soldiers defended themselves like true soldiers of the Pope: they all knelt down, threw down their weapons and begged the pirates for absolution [in the article of death]” (Gordon 61). ). Voltaire here depicts the soldiers as cowards or, at the very least, as useless. When danger arises, they drop their weapons instead of fighting for those they are supposed to protect. It is also possible that Voltaire criticized the Pope in addition to the military. The soldiers seem to exemplify an attitude that places religion above practicality. In such a situation, it would be practical to keep at least one weapon nearby instead of throwing it aside. Voltaire further opposed current military practices during Candide's visit to England. Arriving in Portsmouth, Candide observes "a large crowd of people covering the shore, looking intently at a rather large man who was kneeling, blindfolded, on the deck of a warship" (Gordon 98). Soon, “four soldiers stationed in front of this man [fired] peacefully three bullets each into his brain; and the whole crowd [leaves] extremely satisfied” (98). Candide learns that this was an admiral who "didn't kill enough people" and who "engaged in battle with a French admiral and was later judged to have stood too high." distance from the enemy” (99). Candide argues that this makes no difference because “the French admiral was as distant from the English admiral as the latter was from the former” (99). He is then told that “it’s good to kill an admiral from time to time” (99). In this episode, Voltaire describes military justice as erroneous and unjust. The comment that "it's good to kill an admiral from time to time" mostly betrays Voltaire's feeling on the subject: there is no reasoning behind it other than to say that it is "good ”, which is hardly a reason at all. Candide refuses to set foot on the territory of a country that would do such a thing, which makes it quite clear how strong Voltaire's feelings were on the matter. Voltaire's criticisms were not unfounded, nor was he the only one to resist. Candide was published in 1759, in the middle of the Seven Years' War (Hunting 634). It was this war that “prompted the French crown to introduce far-reaching reforms that provoked violent resistance and helped pave the way for the French Revolution of 1789” (634). During this period, hostilities between England and France occurred everywhere, notably in North America, the West Indies, India and Central Europe (636). The use of military force was so widespread that it “permeated every aspect of rural society, merging the army and agrarian organization” (638). Because the Enlightenment was largely an urban phenomenon, it would follow that the military, tied to rural areas, would appear dimly enlightened. One of Voltaire's criticisms was directed against the Prussian army. He notes in Candide how easy it was to join the Bulgarian army. Between the years 1740 and 1789, “the Prussian army…nearly tripled in size” (Hunt 634). It makes sense that for such an expansion to take place, the military would have to relax its standards. Additionally, the recruitment of Candide, due to his size, also seems, 2003.