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Steph Kaminski April 10th, 2006
English Level 5
Voltaire
His real name is Francios Marie Arouer, he uses Voltaire as the name everyone knows him by, his pen name. Voltaire was a great writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, and an outspoken social critic. He was born in Paris in 1694 and his stories have greatly contributed to society. At one point in his life, Voltaire offended a nobleman and was sent to prison in England for talking down about someone in the royal family. While in England, he learned about their monachy and support of freedoms of speech and religion. It influenced him, and so he wrote a fictional document about how England's monarchy was more developed and more respectful of human rights than its French counterpart. That got many people mad, mad enough that they were bruning copies of it outside, and Voltaire was eventually forced to leave Paris.
This is because during his time there were rulers, very rich rulers, who controlled everyone and everything and cared about no one but themselves, the political system was very corrupt. Things were very unfair and tough for those of no wealth. Voltaire openly expressed his feelings for this and wrote Candide, a satire, his most famous piece of work. A satire is a writing that uses humor to expose and ridicule human foolishness. The ultimate goal of writing a satire is to try and influence a positive change.
In Candide, Voltaire exposes many truths and realitys of his time that most people would not. For example, how social class meant everything, how you were tricked into joining the military, and harsh punishments. In the 16 and 1700's soldeirs were recruited just because they could be. You could just look fit enough and they could literally take you right off the street and force you to join the military. While in the military if you didn't do good, you were stroked with a stick. Things were unfair.
Voltaire satirizes the royal families of his day, with the Baron family in Candide. The wife was fat which showed great wealth, the husband and their palace was decked out in jewels, they possessed great control and wealth they used to their advantage and treated others harshly. There was also one ruler in his time, one ruler who had all the power. You could not marry someone of a different social class, and you were even punished for liking someone different than you. Like in Candide, Candide was a young man and somewhere along his family tree he was someway related to noblemen and so he lived with the royal family. Him and the princess liked eachother, and when the Kind found out and saw them together, Candide was exiled from the palace!
You could also be sent to jail with no trial, you were punished for speaking your mind, and even punished and frowned about if you had a different religion than the nobles. Voltaire recognized this and wrote about it in his work Candide and also many of his other works. He is known for being outspoken and taking the risk of actually expressing his ideas knowing he would be punished for it. He was original and significant to his time period and infuenced many with his work. I think we could use more people like Voltaire in our day in age.
English Level 5
Voltaire
His real name is Francios Marie Arouer, he uses Voltaire as the name everyone knows him by, his pen name. Voltaire was a great writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, and an outspoken social critic. He was born in Paris in 1694 and his stories have greatly contributed to society. At one point in his life, Voltaire offended a nobleman and was sent to prison in England for talking down about someone in the royal family. While in England, he learned about their monachy and support of freedoms of speech and religion. It influenced him, and so he wrote a fictional document about how England's monarchy was more developed and more respectful of human rights than its French counterpart. That got many people mad, mad enough that they were bruning copies of it outside, and Voltaire was eventually forced to leave Paris.
This is because during his time there were rulers, very rich rulers, who controlled everyone and everything and cared about no one but themselves, the political system was very corrupt. Things were very unfair and tough for those of no wealth. Voltaire openly expressed his feelings for this and wrote Candide, a satire, his most famous piece of work. A satire is a writing that uses humor to expose and ridicule human foolishness. The ultimate goal of writing a satire is to try and influence a positive change.
In Candide, Voltaire exposes many truths and realitys of his time that most people would not. For example, how social class meant everything, how you were tricked into joining the military, and harsh punishments. In the 16 and 1700's soldeirs were recruited just because they could be. You could just look fit enough and they could literally take you right off the street and force you to join the military. While in the military if you didn't do good, you were stroked with a stick. Things were unfair.
Voltaire satirizes the royal families of his day, with the Baron family in Candide. The wife was fat which showed great wealth, the husband and their palace was decked out in jewels, they possessed great control and wealth they used to their advantage and treated others harshly. There was also one ruler in his time, one ruler who had all the power. You could not marry someone of a different social class, and you were even punished for liking someone different than you. Like in Candide, Candide was a young man and somewhere along his family tree he was someway related to noblemen and so he lived with the royal family. Him and the princess liked eachother, and when the Kind found out and saw them together, Candide was exiled from the palace!
You could also be sent to jail with no trial, you were punished for speaking your mind, and even punished and frowned about if you had a different religion than the nobles. Voltaire recognized this and wrote about it in his work Candide and also many of his other works. He is known for being outspoken and taking the risk of actually expressing his ideas knowing he would be punished for it. He was original and significant to his time period and infuenced many with his work. I think we could use more people like Voltaire in our day in age.