of the other important satirical elements of the work is religious bigotry. There are numerous characters showing the hypocrisy of the church. The Grand Equisitor does just about everything the church is against. He is involved in much promiscuous activities, and is constantly having someone put to death. He is the one who orders Pangloss to be burnt and Candide to be whipped. However, Voltaire offs him by the hand of Candide’s sword, ending his mini reign of terror. Friar Giroflee is another excellent example of the problems of the church. First off, he is always with a prostitute. He also squanders money, and had no desire to be religious, his parents forced him into for financial reasons. He also squanders money and is utterly miserable. Then there is also the reference to the Anabaptist. This is very interesting, because he is the only real sympathetic character in the whole novel. The great satire of this is that the Anabaptists were the really hated group of the time, yet he is the only character that is honorable through the whole story. This very much was a slap in the face of Protestants and Catholics of the day, and is very important in showing religious intolerance. As mentioned earlier, the bloody and bitter Seven Years War was taking place during this stage of Voltaire’s life. With most of the philosophes, war was considered the most terrible and ignorant of all mistakes. So of course in Candide there had to be a mockery of war, and the Seven Years War at that. More generally, he was mocking militarism as a whole, especially the war machines such as Prussia. The war at the beginning of the novel between the Avars and Bulgars is indeed a reference to the Seven Years war between France and Prussia. The battle that he is forced to flee from and that leaves so many dead is actually even based on a real battle. He uses this battle to show just how bloody and savage war is. A great stroke of brill...
