text: When Voltaire wrote Candide, a literary style known as Neoclassicism was at its peak. There was a group of scholars in France, l'Academie Français, that set guidelines for French literature. According to l'Academie Français, all literature of the Neoclassic period must follow the rules of propriety which regulated the author should avoid certain topics, including sex, violence, church, and state issues. Another standard upheld by the Academie is the idea of verisimilitude, making literature as realistic as possible by keeping the time, setting and plot true to life. Voltaire, as a Neoclassicist, knew all these regulations and followed them in his literature.  However, when writing Candide, Voltaire defied the Academie's rules. Candide is a parody on the guidelines of Neoclassicism.  
  Neoclassicists liked for literature to have good manners: they did not want to step on anyone's toes by mentioning sex, violence, church, or state issues. In Candide Voltaire did not seem to mind stepping on toes - in fact, he did not mind smashing feet! Voltaire went beyond the comfort level when he mentioned sex. He told of the two girls of Orellion who were lovers of monkeys, and of the Baron who bathed with the Musselman and was punished for his homosexual act. Sex turned into violence when Cunegonde was being raped by a Barber, and witnessed his murder while he was on top of her. The wise old woman underwent the removal of a buttock by pirates, as well as experiencing rape. After the Baron is caught bathing with the Mussalman, he receives 100 lashes for his sin. Candide stabs the Baron, a Jesuit Priest, after the Baron forbids Candides marriage to Cunegonde. Ironically, although Voltaire mentions many acts of violence, each act is treated lightly: Cunegonde and the old woman both tell their tales of being defiled like an entertaining story in their conversations about their travels; the Baron also continues his tale with style after telling of his beating; and after Candide "kills" the Baron, he leaves to search for Cunegonde with no second thought until he reencounters the Baron later in his travels. The light attitude in which these acts of sex and violence are written shows the parody form in which Voltaire writes Candide.
  
  Voltaire chooses not to stay away from the church and state issues. He attracts the hippocracy of the Church in the old woman's father being the Pope. When Candide visits the land of Eldorado, Voltaire shows the people's perfect relationship to God: they only praise God because there is nothing they want from God. Voltaire uses this perfect relationship to God in an unrealistic situation to foil society's imperfect relationship with God in the real world. Voltaire makes fun of aristocracy in his description of the Baron, who came from 71 generations of nobility but still lacks gentilesse. Candide and his companions dine with 6 dethroned kings who represent the overimportance society places on hierarchy. In his portrayal of the utopian society of Eldorado, Voltaire toils the imperfections of our society.
edits.text: Française Française Neoclassical , Muslim Muslim Candide's re-encounters wrote hypocrisy gentility