Candide

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Candide and Inferno

Even though they came from two different countries and lived centuries apart , it didn 't stopped Francois-Marie Arouet (1694 , widely known as Voltaire , and Dante Aleghieri (1265-1321 ) from having parallel views about the Catholic Church . They both despised the hypocrisy of its leaders

Voltaire illustrated his deep repugnance against the Church through his famous work Candide . The lead character , Candide , was exiled from a Kingdom when he was caught kissing the Baron 's daughter . Through his journey , he heard

a Minister preaching about the goodness of helping anyone in need and he called it brotherly love . Deeply moved by the Minister 's sermon and pushed by Candide 's demanding and aching needs Candide approached the Minister hoping to receive help . But against all his wishes , the Minister refused to lend his help . To make matters worse , the Minister 's wife poured Candide a pot of urine . Voltaire successfully illustrated how fraud the man ' of God was in his time In the first minute the Minister was talking of brotherly love and in the next he turned his back to the one in need . This particular incidence was not the only reason why Voltaire despixed organized church . Mainly , he criticized the Church for its controlling power . He believed in the essence of deism where all creatures have the right to choose what to believe in

The essence of the church must not lie on the political side of the community , which was Dante 's case . Unlike Voltaire , Dante was a deep supporter of Christianity . It was the perverse way of the church that he criticized most . The Inferno , the first division of his three-part epic poem The Divine Comedy , is where we can find Dante 's come back against the Church . The poem depicts him , Dante , as the leading character who sets to a journey through the nine rings of hell . Upon reaching the eighth ring , he met Guido da Montefeltro , a man who claimed that he was corrupted by the present Pope . The Pope promised that the heaven will not punish Guido if he aids the Pope in destroying the papal resistance in a certain place in the country . Guido ended up going to the eighth ring instead . This shows the arrogance of the Pope . His wicked use of his power didn 't stand for the Christian cause : Love thy enemy . Dante completely declared his opposition against the current Church when he wrote this

Both Voltaire and Dante saw the church as a corrupt crony of the government and believed that it should only focus on the spiritual aspects . Their deep interpretations of what they felt about their observations were verbalized through their works , and the Church exiled both from their countries as a result

Works Cited

The Role of the Church ' 1997 . The Collegiate School . 03 May , 2008

'Candide ' 23 May , 2005 . The Online Literature Library . 03 May , 2008

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