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situation. In the review titled “Candide’s Pangloss: Voltaire’s Tragicomic Hero”, Arthur Scherr
challenges the assertion made by Voltaire scholar Haydn Mason that Professor Pangloss is evil
rather than naïve (87). I do not believe there is enough evidence to support the claim that
Professor Pangloss is “evil”, as he not only “endures greater ordeals than any other character”
but also some of the worst (Scherr 89). Professor Pangloss, suffering from syphilis, endures
hanging, is nearly incinerated, dissected by a surgeon, as well as beaten with a cane, and yet he
still holds on to his own teachings that everything is for the best.

Arthur Scherr claims Haydn Mason is exaggerating when he accuses Professor Pangloss
of malign indifference to human suffering (89). I disagree with the assertion of Haydn Mason
that Professor Pangloss is “evil”, but agree with Scherr that “Pangloss is a more sympathetic
figure than Mason or other Candide critics concede” (89). I believe Professor Pangloss is simply
trying to find reconciliation in his own life by trying to see the best in all situations. This
reconciliation has its origins in the fact that “Pangloss was in despair at being unable to shine in
some German university” (Voltaire 411). In other words, Professor Pangloss’s belief that
everything is for the best originated out of despair and therefore every time Professor Pangloss
endures suffering or some form of measurable defeat he believes it is what is just and it that it is
the best of all outcomes.

It is my belief that the previous statements hold true until Professor Pangloss finally
realizes that the world he is living in is not the best of all possible worlds. Professor Pangloss’s
reconciliation of naïveté and worldliness is made obvious when Voltaire writes, “Pangloss
asserted that he had always suffered horribly; but having once declared that everything was
marvelously well, he continued to repeat the opinion and didn’t believe a word of it” (412).

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