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Metaphors
Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis:
Though the novella delivers a serious critique of philosophical optimism, its mood is comedic and irreverent, poking fun at various different nations and social classes through its absurd characters and scenarios. Voltaire’s willingness to make fun of every aspect of seventeenth century society is demonstrated in a scene in which Professor Pangloss provides a genealogy of the syphilis that he has contracted through sex with the chambermaid Paquette:
“Oh, my dear Candide, you remember Paquette [...] she was infected with them, she is perhaps dead of them. This present Paquette received of a learned Grey Friar, who had traced it to its source; he had had it of an old countess, who had received it from a cavalry captain, who owed it to a marchioness, who took it from a page, who had received it from a Jesuit, who when a novice had it in a direct line from one of the companions of Christopher Columbus. For my part I shall give it to nobody, I am dying.”
Related Themes:
