Candide, the quintessential innocent, has been taught by his tutor, Pangloss, that all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. Gradually, Candide and his beloved, Cunegonde, learn--as they travel through a world peopled with evil characters and various cruelties--the limits of Pangloss`s philosophy. Voltaire`s great comic masterpiece is a satire of the doctrine of optimism, which Voltaire sees as a blind acceptance of human misery.