How did Voltaire use wit and satire to criticize intolerance and tyranny?

Voltaire utilized his mastery of language, wit, and satire to challenge the systemic injustices of his time, particularly religious intolerance and political tyranny. As a leading figure of the Enlightenment, he acted as a powerful advocate at the bar of public opinion, using his writing to expose the absurdity of archaic laws and the cruelty of institutions that stifled reason.1

In his famous satirical novel Candide, Voltaire attacked the blind optimism of his era, using the narrative to highlight the horrors of war, slavery, and religious persecution. By lampooning the folly of those who ignored human suffering in favor of abstract, metaphysical justifications, he championed individual liberty and encouraged readers to resist social and political oppression.2

Beyond fiction, Voltaire engaged in direct activism. He famously campaigned against the intolerance of the church—summarized by his rallying cry, “Écrasez l’infâme” (“crush infamy”)—and intervened in notorious legal scandals, such as the cases of Jean Calas and the Chevalier de La Barre, to protest judicial barbarity and advocate for the rights of the individual.13