About the Author

François-Marie Arouet wrote under the nom de plume of Voltaire, and produced works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works.

The Work and Its Reception

This powerful work was read by Voltaire to Frederick of Prussia in 1740, to the king's great delight. The play was withdrawn after the fourth representation, under pressure of Church authorities who professed to see in it a bloody satire against the Christian religion.

Legacy and Controversy

Almost three hundred years later critics are still unclear if this play is a rebuke of Islam or of Christianity or, perhaps, both.