conclusion dissertation zadig

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-13

Chapters 14-16

Chapters 17-19

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Summary and Study Guide

Zadig; or, Destiny is a French philosophical novella published by Voltaire in 1747. In many ways autobiographical, the book follows Zadig—a young Zoroastrian in ancient Babylon—as he contends with a string of misfortunes that challenge his beliefs about divine reward and punishment. Zadig embodies Voltaire’s relentless attack on illogical and inhumane traditions, beliefs, and institutions, especially the belief that a divine system of reward and punishment explains all of life’s vicissitudes and that God rewards morality with happiness. This guide refers to the Penguin ebook edition of Zadig and L’Ingénu translated by John Butt, the print version of which was first published in 1964.

Plot Summary

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Zadig is young, rich, and engaged to a beautiful woman he loves. He is intelligent yet humble, distinctive characteristics in a city rife with ostentation and idle talk. His happiness is fleeting, however. Zadig suffers a string of misfortunes beginning with the attempted kidnapping of his wife Semira by a rival suitor Orcan. After convalescing from a wound he suffered defending Semira, Zadig discovers that she has married Orcan out of fear that Zadig would emerge disfigured.

Heartbroken, Zadig soon marries another woman, Azora, whom he hopes will be more faithful. He sees, however, that her virtue is merely an act. Faking his death, he discovers that not only is Azora willing to marry his friend Cador (who is in on the trick) after only a day, but she is also willing to cut the nose of Zadig’s dead body to provide Cador a magical remedy for a feigned malady. Zadig divorces Azora and, fed up with love, resolves to console himself in the study of nature. The ability he gains to discern minute differences between animals causes more misfortune as he is falsely convicted of theft after describing a lost dog and horse using only their tracks.

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Zadig next seeks happiness in philosophy and then in society. He is persecuted for heresy after proposing a commonsense solution to an ancient theological debate, and he is sentenced to death after a man jealous of Zadig’s social success orchestrates his conviction for treason. Saved by the king’s parrot, who reveals the deception, Zadig befriends King Moabdar and Queen Astarte , who are impressed by his humility. In admiration for Zadig’s virtue, the king soon makes him grand vizier of Babylon.

As grand vizier, Zadig governs selflessly and restores a measure of integrity to the city. His good fortune does not last, however, and soon he is forced to flee to Egypt after the king discovers he is in love with the queen. Arriving in Egypt, Zadig kills a man who is brutally beating a woman, for which Zadig is enslaved. He questions the value of virtue if it brings him nothing but misfortune and laments that God seems to be punishing him.

Zadig soon impresses his master with his knowledge and cunning, and the two become friends. Zadig campaigns against a cruel tradition, called the Pyre of Widowhood , of widows self-immolating on their husband’s funeral pyre. At a world fair, Zadig resolves a debate between a group of merchants over whose country is oldest and whose god most powerful by showing them that they both worship the creator of all things. Later, Zadig is condemned to death by a group of priests angry over the loss of widows’ jewelry as the Pyre of Widowhood is no longer practiced. The widow Zadig originally saved uses her wiles to free him.

Zadig continues wandering, all the while preoccupied with Astarte’s fate. He befriends the chief of a gang of robbers, whose happiness challenges Zadig’s conviction that morality alone begets happiness. He learns that Babylon is in chaos after Moabdar went mad and was murdered, but he learns nothing of Astarte.

Zadig then encounters a fisherman, who is the first person that appears as miserable as he. The fisherman was formerly a cheesemonger in Babylon who catered to both the queen and Zadig, though he does not know them by sight. He lost everything in a series of unfortunate events that began with missing large payments from both of them after they were forced to flee. Zadig gives the fisherman half of his money, and they part ways, Zadig cursing the heavens and the fisherman praising them.

Zadig chances upon Astarte, who is now a slave, outside the castle of her gluttonous master Ogul. They commiserate, and she tells her story. She hid in Babylon after learning of her husband’s plot to poison her. Moabdar married Missouf—the woman Zadig defended who (because of her resemblance to Astarte) was kidnapped by the king’s search party. Missouf undermined Moabdar’s already tenuous authority and the city descended into civil war. Astarte was captured and sold to Ogul.

Zadig arranges for Astarte’s freedom. They return to Babylon, where the citizens hold a tournament to select Astarte’s new husband and the next king. Zadig wins the fighting portion of the tournament, but another contestant swaps his armor for Zadig’s—their only identifying articles—forcing Zadig onto the street in a fit of rage.

In despair, Zadig meets a hermit reading the Book of Destinies. Intrigued, he agrees to follow the hermit for three days on the condition that he stay no matter what the hermit does. The hermit does several horrific things, including murdering a teenager, before transforming into an angel before Zadig’s eyes. The angel explains a deterministic theology in which everything is either divine reward or punishment. But Zadig learns nothing of the contents of God’s plan for him. The angel flies away, and Zadig returns to Babylon, where he challenges his rival and wins the tournament. Crowned king and queen of Babylon, Zadig and Astarte worship Providence and rule fairly. Zadig is magnanimous both to those who helped him and those who harmed him. He and everyone in Babylon are happy.

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How to Write a Relevant Conclusion for Your Dissertation

The last portion of your dissertation is called the conclusion. The objective of the dissertation conclusion is to answer the primary question of the research, provide a summary of the research, make recommendations for possible research on the subject and list the new information that your research contributes to the field.

Although the discussion and the conclusion have similar elements, they are not the same. They may be combined in shorter journal articles and papers. However, in a thesis, both the conclusion and discussion must be included.

While a discussion includes specific interpretations and results, the conclusion makes broader statements to sum up all the important points of your research.

Writing a good conclusion is important to clarify the main discoveries and arguments of your research. Here are some tips on how to conclude a thesis.

Provide Answers to The Primary Question in Your Research

The first step is to understand how to start a conclusion. It must begin with the key question of your dissertation. This allows you to show the results of your work. It must be clear and concise. You do not have to repeat all the results discussed along the thesis. Just combine them into a few words that will become the final takeaway for readers.

For example, the conclusion for a dissertation that aims at making theoretical arguments by analysing case studies, the beginning can be as follows:

“A detailed analysis of the changing representations of the UK border policy and migration over the last ten years, the influence of media discourse in political decision making is highlighted in this dissertation”

Summarise Your Research

The thesis conclusion gives your readers a reminder about why you approached a topic in a certain way. You must summarize the expected results and the actual results that matched these expectations.

The summary should not have too many repetitions. It is not meant to summarize every chapter. Instead, it must reflect your views and ideas that were developed through the course of the thesis. This is also a good opportunity to list any limitations in the research. You can also highlight why your methodology was best suited for the topic discussed.

Here is an example of how to restate thesis in conclusion:

This research evidently shows “X” while raising a few questions about “Y”. In keeping with the example provided above, the summary can begin as follows: “In addition to showcasing the various representations of UK border policy, this thesis also raises questions on the credibility of media exposure in these representations.”

Provide Recommendations

In the discussion of your research, you may have provided possible areas to explore in future research. However, with the conclusion, you can elaborate on these suggestions. Make sure you include the implications of all your findings in the field of study.

These examples will help you understand ways to start a dissertation conclusion recommendation:

“Further research is required to determine the relationship between the changing political views on migration and their effect on global economy”, or, “Based on the conclusions of this research, practitioners may consider studying the relationship between migration and economy”

Make sure that you do not exaggerate how applicable your research is. Instead, provide broader statements to highlight important insights of your thesis. Remember, the conclusion must not include any new interpretations, data or arguments.

Highlight the Contributions of You Research

A good thesis is one that provides some new knowledge to a particular field of study. This gives your readers a very strong impression about the contributions of your thesis. You can highlight the contributions of your research in different ways as mentioned below:

Go back to the problem statement and explain how your thesis has helped solve it.
Use references from the literature review to showcase how your research has addressed any gaps in information.
Write about how the results of your thesis challenges existing assumptions and theories.

You need to make sure that you do not repeat information that has already been covered in the discussion. Choose only the important points and provide a brief overview.

Complete the Dissertation

Once the conclusion is written, there are a few final steps to complete your dissertation:

Write the thesis abstract in 200 words or less .
Review your reference list and format it as per the writing style. You can also use online reference generators to speed up this process.
Create the table of contents and complete the title page .

Make sure you review the document completely to ensure that there are no language errors.

Dissertation Conclusion Checklist

To make sure that you have understood the essence of the conclusion, compare this checklist with any available dissertation conclusion sample:

The research question is answered The argument is summarised There is some reflection on the methods and results Limitations, if any, are highlighted The most relevant recommendations are discussed The important contributions of the thesis are explained clearly There is no inclusion of new data

If you need any thesis writing help or wish to read through example of conclusion in thesis, our experts are always ready to help you. Get in touch with us now to create an impressive conclusion for your thesis.