Candide Voltaire

Author's Biography 

Voltaire was one of France’s most influential writers (he was also historian, and philosopher). He often used satire to criticize the intolerance, the backwardness and hypocrisies of his day. Although he often criticized organized religions such as Christianity and Islam, he did believe in some higher power and would probably have considered himself a deist. These traits fit in perfectly with his description of Eldorado, the perfect society; one in which citizens worship a god, but have no priests or clergy. Voltaire was educated as a young man, by Jesuits, and gained a strong dislike of them as a result. His dislike of Jesuits is portrayed in his depiction of a few Jesuits in “Candide”, especially Cunegonde’s brother, one who claims to preach love and righteousness, but judges him by his family’s position the second Candide wants to marry Cunegonde. 

 

 Synopsis: Candide is a young man, born a bastard to a baroness. His view of the world is limited strictly to that of the “mansion” he grew up in, and his understanding of the world is limited to his tutor, Pangloss’, optimistic philosophy, until he is kicked out of the mansion. His journey begins with a sexual interaction with Cunegonde, the daughter of the baron of the house (his cousin?). It’s obvious that Candide was born too lowly for Cunegonde to kiss, so Candide is sent on his way without a dime in his pocket. He ends up joining the Bulgar army, fighting a war, witnessing the death and destruction of such a war, and getting flogged for a crime he didn’t commit. All the while, he tells everybody he meets of Pangloss’ theory that all things are for the best, at every chance he gets (this does him no good). He is eventually taken in by a kind Anabaptist, and finds Pangloss almost dead on the street in the best of allpossible worlds from syphilis, and takes him in. The 3 travel overseas, a journey on which the Anabaptist is killed doing something good for another drowning man. Pangloss and Candide witness the aftermath of an earthquake in Lisbon. Pangloss ends up getting hanged for preaching things that aren’t Christianity, and Candide is flogged. Cunegonde takes care of him after his flogging, as she is a sex slave to a Grand Inquisitor and a Jew. Candide kills both of her masters, and they flee, with an old caretaker, on horseback, to the new world. Their jewels are stolen, and the old caretaker tells her sad story. Cunegonde is again stolen by a rich man, Candide and his new partner, Cacambo, find a Colonel who turns out to be Cunegonde’s brother, and Candide kills him when he refuses him the right to marry his sister. The two flee and are almost eaten by a tribe when mistaken as Jesuits. They come to the village of Eldorado, in which there is no poverty and no religious persecution and the ground is littered with gold. They eventually leave with 102 sheep carrying a huge load of jewelry. 100 sheep die, but they are left with 2. Candide is shaken by the sight of a mutilated slave, and his optimism is broken. His money is stolen by a slave master, leaving him with what he has in his pockets. Cacambo leaves to buy back Cunegonde, and Candide is joined by a pessimistic and down trodden scholar, Martin, on his journey to Europe. Candide watches his thief get destroyed in a battle, and one sheep comes back to him. The two go to Paris and are tricked into giving away more money. He is disgusted by England and refuses to set foot in it, and believes in his salvation in Venice. Candide is distraught by the fact that he can’t find Cunegonde in Venice, and endorses Martin’s belief of an evil world. They encounter a lovely looking couple that are actually very unhappy, a dejected man that seems to have everything, and 6 dethroned kings, one of which owns Cacambo. In Constantinople, Candide finds Pangloss and the Baron working as galley slaves, and buys their freedom. They all eventually settle on a farm and choose not to ponder good and evil, but to work towards their real self-improvement. They withdraw from the world and find some amount of happiness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Characters:

• Candide: A young man that starts his journey naively invested in an overly optimistic world view his tutor Pangloss preaches and lives by. He goes through adventure after adventure in pursuit of his love, Cunegonde, eventually dumping his impractical world view of overpowering optimism. His worldly education gives him a more practical and proactive world view.

• Cunegonde: Candide’s obsession throughout the book. She initiates the first sexual relations between them. She is constantly victimized and horribly abused throughout the book, but does not become weak and submissive

• Pangloss: Candide’s tutor. He survives hangings, dissections, syphilis, you name it. He is convinced throughout the book that everything is for the best and there’s no use complaining or changing things, as it all comes out to the same great ending.

 

Social Criticism in Candide: One of Voltaire's main points meant to be portrayed in this satirical piece is that the popular philosophical belief of his time, that this was the best of all possible world's, was naive and impractical. It's hard to really believe that this is the best world a benevolent god could have thought of when you find yourself close to death, lying on the street ridden with syphilis. In the best of all possible worlds, does the honorable and selfless man drown while trying to save a criminal? Volataire puts Pangloss in the middle of all this vileness to really emphasize how ridiculous it is to maintain such an opinion of the world full of blind optimism. Volataire's next main point in Candide was that the church was full of hypocrits and liars like the Grand Inquisitor fighting with a Jew over a sex slave. The righteous Church burns alive two men that refuse to eat pork... for the good of God. Using El Dorado as a hypothetical "perfect world", Voltaire makes a comment on the nature of man. Even if we found a world without problems, we would itch to be gone, or would create problems of our own. We can't live in a perfect world, it's against the nature of man.