Zach Anderson
Mr. Davis
English 102
25 November 2014
An Interpretation of Candide Using a Historical Approach
Candide is a novel that was written by French author, Francois-Marie Arouet,
who wrote under the pseudonym Voltaire. The novel was published in the year
1759 and serves to satirically exploit the faults of society during the mid 18th
century. Voltaire was known for his use of irony, his quick wit, silver tongue, and his
ability to win over others with the use of flattery. His quick wit and loud mouth
however landed him in prison on more than one occasion seeing as he lived in a
world where noncompliance was punished and free speech did not exist. He lived
most of his life in poverty during a time called “The Enlightenment”, which was
when European aristocracy ruled and the lower class was at the mercy of the
nobility. During The Enlightenment, the commoners of the world began to stray
slightly from the indoctrination of the church and monarchist rulers and began to
think for themselves using reason and science. Voltaire was an advocate of this and
used Candide to shed light on the arrogance of the nobility, the corruption in church
and government, and the horrifying lifestyle of those affected by war, poverty, and
famine.
Candide, the protagonist, is introduced as the illegitimate nephew of a
German Baron. He was an illegitimate child because his mother refused to marry his
father due to his family having one less quartering than her family, which means he
was slightly less noble. Right out of the gate Voltaire takes a stab at the pettiness of
the aristocrats. Candide lives in the Baron’s castle accompanied by Pangloss, a
philosopher who believes that the world is as good as it could possibly be, Paquette,
a maid who is sleeping with Pangloss, Cunegonde, the cousin of Candide for whom
he is in love, and her brother, who arguably represents the arrogance and greed of
the nobility better than any other character in the novel.
Candide’s love for Cunegonde ends up getting him kicked out of the castle by
the baron after the two are caught kissing. He travels to the next town where he
nearly starves to death. Fortunately for him, two men find him and decide to give
him food and money. They end up convincing Candide to enlist in the Bulgar army.
One day Candide decides to go for a walk and as a result is accused of being a
deserter. He is given a choice between execution and a cruel punishment known as
running the gauntlet, which will almost certainly result in death. He reluctantly
chooses to run the gauntlet thirty-six times instead of accepting death. Running the
gauntlet is a punishment in which the accused is forced to run between two lines of
men whilst being stricken with various weapons. Candide runs it only twice before
he receives a lucky break from the king of the Bulgars but he is still badly injured.
The King grants him pardon because he claims Candide is ignorant of the world.
Voltaire describes the event and many others in the book very nonchalantly while at
the same time using vivid imagery in order to agitate readers and make them
question the legitimacy of the morbid actions carried out by the men of the army. It
also makes the readers question why the common people would let a government
that would punish a man just for going on a walk, rule over them without protest.
Voltaire had a strong distaste for injustice and it seems that he tried to instill that in
his readers. The basis behind Candide’s judgment was “guilty until proven
innocent,” not the other way around which was an unfair social norm that
unsurprisingly resulted in the punishment of innocent people quite often. Voltaire
wanted to see this changed.
After recovering from his wounds, Candide goes to war for the Bulgars.
Ironically he deserts at the earliest opportunity but before leaving he witnesses
villages being burned to the ground, innocent civilians being murdered, and women
being brutally raped and abducted to later be sold as slaves. Voltaire wanted readers
to feel that the nobility started the war out of greed, remaining blissfully ignorant of
the horrifying consequences that befell the common people. Unfortunately that was
the way of the world during Voltaire’s lifetime and accurately represents many
battles during The Enlightenment era.
Candide arrives in Holland where he meets a Protestant orator that is trying
to find out if Candide agrees with the protestant beliefs. Candide, unsure of his
beliefs, gives an honest reply and explains that the only thing he is sure of is that he
is hungry. Without hesitation Candide is cursed and has human feces dumped on his
head. Voltaire, in this instance is criticizing the way that the protestant church at the
time was more concerned with gaining followers than it was helping those suffering
from famine and poverty.
Fortunately for Candide, a man named Jacques takes him in and is kind
enough to give him a job in a rug factory. Not long after he begins working, Candide
discovers a beggar on the streets that is deformed. The man is Pangloss who
explains to him that Paquette gave him syphilis and was driven out of the castle by
an attack of the Bulgars. He believes that everyone was killed and multiple men
raped Cunegonde before she was taken and sold as a slave. Pangloss was deformed
as a result of the syphilis and ends up losing an eye and an ear. Despite all of the
terrible events Pangloss has been a part of, he is still optimistic and explains that all
is for the best. Voltaire intentionally portrays Pangloss as being optimistic to a fault
in order to parody the many philosophers of The Enlightenment who stayed true to
their arguments and teachings even though they were sometimes proven to be
illogical.
Later on Jacques brings Candide and Pangloss on a ship to Lisbon that is
sunken by a storm. As the boat is sinking, Jacques gives his own life to save a man
who had fallen overboard. The man survives and ironically, gets drunk and sleeps
with a prostitute as soon as they make landfall. This is ironic because Jacques was a
man who was selfless and kind but lost his life, while the man he saved made no
attempt to help Jacques and appears to be a sinner based on his known habits.
People like Jacques were hard to come by in Voltaire’s society because it was a
society that was driven by fear of poverty and misfortune, which resulted in greed
and selfishness among those who were weak-willed.
As the story progresses, Candide meets an old woman who takes him to a
house in the country. Much to his surprise, Candide is greeted by Cunegonde. She
tells of how she is now the mistress of a Jew named Don Issachar and a grand
inquisitor. They both show up at the house and are killed by Candide. The grand
inquisitor is given a grand burial but the Jew is thrown into a pile of feces. Voltaire
once again, without coming out and saying it, attempts to enlighten readers of the
harsh realities that plague their society. The difference in the way the two men were
treated illustrates that the concept of “all men are created equal” had not been
adopted yet in this society.
Voltaire later reveals the story of the old woman that brought Candide and
Cunegonde back together. She was the daughter of a pope but was abducted, raped,
and enslaved by multiple people. Voltaire uses the old woman’s circumstances to
attack the Catholic Church. The Pope was a very powerful figure and would most
likely be able to save his child had he chosen to do so. However he did nothing
because in having the old woman as a child, the pope, who is the most high and
respected member of the Catholic clergy, broke his vow of celibacy. Voltaire uses
this to address the hypocrisy that was present in the Catholic Church during the mid
18th century.
After Voltaire incorporates several more cleverly delivered criticisms of
church and nobility into the novel, Candide and Cunegonde become separated, but
shortly after, Candide’s misfortunes take a turn for the better as he comes across a
large fortune. He sets out to find Cunegonde and on his quest stumbles upon her
brother, the baron, who managed to survive the Bulgar attack. He explains to the
baron that he wants to find and marry Cunegonde but the baron is outraged and
considers Candide’s proposal insulting since he is not of nobility. The two men get
into a bit of a quarrel during which Candide stabs the baron with a sword and flees.
As aforementioned the baron represents the pettiness and greed of the nobility,
which he illustrates when he starts a fight with Candide over a simple asking of his
blessing.
As Candide journeys to find Cunegonde, he witnesses the hanging of an
English admiral and refuses to set foot in England after learning why. Voltaire
explains in the novel that the admirals were sometimes executed to encourage the
men of the navy to fight harder. Voltaire, who actually witnessed the execution of an
English admiral, recognizes and exploits the ridiculousness of the occurrence. He
wanted readers to understand that the taking of a life as a morale boost was
preposterous.
Candide, after searching for months and being robbed of most of his fortune,
finds Cunegonde only to find out that she has become hideous. Having promised to
marry her, he does so reluctantly. He purchases a farm where he, Cunegonde, and a
few of the other characters settle down and decide to spend the rest of their days
working hard in the garden. They all end up satisfied because they ended up focused
less on politics and philosophy and more on self-improvement. Voltaire being a
realist ends the novel with a rather neutral ending. It is neither happy nor sad but it
serves its purpose well which was to provoke the thought that the commoners could
be in control of their own happiness.
Voltaire’s Candide, is rather short but is not lacking in content that is riddled
with historical references and criticisms. He repetitively satirizes the negative
influences in his society through the use of imagery and hyperbole. He downplays
every terrible thing that happens in the novel, which forces the reader to feel like
they have to do something about the way they live if they want it to be changed.
Voltaire incorporates actual historical events into the novel to make it easy for the
readers of the time to relate. In this novel Voltaire was not afraid to speak his mind
and effectively criticized the arrogance and indiscretion of the nobility, and the
hypocrisy that plagued both the Protestant and Catholic Churches.
Works Cited
Voltaire. Candide. Trans.John Butt. New York: Penguin Books, 1990.