Why Is Candide Left Eldorado Do

Eldorado: Stay or Leave? The meaning behind the Eldorado chapter in Candide has been construed to thorough critical debate. What was Voltaire trying to represent? Perhaps it was his vision of Utopia, or perhaps it is meant to be represented as a false paradise. If Eldorado is the Utopian society Voltaire wrote it to be, is this society portrayed as one that all mankind can attain, or is it meant to represent the impossible dream? The genius behind Voltaire’s literary method has puzzled critics. What exactly was the significance of Voltaire’s descriptive manner? Why were some details included while others were totally left absent? Utopia is defined as an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. Eldorado would most

This perhaps is partially true, however, there are so many descriptive ideas created by Voltaires’ work that multiple translations, or all for that matter, could be true.

“It’s true, my friend, I’ll say it again, the castle where I was born does not compare with the land where we now are; but Miss Cunegonde is not here, and you doubtless have a mistress somewhere in Europe. If we stay here, we shall be just like everybody else, whereas if we go back to our own world, taking with us just a dozen sheep loaded with Eldorado pebbles, we shall be richer than all the kings put together, we shall have no more inquisitors to fear, and we shall easily be able to retake Miss Cunegonde.” (Voltaire)

Although Cunegonde was perhaps the most literary reason for leaving the Utopia, Voltaire hinted and sometimes blatantly described other reasons behind Candide’s decision to leave. Perhaps Candide and Cacambo grew restless and began to feel unfulfilled because of the Utopian belief that all are equal. After all, they were raised in an entirely different economic system where social status meant so much. Perhaps there motivations to leave was simply that of a materialistic view of becoming wealthy and rich with the gems they intended on taking with