Candide: All Was Well In The World

CANDIDE

Candide was a true believer in Pangloss’ theory that all was well in the world. “Pangloss proved admirably that there is no effect without a cause and that in this best of all possible worlds…things cannot be otherwise for since everything is made for an end, everything is necessarily for the best end. Observe that noses were made to wear spectacles; and so we have spectacles. Legs were visibly instituted to be breeched, and we have breeches.”(p.4) Even though these ideas can be considered illogical in real life. Candide and the rest of the people living in the Baron’s castle never questioned the validity of Pangloss’ philosophy. Maybe their conformity was due to a lack of experience, the belief at the

Voltaire uses an Ironic approach when talking about the war. When Candide had been wondering the streets after getting kicked out of the Baron’s castle, two men came up to him and asked him if he was five feet tall, when he answered “yes, gentlemen, that is my height”, civilly they invited him to dinner. They said, “men were meant to help each other”. Candide was then trained in the Bulgarian army and forced to train to fight the Abarians in war. Candide’s belief in Pangloss’ Philosophy was tested for the first time. How can all be well when so much killing is going on around him? Candide was confused on why he couldn’t just walk away from the training camps, since he believed that “to use his legs as he pleased was a privilege of the human species as well as of animals”. Eventually, many months later, Candide escapes and makes his way to Holland. An Anabaptist named Jacques offers Candide his help. The next day he runs into a beggar who turns out to be Pangloss. Candide asks Pangloss about the whereabouts of his Cunegonde, to which he responds that she is dead. “Cunegonde dead! Ah! Best of worlds, where are you?” was Candide's response. This is the first time that Candide questions Pangloss’ philosophy. The doctor explains that he has contracted a disease from Paquette which traces back one of the companions of Christopher Columbus that was with him when he went to the

Candide, the old woman, and Cunegonde flee to Buenos Aires where Governor Don Fernando falls in love with Cunegonde and takes her as his own. The old woman warns Candide that an officer from Spain was coming to arrest the murderer of the Grand Inquisitor. Candide and his valet, Cacambo flee to Paraguay where they accidentally meet up with Cunegonde’s brother who is now a Jesuit colonel. When Candide tells him that he intends to marry Cunegonde, the colonel gets furious, they get into a fight and Candide stabs him, forcing him to flee once again. When they are captured by the Oreillons, they are taken for Jesuits and were about to be cooked and eaten if it Cacambo had not convinced them that Candide was not a Jesuit by telling them that he had just killed the Colonel. They were released when the Oreillons confirmed what Cacambo had mentioned. Here Voltaire implies that by having killed someone, Candide was spared his life, how can killing somebody be for the best? They decide to take a canoe down the river where they end up