Candide: Discussion

Voltaire’s novel, Candide, features satire as social commentary on religion, maltreatment of women, slavery, money, philosophies, and societal ideas that were prominent during the course of the Enlightenment. Through the characters Cunegonde and the old woman, Voltaire exposes that women were seen as property and secondary citizens; they were treated as weak, helpless individuals that needed a high ranking husband to ensure a jubilant life. For instance, Cunegonde’s father decides who she will marry despite who she is truly in love with. Women of this time didn’t marry for love, their marriages were often arranged.

In Constantinople, Cunegonde and the old woman were both slaves and were treated horribly by the men there. It was not until Candide purchased them that they finally gained their independence. Later, the old woman tells of being raped and mutilated in an ordinary, relaxed tone and describes it as being “common”. Voltaire expresses in the aforementioned scenes, that women were beheld as property belonging to men. Cunegonde, being shared by the Grand Inquisitor and the Jewish merchant, is also an example of this. Voltaire’s views regarding the treatment of women were similar to those of Montesquieu in his book The Persian Letters, where he specifically discussed the men of Paris and their views on a woman’s place and purpose in society.

Hypocrisy and religious persecution by the Roman Catholic Church is an important aspect of the Enlightenment that is discussed in the book. For instance, almost all of the religious figures repeatedly break canon law and disregard their virtuous duties. The Baron belonged to the Jesuits and his family is living better than the poor people they should have been aiding. James, the Anabaptis...

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...elves and reject our curious nature, that’s when the world will know eternal bliss. Voltaire’s views surface through Candide’s views in the final chapters of the book. The resurrection of Pangloss and other characters that were thought to be dead symbolized the recurrence of evil and the dominance of evil over good.

People’s ability to be content is explained by the old woman while they are aboard the ship. The woman discusses how she has contemplated suicide many times to end her misery; however her selfish love of life itself keeps her from actually killing herself. She believed that everyone on the ship had a bad story and that was evidence of evil in the world. Cacambo specifically was pure evidence of someone who overcame the world’s malice and learned to be satisfied with it. In conclusion, man will never be content with life; he must learn to adjust to it.