The Contributions Of Love In Voltaire's Novel

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François-Marie Arouet, also known as Voltaire, was born on November 21, 1694, near Paris, France. He was born to a middle-class family and by the age of ten he had acquired a passionate opposition to organized religion and an eagerness for literature. Voltaire’s inclination for satire brought him enemies, powerful friends, and got him locked up in the Bastille prison for almost one year. Candide was a response to a destructive earthquake that hit Lisbon, in Portugal, on November 1, 1755. Candide is a satire on love because no real romantic love seems to exist in the novel. Candide’s love for Cunégonde is the driving force of his journey in the novel. Cunégonde was seventeen, plump, fresh, and desirable. Candide found her remarkably pretty …show more content…

She lived in a palace and grew up in wealth, pleasures, charm, dignities, and talent. At the age of fourteen, she was engaged to the prince of Massa Carrara, but his mistress murdered him with a toxic drink. When the old woman and her mother set sail to Gaeta pirates raped the women where eventually they would be sold as slaves. Despite the numerous times the old woman was raped and sold she was pleased to meet a countryman who took her to a nearby cottage to care for her. A nobleman took the old woman as his slave and beat her daily for two years until he was executed. The old woman almost committed suicide several times in her life, but never carried it out because she “loved life” too much. Voltaire repeatedly argued for human rights and refused to cast his writing as a response to current events and debates. About 30,000 people died in the earthquake that hit Lisbon in 1775. While Candide was on his journey he killed three men, two of which were priests. He abandoned El Dorado because of his love for Cunégonde and survived execution. When Candide killed the monkeys he believed his good deed would gain Cacambo, and he advantages in the unknown country, but it did not. The old woman suffered many times because of males, but was hopeful when one was willing to care of

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