Theme Of Women In Candide

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Women throughout history have always been an outcast in society. They have been looked down upon from men of higher power. Women have less privileges than men and often don’t have the same rights. People will look to a man for his opinion before asking for a woman’s thoughts. Women are often seen as prizes or objects to men. The previous statements are how women are portrayed in Candide in the 1750s. How would you feel if you or a woman in your life was treated this way in today’s society?
The women in Candide are seen to men as property. Men look upon their women as gold prizes that can be thrown out whenever they are finished with them or when they don’t pertain the same value as they once did. The women of this novel have no say in what their futures have in store for them. “A Bulgarian captain came in, saw me all bleeding, and the soldier not in the least disconcerted. The captain flew into a passion of disrespectful behavior of the brute, and slew him on my body. He ordered my wounds to be dressed, and took me to his quarters as a prisoner of war. I washed the few shirts he has, I did his cooking; he thought me very pretty…In three months’ time, having lost all his money, and being grown tired of my company, he sold me to a Jew, named Don Issachar, who traded to Holland and Portugal, and had a strong passion for women” (Voltaire 17). This exert …show more content…

They each represent a different stage in life. Cunégonde is young, innocent and beautiful. Paquette is a middle-aged women that is tattered and used. The Old Women is timeworn and not of any use to the men. Males in this novel view the females as their outside appearance. These women are judged by their beauty and beauty only. If the men do not find the women eye-catching then they are not valuable to them. This is a constant battle for the women because the hardships and misfortunes they go through take a toll on their

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