Candide Test
1. What can you infer, from this novel, about Voltaire’s views on women? Give some examples (with page numbers).
Through Candide, Voltaire’s views on women reveal a belief that women were mistreated and undervalued in the culture of the 18th century. On page 16, Cunégonde is revealing her story to Candide, outlining the hardships she had endured since being captured. The episode in which Don Issachar and The Grand Inquisitor agree to share Cunégonde as a mistress serves as Voltaire’s expression of women’s servitude to men. To the two men, Cunégonde is nothing more than property, to be shared if necessary (as The Grand Inquisitor’s threats to Issachar made the occasion necessary). Throughout the book, Voltaire continues to pile up the miseries of women, especially through the Old Woman’s telling of her life story (mostly Chapters 11 & 12, beginning with page 20). Although Voltaire’s satire obviously stretches the limits of human suffering, he makes the point that women suffer needlessly, although one might equally argue that his satire pointed not just to women, but to men as well, as many unfortunate events befall almost everyone at some point in the course of the novel.
2. Give two examples from Candide (appearing in 1759) that show the influence of recent or ongoing events at that time.
The earthquake of Lisbon, occurring four years before Voltaire published Candide, allowed an excellent opportunity for Voltaire to satirize the barbarism of the Inquisition. As a Christian culture, a belief and faith in God would supposedly be the driving force behind the people and believers, but this is not the case during the Inquisition. Instead, what occurs is the Church taking matters upon itself to prevent another earthquake (pg 12-13), in the form of an auto-da-fe. As God’s supposedly most holy people torture and murder the dregs of society (or, in Pangloss’s exception, a failed execution), the act undermines the core of Christian theology, violating God’s commandments against murder and all sorts of evil. Also, in Chapter 23 (pg 58), Voltaire briefly criticizes the futility of constant warfare between England and France. As Candide inquires about the circumstances surrounding the execution of an Admiral, he is informed that doing so is necessary to “encourage the others” (59), showing the tendency towards barbarism during the time.
3. Voltaire’s slogan, during the last part of his life, was écrasez l’infâme (“Crush the vermin”), meaning the established church. Find evidence from Candide that shows his anti-church animus.
Throughout Candide, Voltaire allows no question about his dedication to “Crush the vermin.” Attacking the Church with every opportunity, among the episodes in Candide are repeated instances of religious leaders rejecting their vows and poorly leading God’s people. For instance, he Franciscan who steals from Cunégonde (pg 19) rejects God’s commandment to not steal. The Grand Inquisitor’s affair with Cunégonde and the Pope’s conception of the old woman both show the rejection of vows of celibacy, a plain outlet of Voltaire’s attack against the Church’s hypocrisy.
4. Describe the sentiment the novel displays regarding the nobility—provide 2 examples.
The most obvious example of Voltaire’s scorn for nobility is the name of one of his characters, Don Fernando d’Ilbaraa y Figuerora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza. The excesses in Fernando’s name shows the importance nobles placed upon themselves, as being much more important than mere peasants. Voltaire rejects this idea, especially the idea that the members of the nobility are any better than anyone else. The most clear embodiment of this theme is in the person of the Baron, Cunégonde’s ever ungracious brother. He never assents to Cunégonde and Candide marrying, even when Candide is wealthy, has saved both the Baron’s and Cunégonde’s lives, and the two are plainly indebted to Candide. To eradicate the useless presence of the Baron and his unconquerable pride, Candide sends the Baron back to the galleys from which he had just saved him.
5. “That’s well said, but we must work our land” (or: “cultivate our garden”) are Candide’s last words in the novel (p. 79): what might be meant by that?
The lines preceding Candide’s last words are Pangloss’s summary of all the travails Candide had to undergo to arrive at his current position in life, running the communal farm. Candide’s words seem to say that although all the hardships have been overcome, there is no chance to relax and stop working for improvement. That Candide has found some measure of happiness in his life at all after such endless suffering indicates that he has found some sort of palatable ‘solution’ to life’s misery, that being to suffer through misery the best way possible (as per the farmer’s advice, pg 78). With some semblance of tolerance for a harsh lot in life, Candide feels that the best way to move on is to simply try as hard as he can to make the best of whatever opportunities are available. In short, “we must work our land.”
Essay
After leaving Eldorado, Candide and Cacambo reach the Dutch colony of Surinam.
As they drew near to the town, they came on a Negro lying on the ground half-naked, which in his case meant in half a pair of short denim breeches. The poor man was missing his left leg and his right hand.
"My God!" said Candide..., "what are you doing lying here, my friend, in this dreadful state?"
"I'm waiting for my master, Mr. van der Hartbargin, the well-known trader," replied the Negro.
"And is it Mr. van der Hartbargin," said Candide, "who has treated you like this?"
"Yes, sir," said the Negro, "it is the custom. We are given one pair of short denim breeches twice a year, and that's all we have to wear. When we're working at the sugar-mill and catch our finger in the grinding-wheel, they cut off our hand. When we try to run away, they cut off a leg. I have been in both these situations. This is the price you pay for the sugar you eat in Europe. However, when my mother sold me...she said to me: 'My dear child, bless our fetishes, worship them always, they will bring you a happy life. You have the honour of being a slave to our lords and masters the Whites and, by so being, you are making your father's and mother's fortune.' Alas! I don't know if I made their fortune, but they didn't make mine. Dogs, monkeys, parrots, they're all a thousand times less wretched than we are. The Dutch fetishes who converted me tell me every Sunday that we are all the sons of Adam, Whites and Blacks alike. I'm no genealogist, but if these preachers are right, we are all cousins born of first cousins. Well, you will grant me that you can't treat a relative much worse than this."
"O Pangloss!" cried Candide, "this is one abomination you never thought of. That does it. I shall finally have to renounce your Optimism."
*Based on the passage cited above, and other instances from the book, discuss the main philosophical point that Voltaire appears to be making about Leibniz and his “best of all possible worlds”.
From the outset of Candide, it is clear that Voltaire is anything but an optimist. From the cold, detached, and disregarding language with which Voltaire writes the novel to the harsh content and subjects of satire, Voltaire attacks optimism relentlessly, particularly Leibniz’s philosophy of “the best of all possible worlds.” As every miserable episode Candide encounters further undermines the legitimacy of Leibniz’s philosophy, Candide begins to search for a truth he can accept, ultimately leading him to conclude that life is miserable. Therefore, Candide decides, the best must effort must be made to make life tolerable. Voltaire leaves no doubt to his audience that optimism is nothing more than useless theory.
The crippled slave offers probably the most serious and pathetic illustration of the cruelty of life, and the corresponding impossibility of the existence of a “best possible world.” While the old woman’s story certainly seems more miserable than the slave’s condition, it is an obvious journey into satire by Voltaire. In contrast, the state of misery for the slave is altogether real, as the misery of his life is inserted into Candide directly from the sugar plantations of colonial America. The ill treatment the slave receives, losing a hand and a leg while receiving only an abominable existence in return, attacks Leibniz directly. Leibniz holds that, since this is the best of all possible worlds, all that happens must be for the best. How losing a hand, leg, and living in permanent misery are for the best is beyond Candide’s grasp of thought. He is unable to reconcile such a plight with Pangloss’s determined philosophy and is left with no choice but to renounce it.
After renouncing Pangloss’s (Leibniz’s) useless philosophy, Candide must continue to search for Cunégonde, no longer armed with the belief that all will work out for the best. Although this does not radically alter the way in which Candide interacts with his environment, he does question Pangloss’s adherence to the obviously untrue philosophy. Eventually, even Pangloss will lose faith in his own belief, even though he still outwardly professes it (pg 77). As Pangloss is a symbolic representation of Leibniz himself, it is significant that the ‘originator’ of the philosophy eventually discovers its flawed concepts and gives up on it because if even Pangloss cannot explain away the misery of his life, certainly no one else will be able to. As a result, optimism is proven to be a flawed logic and, as a result, is useless, both to the characters of the novel and to Voltaire’s audience.
Throughout Candide, Voltaire creates many episodes of misery for his unfortunate characters. The level and tone of his satirical writing allows a reader to view the characters’ miserable plights with a touch of disdain and humor, but underneath the surface behind every event lays a hard truth that Voltaire is showing the reader. More pointed and less satirical than most other events in the novel is Candide’s encounter with the maimed slave. The truth Candide learns from his story irrevocably forces his rejection of optimism. As events unfold near the end of the novel, even Pangloss, the originator of the theory, can no longer truthfully assert that all is well in this world; Pangloss’s life experiences have invalidated the philosophy in which he had believed, leaving no doubt that all is not for the best. All that remains is Candide’s assertion to make the best of what life gives. That is, “we must work the land.”