The Curious Case of Candide and Cunegonde

      

      Throughout the book Candide is trying to get back to his lovely Cunegonde as she is the love of his life.  It should be mentioned that his “life” consisted of a sheltered existence in the castle of Baron von Thunder-ten-tronckh where he was instructed by Dr. Pangloss.  Pangloss’ teaching is explained in the book as such, “ He could prove to wonderful effect that there was no effect without cause, and that, in this best of all possible worlds, his Lordship the Baron’s castle was the finest of castles and her Ladyship is the best of all possible baronesses.”  So from the beginning Candide is convinced that Cunegonde is the greatest of all women and there can be no better person to be his wife.  Unfortunately for him this plan falls apart rather quickly as the castle is attacked and everyone inside is raped and killed. Candide escapes and starts to see the world outside the bubble he had been living in and tries to apply Pangloss’ teaching to every event.  He soon learns that Cunegonde did not die, nor did a number of others that return at various points in the book.  From that moment on his every move is focused on getting back to his lovely Cunegonde.  Along the way Candide experiences much of the world and even passes through El Dorado, where he could live happily for the rest of his days in a perfect city, but he continues on to search for his dear Cunegonde.  At long last he is reunited with her only to have lost his fortunes along the way and now she is ugly and bitter, and becoming more so every day.  He expresses his feelings quite clearly in the conclusion, “At the bottom of his heart, Candide had no desire to marry Cunegonde; but the outrageous impertinence of the Baron determined him to go through with the ceremony.”  So poor Candide, after seeing so much of the world and having opportunities to be happy, sticks to his original “plan” and marries Cunegonde, living his meager existence out on a farm.  So what is the point of all this? Why did Voltaire write Candide? It is a satire of Leibniz's view that the world must be the best and most balanced because an all powerful, all knowing god created it and such a god would not create an imperfect world.  The story of Candide and the countless misfortunes that befall the characters is meant to disprove this idea. Any single misfortune from this book could change someone's life in the real world but Voltaire writes misery after misery to de-sensitize us to it. After half of the book, reading about another rape or death seems so trivial and that is exactly what Voltaire wants, for us to look back and see how flawed the world is, to see how ridiculous Liebniz's ideas are. After all that Candide goes through he has still not accepted that the world is obviously flawed and misery and woe are just as much a part of life as happiness and fortune.  Ultimately a character such as Candide could never exist in the real world and I believe Voltaire parallels Candide's impossibility to Leibniz's theory of optimism.