Voltaire's Candide 2

A detailed Summary of Voltaire's Candide 2

Throughout the documented history of the world, man has often blamed any downfall or negative aspect of his life on one thing: women. Whether this is right or wrong could be argued from today until time no longer exists, and we would still never come to any kind of conclusion. However, one example of this being true is Voltaire's classic novel Candide. There are only six women throughout the entire book, and each of them leads to the downfall of their male counterparts.

The first woman seen in the novel is Cunegonde, who serves as the love interest of the main character, Candide. The first time in the story that the two of them finally express their love for each other, they are intruded upon by Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, Cunegonde's father, who promptly kicks Candide out of the house. From the start, this woman is the cause of many difficulties for Candide, but he sticks by her until the end. After Candide is kicked out, he does not see his love for some time. The next we hear from her is what has happened to her during the time in which she has not seen him. Shortly after Candide was kicked out of the castle, it was invaded by Bulgars, one of whom found Lady Cunegonde just right for him

self. During the course of raping her, the soldier's captain entered the room, and seeing that he had caused great harm to her, killed his own soldier. This is another example of how much trouble is caused for men by the women in the story. It is almost unheard of that a captain would kill his own soldier. This captain then took care of Cunegonde, until within three months of having her in his home, he was broke. The captain sold her to Don Issachar, and she lived with him for some time. After a while, however, she split time between Don and the Grand Inquisitor. All went well for a while, until both of these men, who were men of stature, met their demise as well. And what should be more proper than their dying at the sword of Candide, who was reunited with Cunegonde after he himself was nearly killed. Towards the end of the story, when Candide is finally reunited with his dear sweet Cunegonde, and he has full intention of marrying her, she has become ugly, and the one thing that started him on his long journey, the prospect of marrying her has gone bad.

The second major woman character in the story is the old woman, who may have suffered (but also caused) greater misfortunes than Cunegonde. First of all, she claims to be the daughter of a Pope. Although this is unlikely, if it were true, I'm quite sure the Pope would have had a very difficult time explaining that one. After her intended husband had died, and she herself had been taken captive, the captain that was defending her, and all the others on the boat had been killed. Only she lived, but the entire incident was on account of her. Her mother only decided to take this trip because the old woman's husband-to-be had died.

Some common words found in the essay are:
I'm Pope, Candide Cacambo, El Dorado, Grand Inquisitor, Candide Throughout, Lady Cunegonde, Thunder-ten-tronckh Cunegonde's, Paquette Venice, James Anabaptist, Shortly Candide, candide kicked, major woman character, woman character, story women, el dorado, women story, own soldier, woman suffered, major woman,

Approximate Word count = 1148
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels