Comparative Essay

A detailed Summary of Comparative Essay

From the works that we have studied in class, one can not help but notice the role of women in these works. In Voltaire's Candide, the reader clearly sees that he is trying to evoke sympathy from the reader towards women. Voltaire depicts this image with two main characters, Cunegund and the old woman. Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier, represent women in a different light unlike that of Voltaire. Ford depicts women as taking advantage of men for their own benefit. This is clearly seen when Florence seduces Edward because he is rich and is English. In Ted Hughes' poem Her Husband, he depicts women as slave to the man and it is her duty to serve him. Through this image Hughes is evoking sympathy towards women because of what they must endure. The role of women is key to understanding the works and the authors intentions.

Voltaire clearly depicts women when he introduces Cunegund and later the old woman. Voltaire is able to portray a gruesome detail of women's life and their role in society through Cunegund and the old woman. In Voltaire's novel he gives the reader many images to state the fact that being a woman was not pleasant. Through Cunegund life and the story of the old the woman, the reader receives a sense

of what they had to live through. After Candide is banished from the castle the reader learns later that the Bulgarians attacked it and destroyed it. This is the first time that the reader receives information about how Cunegund is treated. Voltaire gives the reader a taste of Cunegund's experience when he writes,

Although Voltaire does not explicitly give detail of how the old woman was treated, the underlying meaning is that she was treated violently and without respect. Not only Cunegund but her mother and all her maids of honor as well. Voltaire clearly emphasis the fact that being a woman was a pleasant life. Through this image the reader feels a sense of sympathy towards the women because they are helpless and must endure the hardships else they would be killed.

This is the first time that Cunegund is treated that way, but it was certainly not the last. The other aspect that Voltaire attempts to introduce the reader to about women is that they are treated as slaves by men. This is evident as we follow Cunegund's life, she encounters the Grand Inquisitor and a Jew who share her several days a week. That is to say that the two men split the week up to share Cunegund for pleasure and she must accept this because otherwise she would be homeless and penniless. Voltaire further depicts the life of woman when he introduces the old woman who is Cunegund's helper. The old woman explains her story to Cunegund and Candide in chapters eleven and twelve. The most horrific part of the story is when she was captured by Moors who did as they wished with them.

As to myself, I was enchanting; I was beauty itself, and then I had my virginity. But, alas! I did not retain it long; this precious flower, which had been reserved for the lovely Prince of Massa Carrara, was cropped by the captain of the Moorish vessel, who was a hideous Negro, and thought he did me infinite honor. Indeed, both the Princess of Palestrina and myself must have had

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Approximate Word count = 1321
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English