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Dylan Rivera

Mrs. Balka

IB HL English

19 October 2018

Candide - Prompt 9

The Enlightenment brought about new ways of thinking. It was essentially a playground

of new ideas, in which people toyed with new philosophies and ran around new ideologies. Of

the several new thoughts that came to the surface of the Western World at the time, Voltaire - a

French philosopher and writer - was one of the most pronounced and vocal of these free-thinking

fellows. His novella, Candide, served as a satire to share his views in a lighthearted way and

convey a powerful message to the people at the time. His most powerful technique for expressing

his thoughts was through the names of the characters he decided to incorporate in his piece -

specifically, Cunegonde, Pangloss, and Candide himself.

Cunegonde, a beloved belle in Candide’s eyes, played a major role in developing

Voltaire’s purpose in writing the novella.Her name is a pun on the Latin and French terms for

“genitalia” - perfectly fitting for the role she plays in the story. By being the object of Candide’s

reckless infatuation, Voltaire uses her to represent the supposed “love” so many people chase

after, which he argues is really just lust and an obsession with physical appearances. Thus, it is

unsurprising that Candide’s entire adventure revolves around making Cunegonde his bride for no

other reason than obtaining her beauty (as if she were an object) - from seeking her out after

being kicked out of Westphalia, to saving her from being a sex slave, to rescuing her from the

ultra rich governor of Buenos Aires. Throughout all these instances Candide expresses no reason
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to marry her other than her physical appearance - after all, all he is really chasing after is

“genitalia”. Voltaire makes this clear: this love story has no real depth to it, reflecting what he

believed was truly the state of love at the time, in which people were guided by their sexual

desires rather than their hearts. Furthermore, the bit of irony at the end of the novel -

“[Cunegonde] daily grew uglier, and became more and more cantankerous and insufferable”

(139) - provides a tragic end to the once prized love Candide sought out before. Once again,

Cunegonde’s name is fitting for this situation: as she was really just a physical object that

Candide desired, it is normal that her body would grow old and her physical beauty wane away

with time. The fact that Cunegonde’s body is repeatedly emphasized here goes to show that

contemporary notions of “love” were blinded by physical appearances and had no real substance

behind them. Candide represents the people who actually believe they are in love when they are

simply infatuated, while Cunegonde embodies the unfortunate object of desire that is lusted after

for no other reason than her appearance. This, for Voltaire, was foolish and immature. Real love

is not rooted in a fleeting sense of humanly beauty.

The character Pangloss is also notable for having tremendously influenced the

development of the novella. His name, on the other hand, means “all tongue” which is just

another way of saying “all talk”. The meaning of this term is crucial in understanding the role he

plays and why Voltaire chose this name and character to manifest the fallacious nature of

optimism. He believed that optimism, a philosophy spewed by German philosopher Gottfried

Leibniz, was dangerous and blinded people from truly assessing the world around them.

Pangloss is used to convey this foolish nature of optimism, specifically through his ignorant

ways that are often mistaken - such as when Pangloss mistakenly makes the Great Lisbon

Earthquake out to be a good thing, suggesting that it is God’s plan and the result of his
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perfection. Ironically, however, thousands of people die and several aftershocks occur, with

Pangloss’s and Candide’s stay in Portugal being marked by their eventual beatings and hangings.

Here, clearly, Pangloss’s words have no substance behind them. He is really just “all talk” and

his words mean nothing. Likewise, Leibniz’s optimistic outlook is equally foolish and means

nothing. At the very end of the novella as well is when Pangloss’s meaningless words come out

again, such as when he says, “you would not be eating candied fruit and pistachio nuts” (144) if

it weren’t for all the toils that Candide and Pangloss had to go through together. Candide

ultimately dismisses the benefits and simply states that they must continue working in the

garden, defiant of the man whom he once admired so much. Pangloss’s words have no

significance to them anymore; anything he says could be compared to brouhaha and epitomize

the idiocy of optimism.

Finally, it is through Candide himself that Voltaire wishes to carry out his ultimate goal.

Candide means “white, pure, honest, sincere, naive” - perfect for what Voltaire wants him to

represent. Candide is supposed to represent the people of Europe at the time who were suspected

to this optimist philosophy and blinded to what was really out there. In a similar fashion,

Candide is outstandingly ignorant in his adventure - ignorant to the horrors of war, the deceit in

others, and even the hidden evils behind Christians and the Catholic Church. Despite all of the

trials that Candide is forced to undergo and the troubles that confront him, he somehow weasels

his way through and survives, still (although not by the end) seeing the glass as half full and the

troubles as beneficial for the world. The “naive” meaning to his name is especially important

here, as the ignorance that Candide displays is exactly what Voltaire feared was happening to

Europeans at the time. People, when confronted with a horrific world plagued by evil, still turn a

blind eye to it and nevertheless follow the foolish philosophy of optimism. That, as Voltaire
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shows, needed to change. Additionally, since by the end of the novella Candide changes his mind

and begins to show signs that he has renounced optimism, Voltaire wishes to leave a final

message with his readers: people can still change and deny optimism’s validity. As Candide is

defiant of Pangloss’s optimism at the end, he shows that he is sincere and willing to change now

that he has made the decision for himself (rather than just listening to Pangloss). Candide’s

name, suggesting sincerity and honesty, represents the ideal for the European people. People can

change and it is necessary that they do to prevent foolish optimism.

Ultimately, it is through the characters of Cunegonde, Pangloss, and Candide that

Voltaire expresses his message. It is his creative power that makes his message so compelling

and convincing.