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- erdecker
- Enchanted April at Roc Rep Jan 2016 (Sound Design). Donnybrook's Dilemma Murder Mystery Jan 10 (Donnybrook actor). Valentine's Murder Mystery at Plummer House Feb 13 (actor). Ole and Lena in Love at Rochester Sons of Norway March 19 (Director).
3 comments:
Voltaire uses many devices such as satire in order to convey several messages throughout his novel. One is how man's ignorance leads to trouble. When in Eldarad, Candide obtains loads of gold proceeds to flee thinking he can obtain true happiness with his riches. However, his woes continue in the same manner as before his arrival at Eldarado. Had he just remained in the streets of gold, he would have lived a happy life. However candide's ignorance does not allow him to reach this conclusion.
The author also takes time to attack religious factions and how they interact. After the earthquake, the leaders decide to hold an auto-de-fey in which criminals are burned alive. It turns out they are burning people of other religions, and making a show out of it, which Candide witnesses from very good seats. In addition, when the inquisitor dies, his peers bury him faithfully, while they throw the body of the Jew in a garbage dump. Voltaire obviously has issues with the intolerance of religious people.
A more obscure message that is addressed involves women, and how they are treated, The main women that are brought into the story are Cunegonde and the old woman. Both of these characters suffer rape, abuse, and neglect which leaves them in a most unfortunate situation. However, despite this, both are able to contribute to the hero's quest. For example, the old woman advices Candide to flee from Buenos Aires so that he won't be killed. Voltaire does this in order to convey that women are important figures in society that are wrongly mistreated.
Taylor Thompson
Cunegonde plays a very important role in Candide as Voltaire uses her character to show the many different horrific events women had to go through.
However, I also thought of Cunegonde in a different way. It's possible Voltaire used her to help symbolize that perfect life everyone searches for but can never achieve. Throughout the novel, nearly all of the character's complain about how miserable their life is while Candide continuously searches for the beautiful Cunegonde. It seems as if he thinks she will make his life much better once they're together. Ironically, when the two end up together, Cunegonde has a, "weather-beaten face, bloodshot eyes, withered breasts, wrinkled cheeks and red, scaly arms..," and Candide is yet again unsatisfied.
I think Voltaire uses Cunegonde, not only to show the many hardships of women,but also how people strive for many things expecting them to bring great happiness, but no matter how much searching or striving takes place it seems as though people are never satisfied.
Once Candide tried to get a ride to Italy by way of the Dutch captain's ship, and was swindled by the man for a large sum of money and sheep, I was left questioning what Voltaire's point was by punishing the man later on, having his ship sunk along with his crew. As others have said during the discussion, Voltaire's point of having Candide losing his money and being unhappy with it is to show that true happiness is completely unattainable, as is shown through the scene in El Dorado, where no one uses the money that is scattered throughout the town. However, if a man that has taken Candide's money wrongfully is punished, this completely throws that point out the window, if only for an instant. We had discussed the reason for Voltaire bringing the numerous supposedly "dead" characters back in the end: and we had come to agree that bringing them back was to mock (if my memory serves me correctly, which it doesn't necessarily) the Epicurean belief that everything is for the best (showing the ultimate result of what would happen if this belief was true). Perhaps, also by having this man punished, he is trying to show that putting certain unattainable goals in life is not worth anything if one does not work the options that he/she has at hand (as we discussed to some length from the "garden" scene at the end), seeing as Candide immediately thinks of Cunegonde after this scene, and he is just as soon disappointed by the end of the book, once he realizes that she is wrinkled and frail-looking. If Candide had built his "own garden", he would have just accepted his initial loss just as much as he should have accepted the sinking of the dutch captain. He would have continued to work with what he had, been happy with his own life, and continued on.
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