A Clever Guise

The final chapter of Candide does an excellent job of tying the story up, while raising enough questions make us look back on the story in a new light. Early on in the chapter, we’re shown how Candide’s love (or lust), for Cunegonde dissipates, and along with it the moral high ground Candide tied himself to throughout his journeys. We discover that Candide’s passion for Cunegonde was because of her beauty, and not his love, and that Candide married Cunegonde only because “. . . the baron’s extreme impertinence decided him in favor of the marriage” (Voltaire 578). Because of Candide’s change of heart in regard to Cunegonde, we’re forced to question his motives, since it was his supposed love for Cunegonde that drove him around the world. While during the story Candide manifests his love as true, looking back on the story, he actually uses that love as an excuse for almost every bad choice he makes. A very good example of this is when Candide and Cacambo are contemplating leaving Eldorado, and Candide says “It’s true, my friend, I’ll say it again, the castle where I was born does not compare with the land where we now are; but Miss Cunegonde is not here” (Voltaire 550). Here Candide is using Cunegonde to cover his own restlessness, but shortly after, Candide shows his true motivation saying “If we stay here, we shall be just like everybody else” (Voltaire 550). Considering the story in this light, Candide shows himself to be much like Pangloss, using people around him as convenient to justify whatever his passion drove him to do.

In closing, I found this video very funny and entertaining, and the site also has some very interesting interviews concerning Candide as well.