Arouet De VoltaireS

“Candide” Essay, Research Paper

In Arouet de Voltaire?s Candide, Candide travels the world to meet many people and see many places. He is not the sharpest pencil in the box and this gives him a unique spin on the adventures he has. During his encounters, love can be seen in many forms. The purpose of this paper is to show that the idea of love is another word for sex in this story.

Miss Cunegonde infatuated Candide. Candide had a list of four reasons for his happiness. The first was ? being Born Baron of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh, the second order was to be Miss Cunegonde, the third was seeing her ever day,? (522) and the fourth was ?listening to Master Pangloss.?(522) Two of his four reasons for happiness was contained in the presence of Miss Cunegonde. Candide was also shy. Candide ?found Miss Cunegonde exceedingly pretty, though he never had the courage to tell her so.?(522) So how is it that our hero is equates love and sex?

Cunegonde is a different animal. She ?had in the natural bent for the sciences, she watched breathlessly the repeated experiments which were going on? (522), between Pangloss and the chambermaid in the underbrush in the park. I think this foreshadows the event, sex, which would happen between Cunegonde and someone else. She didn?t just see it in passing, she stopped and watched it happen multiple times between Pangloss and the chambermaid. So who do you think is our likely partner?

Cunegonde made the first move by dropping her handkerchief, this opened the floodgate for our simple hero, Candide. Anything he had been imagining and dreaming about was becoming reality. He got his kiss from his maiden, the one he put on his pedestal. If the Baron had not intervened, Candide and Cunegonde would be having sex, eventually. The irony is Candide is wouldn?t be the instigator in sexual relations. Candide carries this picture perfect idea of Cunegonde with him. To Candide, love is a noble idea, however sex is not. Cunegonde is the person who turns Candide?s love to sex.

The Bulgar Captain, Don Issachar and the Grand Inquisitor took notice of the fair Miss Cunegonde. Cunegonde found the Captain attractive, ?I confess it, and won?t deny that he was a handsome fellow? and also says ? he found me attractive.?(532) However the Captain has already raped Cunegonde when he took her from the castle of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh. The love was manifested after the sex had already taken place! Does this prove anything?

The Postulate of Equality for a Symmetric Property of Equality is a mathematical rule that states, ?if a is equal to b, then b is equal to a?(). Love would be ?a ? and ?b? is sex. The example of Candide and Cunegonde?s relationship represents the ?a is equal to b.? Candide showed the love and Cunegonde was turning his love for her into sex. Later with the rape of Cunegonde, by the Bulgar Captain, and turning their relationship into love after the act of sex was executed, shows ?b is equal to a.? There is a reverse of process here that drives this point home. This builds the idea of an equality of sex and love in this story.

Later in the story Candide demonstrates his ?b is equal to a? part of the postulate. ?Candide felt some remorse at having been unfaithful to Miss Cunegonde,?(565) which was after spending the night with marquise in the city of Paris. If sex wasn?t the same as love, I believe Candide would have not felt any remorse for his actions with the marquise. Candide isn?t bright. The fact that Candide is oblivious to many things could easily separate love and sex into two different entities. Candide being remorseful, Voltaire shows again that he thinks they are the one in the same.

Another equality comparison can be drawn from the two girls and two monkeys. Candide and Cacambo ? heard a few weak cries which seemed to be voiced by women. They could not tell whether the cries expressed grief or joy.?(546) Being dim witted as our hero is, he assumes the worst. What this sounds like is the girls and the monkeys are having sex, ?a equal to b?. When Candide and Cacambo catch site of the girls and monkeys ? completely naked, who are running swiftly along the edge of the meadows.? Don?t monkeys run faster than humans? Then later after Candide shoots and kills the two monkeys, Cacambo says ?You?ve really fixed things this time, master; you?ve killed the two lovers of these young ladies.? Candide draws the conclusion these were the lovers of the monkeys. This is the ?b is equal to a? part of the postulate. The girls were in love with the monkeys before hand, or their death would have made them happy. Candide hear the girls and monkeys making a go of it, then finds out the girls love the monkeys.

Now that the words ?sex and love? are established as being interchangeable, the story Candide can be looked at in a whole new light. The masterful Voltaire gives examples throughout the story. The innocent Candide, himself, can not escape the parallels Voltaire draws between these two ideas.