What Does Pangloss Prove In Candide

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Pages: 5
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Ernesto Kennedy
ENG 120
Prof. Peter Chapin
06 October 2014

The Proof is in the Pudding: How the tragic events that take place in Voltaire’s Candide prove Pangloss’s theory to be untrue

“Consequently, those who say everything is well are uttering mere stupidities; they should say everything is for the best” (2). This quote from chapter 1 introduces Pangloss’s optimistic philosophy. Pangloss and his student, Candide, live their lives believing humans live in the ideal world. They use this notion to explain away any troubles that transpire in their lives. While Pangloss and Candide so desperately believe this ideal is true. in retrospect, the entirety of the novel goes on to talk about different instances that attack this philosophy, more specifically …show more content…
The three of them later travel to Lisbon where Pangloss is hanged for being a heretic and Candide is severely beaten. An old woman treats Candide and tells him Cunegonde is alive and being shared by two men as a sex slave. Candide later murders Cunegonde’s two owners and together they travel to the new world with a valet named Cacambo. There Cunegonde is proposed to by a leader and she accepts to receive the wealth that comes with the marriage. Candide encounters Cunegonde’s brother whom he murders after he refuses to allow Cunegonde to marry Candide. Fleeing his crime, Candide travels with Cacambo to El Dorado, a utopian land where the citizens want for nothing. Candide and Cacambo leave El Dorado supplied with jewels and sheep in order to get Cunegonde back so she can finally be married to Candide. Candide sends Cacambo to buy Cunegonde back and meet him in Venice. During his travels to Venice Candide meets a man named Martin whose outlook completely contrasts that of Pangloss. In Venice, Candide and Martin find Cacambo, now a Turkish slave, who explains that Cunegonde was in Constantinople working as a slave. Candide, Martin, and Cacambo travel to Turkey to buy Cacambo’s freedom. There they encounter Cunegonde’s brother and Pangloss who both survived their death attempts. Together they travel to Constantinople to buy Cunegonde’s freedom. Finally having everyone together they decided to cultivate a garden allowing them all …show more content…
. . “(21). In response to the natural disaster that had already killed many, authorities of the country chose to burn several innocent people alive. They chose their victims based on trivial issues such as a refusal to eat bacon or being in a relationship with a family member. Citizens of what is supposed to be the best of all possible worlds decided that the only way to ensure that no more death would come to their people was to kill some of their people. This gruesome scene contains no explanation as to why murdering more people would prevent future deaths from occurring. It is simply a ritual the citizens blindly following hoping it will truly spare their lives. After this incident it becomes increasingly more difficult for readers to maintain the notion that Candide is set in the best of all possible worlds considering that there are people dying for virtually no
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