Candide (Plot Summary)

Plot Summary

Voltaire's Candide opens by introducing the honest youth, Candide, a servant in Westphalia to Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh, who may be Candide's uncle. Candide loves the Baron's daughter, Cunégonde, and is the avid student of Pangloss, a philosopher who continuously "proves" Leibniz's belief that this is "the best of all possible worlds." Candide is expelled from Westphalia when the Baron catches him in a romantic embrace with Cunégonde.

Two seemingly friendly men rescue the cold, hungry Candide, then force him to become a soldier for the Bulgars. After being caught leaving the army camp, Candide receives two thousand whiplashes. Before his punishers can grant his re-quest to be killed, however, the Bulgar King passes by and pardons him.

The Bulgar army engages in a terrible battle with the Abar army. Candide wanders through burned towns with butchered people to reach Holland, where he is treated rudely until he meets Jacques, an Anabaptist. Jacques kindly cares for Candide, who soon discovers a beggar with a rotted nose. It is Pangloss, who caught syphilis from the Baron's servant, Paquette. Pangloss tells Can-dide that Cunégonde was ravished by Bulgar soldiers, then killed. Jacques has Pangloss cured and the three men travel by ship to Lisbon.

When the ship is struck by a storm, Jacques helps a sailor back into the tossed ship but is thrown overboard himself. Candide wants to try to save him, but Pangloss dissuades him. Jacques drowns. After surviving the ship's sinking, Candide and Pangloss are in Lisbon when a devastating earthquake strikes.

In order to prevent further earthquakes, Lisbon authorities hold an auto-da-fé, where sacrificial victims are tortured and burned alive. Candide and Pangloss are chosen for sacrifice. Because of rain, Pangloss is hanged. Candide is flogged, but before he is burned, another earthquake strikes and an old woman leads him away.

The old woman tends his wounds and takes him to a wealthy home where he encounters Cunégonde, still alive. After the Bulgar attack, she was sold to a Jew, Don Issachar, in whose house she now lives. She also caught the attention of the Grand Inquisitor, who shares her with Issachar.

Issachar arrives, and, seeing Candide, attacks him. Candide kills him. The Inquisitor then arrives, and Candide kills him as well. The old woman plans their escape to Cadiz, where Candide displays his military skills and is hired to fight the Jesuits of Paraguay.

Aboard ship, the old woman tells them her riches-to-rags life story, which includes slavery, losing one buttock, constant labor, and travel. Despite repeatedly desiring to kill herself, she asserts that she suffers from humankind's "ridiculous weakness": she is "still in love with life."

They arrive in Buenos Ayres and go see the Governor, who lusts after Cunégonde and proposes to her. The old woman suggests Cunégonde accept his offer, especially after they discover that they are being pursued for the Inquisitor's murder. They warn Candide to escape.

Candide's servant, Cacambo, agrees with the warning and suggests they join forces with the Jesuits. They go see the Colonel Father Provincial, who, to Candide's dismay, is Cunégonde's brother.

When Candide tells the Colonel that he plans to marry Cunégonde, however, the formerly friendly Colonel becomes indignant and strikes him. Candide stabs him then laments his action. Cacambo, thinking rationally, disguises Candide as the Colonel and they escape.

While eating, they see two naked girls being chased by two monkeys nibbling at their buttocks. To save the women, Candide shoots the monkeys. The two girls cry over the fallen monkeys, who, Cacambo realizes, were the girls' lovers. Candide and Cacambo run off but are captured by Oreillons, who are planning to cook them and "have Jesuit" for dinner. Cacambo, who knows their language, talks them out of it by telling them about Candide slaying the Jesuit Colonel.

Candide and Cacambo endure many hardships until they find themselves in Eldorado, an isolated country of gold mud, jeweled stones, and peaceful contentment. Candide decides this must be the place "where everything is for the best," the place that Pangloss described and Candide has never encountered. Though they are in paradise, Candide cannot live without Cunégonde and Cacambo has a "restless spirit," so they leave with gifts of vast riches carried by a hundred red sheep.

After one hundred days, only two sheep remain, but they are still quite rich. They encounter a tortured black slave. Overcome by the man's plight, Candide exclaims that he must renounce Pangloss's optimism. Cacambo asks, "What's optimism?" Candide replies, "It is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell." Candide sends Cacambo to rescue Cunégonde while he sails for Venice. But Candide is double-crossed by Vanderdendur, a merchant ship captain, who steals Candide's treasure. Embittered, Candide decides to hire the most unfortunate man in the province to accompany him to France. He chooses a poor scholar named Martin.

Candide is better off than Martin because he still possesses some jewels and he still longs for Cunégonde, while Martin, a confirmed pessimist, hopes for nothing. They soon witness a sea battle in which one ship sinks. When Candide happily saves a red sheep from the water, they realize that Vanderdendur has been killed and the treasure lost. Candide and Martin debate philosophy all the way to France.

They experience the many corruptions of Paris, then sail to England where they witness an admiral executed for not killing enough enemies. He serves as an example to other admirals.

They reach Venice but cannot find Cacambo, which does not surprise Martin. Candide attempts to refute Martin's cynicism by pointing to a monk and girl walking happily together. They discover, however, that both of them also are miserable. The woman is Paquette, who is now a prostitute. The man, Brother Giroflé, detests his life as a monk.

Candide and Martin visit Count Pococurante, a wealthy Venetian. Because Pococurante thinks for himself and can find little to please his tastes, Candide thinks him a genius.

Candide and Martin dine with six strangers, all of whom are deposed kings. Cacambo is the slave of one king, and he helps Candide and Martin sail to Constantinople, where they will find Cunégonde, who is now a slave. Candide buys Cacambo's freedom. While aboard ship, they discover that two of the galley slaves are Pangloss and Cunégonde's brother. Candide buys their freedom and they join him. Pangloss asserts that he still holds to his optimistic views, but mainly because it would be improper for a philosopher to recant and because Leibniz cannot be wrong.

They find Cunégonde, who has become horribly ugly, though she does not know it. Candide ransoms her and the old woman. He also agrees to keep his word and marry Cunégonde. The Baron stubbornly refuses to allow it, however, because of Candide's genealogy.

Though he no longer wants to marry Cunégonde, Candide is angered by the Baron's arrogance and, without Cunégonde's knowledge, the group ships the Baron to Rome. Candide then buys a small farm where they all live, dissatisfied. They wonder which is worse, their previous tortures or the boredom of the farm. Paquette and Brother Giroflé, both destitute, arrive. After visiting a rude dervish philosopher, who tells them God is indifferent to their troubles, the group encounters a Turkish farmer who treats them kindly. He tells them that his family's work "keeps us from those three great evils, boredom, vice, and poverty." They all agree that this is a sensible approach to life, and each assumes a task on the farm. When Pangloss philosophizes about their adventures and fate, "proving" that all has turned out as it should in this "best of all possible worlds," Candide replies that they "must cultivate our garden."