To the point, we come to view
this as something of a template for the complacency which had allowed the
inequality of feudalism to persist. The notion that there was some
connection between a divine abolutism and the order of man would allow for
a deeply unequal system to persist.
It is not far into the novella though that a sense of discontent
begins to emerge over the way of things and over the ideas provided by
Pangloss. Guided by the desire throughout his life to be reunited with
Cunegande, with whom he falls in love as a child, Candide is shown many of
the worst miseries which the world can heap upon him. And if Candide and
his fellow travelers are an avatar for the murmurings of discontent in
French society during the dawn of the revolutionary era, than surely there
is some remarkable relevance to the permeating doubt which begins to
afflict Volaire's band of unfortunate subjects. So is this demonstrated in
the well-placed words of Cunegande, who observes that "we are now going
into another world, and surely it must be there that everything is for the
best; for I must confess that we have had some little reason to complain of
what passes in ours, both as to the physical and moral part. Though I have
a sincere love for you . . . yet I still shudder at the reflection...
10) This does sum up well the
experience for Voltaire's subjects, who are greeted with
violence, hardship
and anarchy everywhere they venture, all the while seeking desperately to
maintain an
optimism and a cause of continuing the struggle.
Where this concerns the inequality that was an ingrained part of
European society at the time, Voltaire could be seen to have taken an
extremely risky and bold step in publishing such a piece. Its targets are
collectively the aristocratically heeled feudalist
governments of Churches
and Kings and the na?ve peoples who populated the common lands of France
and Europe at large. In both, he observed a foolish contract by which the
former exploited the latter while neither addressed the philosophical
implications calling such institutions into question. To this extent,
Voltaire would produce an inflammatory piece of political literature which
would begin to voice with startling forthrightness the sensibilities of
many Europeans, and in particular, of those who otherwise lacked the
wherewithal to understand or speak these truths.
Works Cited:
Center for History and New Media (CHNM). (2005). Monarchy Embattled.
George Mason University. Online at
.
Voltaire. (1950). Candide. Penguin Classics Reissue Edition.
