This essay examines Voltaire's portrayal of sexual exploitation and violence against women in Candide, arguing that the novel serves as a satirical critique of Enlightenment-era attitudes toward female sexuality and autonomy. Through close analysis of key female characters—Cunegonde and the old woman—the paper traces how women are systematically degraded, sold as objects, and trafficked across borders. The essay demonstrates that even the protagonist Candide exhibits a sense of entitlement to women, reinforcing Voltaire's commentary on male privilege. By connecting the novel's fictional abuses to historical realities of wartime sexual slavery, the paper shows how Candide both documents and critiques the dehumanization of women in its historical moment.
Voltaire's Candide frequently portrays women either being sexually exploited or victimized by rape. During the Enlightenment Era, women were often treated as sex slaves and sold once men grew weary of them. In comparison to the male characters, female roles are short-lived and marked by suffering. From Cunegonde to the old woman, these characters endure tremendous psychological destruction at the hands of men. Although sex should be a voluntary act, the story demonstrates how men felt entitled to sexual access. Candide not only portrays men using women for sex but also reveals how this practice evolved into organized human trafficking during the Enlightenment Era.
Sex, like many other topics, is subject to Voltaire's satirical assault in Candide. Sex is never mentioned positively; rather, sexual exploitation and violence are presented as a plague upon society. Voltaire mocks the discrepancy between women's sexual expectations and their sexual realities. Through vivid and disturbing scenes, the novel exposes the brutality underlying male sexual entitlement and the systematic degradation of women across social classes and national boundaries.
When Cunegonde's family is attacked by the Bulgars, she explains how she is raped and treated as an object. She recounts: "A Bulgarian captain came in, saw me all bleeding ... The captain flew into a passion... and slew him on my body. He ordered my wounds to be dressed, and took me to his quarters as a prisoner of war" (Voltaire 435). During the Enlightenment Era, women taken as war prisoners became sex slaves. Cunegonde is degraded and forced to submit to this soldier. She is then sold after the Bulgar warrior tires of having sexual relations with her: "Having lost all his money, and being grown tired of my company, he sold me to a Jew, named Don Issachar, who traded to Holland and Portugal, and had a strong passion for women" (Voltaire 435).
Cunegonde is treated like merchandise and passed among several men who have the money to purchase her. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, human trafficking is "the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others." Prisoners of war—mostly women—were sold into slavery and trafficked through different countries. Voltaire's depiction of Cunegonde's journey from rape victim to purchased commodity mirrors this historical reality, suggesting that the novelist is documenting actual practices rather than inventing fictional horrors.
When Candide is brutally beaten, he is helped by an old woman who nurses him back to health and befriends both him and Cunegonde. This old woman too was sexually exploited by soldiers of war. She describes her experience: "Instantly they were stripped as bare as monkeys; my mother, our maids of honor, and myself were all served in the same manner...they thrust their fingers into the part of our bodies that the generality of women suffer no other instrument" (Voltaire 439). Voltaire demonstrates that sexual degradation was not limited to young women or a single incident—no matter their age, women were constantly demeaned and treated with disrespect during this era. The old woman's narrative establishes that sexual violence was a systematic feature of warfare and male power, not an aberration.
Although Candide is presented as a positive character, he too exhibits signs of feeling entitled to women. He declares: "Reverend Father... I rescued your sister from the arms of a Jew and of an Inquisitor; she has great obligations to me, she wishes to marry me...and certainly I will marry her" (Voltaire 446). Candide feels he has particular rights to be with Cunegonde because he rescued her from sexual abuse. This sense of entitlement—the belief that saving a woman from one form of exploitation entitles a man to possess her—is itself a form of control. Through Candide's characterization, Voltaire reveals that even seemingly benevolent men participate in the objectification and ownership of women.
"Historical reflection and modern parallels to trafficking and rights"
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