A Love-Hate Relationship

Voltaire is a mysterious man.   His works will be forever interpreted, yet they will never be fully understood.  Why?  Satire.  By hiding himself under the coat of this literary genre, he ensure that no one will ever be completely sure of the message that he wanted to convey.  This makes the analysis of his work, Candide, all the more difficult.  Reader, know that the mistakes I make in my humble attempt to decipher this undecipherable cipher have philosophy in mind.  Because of this an honorable blogger like myself will never yield to public flagellation because of in your face interpretations or insults towards other people that have previously attempted to shed light on this subject.

Voltaire chose Lisbon as the earthquakes' target because he knew that adding a real event to his work would mystify readers even more.  For those of you who don’t know, a devastating earthquake hit Lisbon four years before the publication of this work.  He chose this city to take the fall as the pit that represents social decadence in his work. 

“After the earthquake, which had destroyed three-fourths of the city of Lisbon, the sages of that country could think of no means more effectual to preserve the kingdom from utter ruin than to entertain the people with an auto-da-fe…”

Sages says Voltaire, as if he weren’t one.  He uses sarcasm when he says that they want to preserve the kingdom, and they do that by entertaining the people, that seems... logical.  The entire metaphor refers to religion and the fact that Voltaire opposed the church and the aristocracy. He especially disliked their ways of justice, such as the auto-da-fe during the inquisition. 

Voltaire seems to like personifications. He seems to like anything tricky. Among them, is that of philosophers.  It isn’t exactly a personification, but Voltaire does portray philosophers as if they were worthy of being personified. The hanging of Pangloss is narrated as if a dog was killed, and although some might regret his going, the world will not miss him.  Voltaire objectifies his profession. He probably does this to add yet another hyperbole to the work. 

“A Bulgarian captain came in, and saw me weltering in my blood, and the soldier still as busy as if no one had been present.” 

Cunegonde isn’t just narrating her story; she is filling the shoes of Voltaire.  By doing this she also assigns other characters of fiction roles as major stereotypes that Voltaire despises.  Case and point.  When she says that a Bulgarian captain saw her being raped, he is referring to all the times that the authority will look the other way when something terrible is being imposed onto the people.  That is why the people are weltering in blood, they are being confused and harmed by the aristocracy! In all of this, the middleman, the soldier in this case, knows that no one will reprimand him for his actions, so he continues.  Many people might take note to the phrase: "'Oh, how I should like to see it!'”  Furthermore, they might proceed to comment about how Voltaire treats women as inferior creatures, but that is irrelevant.  At the time when this satire was written, they were inferior!  Nevertheless, men loved them and enjoyed their company, including Voltaire.  The message this satirical work wants to convey is not one of sexual equality, but one of social equality.