Reflections on Voltaire’s ‘Candide’: A critique on love and human nature

In Voltaire’s “Candide,” the primary character Candide travels by means of the world within the pursuit of reuniting together with his one real love, the gorgeous Cunégonde. All through his journey, Candide visits Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Venice and Paris, experiencing the adventures and risks of a lifetime. As his final vacation spot, Candide arrives in Istanbul, the place he reunites together with his Cunégonde, however the lovely Cunégonde of his youthful reminiscences has disappeared; she has turn into an unpleasant, previous lady. Via dying, deception, and quite a few hardships, Candide’s hope for reuniting together with his lovely Cunégonde had stored him alive and perseverant. But the basis of his timeless hope was a lie, as there was no magnificence to rediscover, ultimately; it was all in his head. 

As I assumed concerning the absurdity of Candide’s lifelong want to reunite with a primary love whose magnificence now not exists, I questioned whether or not that is what love actually is. Isn’t love a made-up story we inform ourselves? 

Surprisingly sufficient, quickly after ending the novel, I skilled an analogous disappointment to that of Candide. In my thoughts, I had written him to be a deep character worthy of falling in love with, a narrative based mostly on all of the books I grew up studying. He was not the character I had thought him to be ultimately. 

Possibly this glamorous idea that will get our hearts racing and our minds full of goals is simply one thing we compose in our heads. We see somebody and we add advantage to them. We affiliate an excessive amount of that means with them. We think about them to be grander than who they are surely. I feel that is what love is: it’s in our minds, and it’s merely not actual. We are inclined to fall in love with the concept of individuals, not who they are surely. 

Maybe love is a delusion. Or it’s that individuals change. We’re fluidic, and as our life paths proceed, we modify into new folks. Generally it’s development, and generally it’s decay. 

I don’t know easy methods to clarify it.

The humorous factor is, after going by means of a lot hardship for the sake of reuniting together with his Cunégonde, being overwhelmed almost to dying, virtually killed and manipulated by others quite a few occasions by means of his journey, ultimately Candide’s reunion with Cunégonde didn’t give him peace. As a substitute, he discovered her extra insupportable and cranky day-to-day. There have been no such hardships anymore in Candide’s life, however regular life in Istanbul didn’t give peace both. Candide and his associates continued to whine about what was lacking of their lives, although now they had been within the higher place they had been hoping to finish up in. Then what was the purpose of all this wrestle? Will we be as delusional as Candide sooner or later we hope to guide?

Maybe that is what a wedding is: love turning into distress between two folks. Upon how their lives find yourself in Istanbul, Candide’s sensible however pessimistic companion Martin concludes that “man was born to dwell both in a state of distracting inquietude or of torpid disgust”. Is Martin proper? Is something actually by no means sufficient? 

I don’t know. Maybe folks get used to the great issues of their lives with out noticing.  

Candide ends on a didactic notice — that we should plant our personal backyard to achieve happiness. He and his good friend Martin meet with a sensible Turkish man in Istanbul who tells them not to consider different folks’s lives, however slightly to work as an alternative, saying that “labor preserves us from three nice evils — weariness, vice, and wish”. The one strategy to be comfortable, based on the sensible man, is to supply one thing. Thus, Martin and his associates discover peace: they work of their backyard and Cunegonde turns into a baker. 

I feel that is the correct manner of discovering peace and happiness. 

Whereas studying “Candide,” I discovered myself in an inner dilemma as as to whether human nature is sweet or dangerous. I consider Voltaire desires us to comprehend that both human nature is dangerous and that it’s straightforward and handy for folks to behave badly, or that there’s each good and dangerous in folks. All through the e book, Candide seems to characterize the great, and the folks he encounters by means of his journey have a tendency to profit from the great he does and in flip, manipulate him. 

As Candide and his good friend sail to Lisbon, a storm begins, bringing chaos to the boat. A personality named Jacques saves one of many crew members from falling into the ocean whereas he’s clinging to a mast, however because of his efforts, Jacques falls into the ocean, and the crew member whose life he simply saved doesn’t assist him again. This might be a logo of how human relations are in actual life: you would go to nice lengths in serving to an individual who wouldn’t do the identical for you. Individuals can settle for the great you do for them with out feeling the necessity to do good for you in return. 

On the identical time, “Candide” additionally demonstrates how doing dangerous issues can result in good outcomes for folks. In a single scene, Candide and his good friend Cacambo get held hostage by a local tribe who need to kill them for being Jesuits. Beforehand within the e book, Candide had killed Cunegonde’s brother, who was a Jesuit (or so he thinks — later within the e book we really study that Cunegonde’s brother has survived). To save lots of themselves, Cacambo explains to the tribe that they aren’t Jesuits, as Candide wouldn’t have killed one if he was a Jesuit. After verifying that that is true, the tribe units Candide and Cacambo free. On this manner Candide’s dangerous act seems to be a superb occasion for him, saving his life: if Candide hadn’t killed a person, he would have died. 

When Candide is in Paris, folks discover that he’s sporting an enormous diamond ring, and so they come to his assist. He notes that on his first journey to Paris, he was poor and sick, and nobody had come to assist. Maybe this exhibits how a lot folks care about standing and wealth when forming friendships.  

From like to human motivation, Voltaire’s “Candide” reveals placing concepts (or maybe details) about human nature. Maybe we’re delusional with regards to love, and maybe we’re not inherently good in spite of everything.