What makes a good relationship? Many would answer love, true passionate love, is why you date someone. Candide and Northanger Abbey give a very different idea of what makes a good relationship. In both books, strong relationships are marked by two distinct traits, naivete and the decision to love someone, despite actual feelings towards them. Candide’s whole journey was to find his “one true love” Cunégonde. He had fallen into love with her quickly and passionately when he had lived with the Baron. As Candide travels throughout the world, getting into one problem and another, he keeps pushing because of his love for Cunégonde. Yet once he finally finds Cunégonde in Turkey after his long and tumultuous journey, she has changed. “The first …show more content…
He thinks love is all one needs to keep going and that love will always remain the same. Candide even admits to his naivete, though he certainly doesn’t see it as that. “My dear girl,” replied Candide, “when a man’s in love, jealous and flogged by the Inquisition, there’s no knowing what he may do,” (21). Candide think love, no matter what it may cause him to do or what he may face, is a completely worthy cause to continue on his journey. Even the utopia of El Dorado and the riches it hold aren’t comparable to Cunegonde for Candide. “Said Candide to Cacambo: ‘My friend, you see how perishable are the riches of this world. The only sure thing is virtue and the happiness of seeing Miss Cunegonde again’,” (47). Cunegonde, on the other hand, even though she still loves Candide, is able to recognize how leaving that love behind can help her. She doesn’t not maintain her “virtue” to him. She sleeps with other men, because for her as a woman, it keeps her safe. She knows Candide will always try to come for her, but she also knows if he is not successful, she must be …show more content…
Catherine has an extremely naive, novel-like view of love. “[Henry’s] name was not in the Pump-room book, and curiosity could do no more. He must be gone from Bath.yet he had not mentioned that his stay would be so short! This sort of mysteriousness, which is always so becoming in a hero, threw a fresh grace in Catherine's imagination around his persona and manners, and increased her anxiety to know more of him,” (34-35). She is obsessed with Henry’s “mysteriousness”, not so dissimilar to the heroines in her novels, who were all in love with tall, dark and mysterious men. Although her naivete and imagination almost get her in trouble with Henry when she thinks his father has killed his mother, her naive obsession with him is the only reason their relationship ever
In Holland, a kindly Anabaptist named Jacques takes Candide in. Candide runs into a deformed beggar and discovers that it is Pangloss. Pangloss explains that he has contracted syphilis and that Cunégonde and her family have all been brutally murdered by the Bulgar army. Nonetheless, he maintains his optimistic outlook. Jacques takes Pangloss in as well. The three travel to Lisbon together, but before they arrive their ship runs into a storm and Jacques is drowned. Candide and Pangloss arrive in Lisbon to find it destroyed by an earthquake and under the control of the Inquisition. Pangloss is soon hanged as a heretic, and Candide is flogged for listening with approval to Pangloss’s philosophy. After his beating, an old woman dresses Candide’s wounds and then, to his astonishment, takes him to Cunégonde. Cunégonde explains that though the Bulgars killed the rest of her family, she was merely raped and then captured by a captain, who sold her to a Jew named Don Isaachar. At present, she is a sex slave jointly owned by Don Isaachar and the Grand Inquisitor of Lisbon. Each of Cunégonde’s two owners arrive in turn as she and Candide are talking, and Candide kills them both. Terrified, Candide, the old woman, and Cunégonde flee and board a ship bound for South America. During their journey, the old woman relates her own story. She was born the Pope’s daughter but has suffered a litany of misfortunes that include rape, enslavement, and cannibalism.
...ue perspectives on the world. Candide revived a glimpse of the the best possible world, the world as it really is, and the worst possible world. In the end all the philosophies are rejected and they decide that the world is full of good and bad events, “ there is a concatenation of the events in the best of all possible worlds: for if you had not been kicked out of the magnificent castle for love of miss Cunegonde; if you had not been put into the inquisition; if you had not walked over america; if you ad not stabbed the baron; if you had not lost all your sheep from the fine country of el dorado; you would not be here eating preserved citrons and pistachio nuts... but let us cultivate our garden “ (Voltaire, 87). Candide choses to ignore the philosophies and just simply live he came to this deduction after vast travels and experiences he decides to tend his garden.
As the protagonist in the novel, Catherine is also the dynamic character because of the changes she undergoes too change her perspective and personality. Early in the book Catherine reveals herself as a stubborn character. This is inferred from the fact that her father attempts to force her into marriage with a suitor yet she refuses to do so. She continuously does whatever she can to get rid off the suitors that her father brings. For example, “I thought he spoke in some foreign tongue or cipher designed to conceal a secret message, but it seems only that his nose was plugged. And it stayed plugged throughout his entire visit, while he breathed and chewed and chattered through his open mouth. Corpus Bones! He troubled my stomach no little
Towards the end of the book it seems as if Candide decided to follow his own way of life. When Candide said, “but let us cultivate our garden,” in response to Pangloss who said, “There is a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds; for in short, had you not been kicked out of a fine castle for the love Miss Cunegund; had you not been put into Inquisition; had you not traveled over America on foot…,” who basically still hasn’t gotten the memo to leave the idea of optimism behind. The ending of the novel shows how Candide grew and took from the experiences during the adventure to finding Cunegonde. Candide realizes that everybody is responsible for their own actions. The fact that throughout the novel whenever Candide had to endure a problematic issue he would often reiterate saying that Pangloss would say, but often end up in misfortune. Candide realizes that following Pangloss ideals may seem unrealistic and following Martin ideals is also unrealistic. The garden that Candide and the others help create was something they did themselves without having to follow someone direction just as Candide did throughout this novel. Candide finds that just working and not questioning anything that occurs has better outcomes than following either Pangloss or
Candide's optimism, stemming from his tutor Dr. Pangloss, keeps him totally determined to find his lost love, Lady Cunegonde, and an ideal world. However, Voltaire takes Candide around the world to discover that, contrary to the teachings of his distinguished tutor Dr. Pangloss, all is not always for the best.
...s that life is not what he thought it was. He learns that money, status, nor materialistic things can make people truly happy. He learns that working, raising money, and cultivating his own garden could give him all the happiness he desires. He even says that we must cultivate our own garden. I think this statement means that we should not be so involved with the riches of the world but work on being happy with what we have and what we can control. He and his friends are satisfied with working hard in the garden. Candide learns that work is what makes people happy especially when we all work together. Also, searching for your lost love is better than being with anyone else filled with all the riches. The characters of Candide are ending their adventures in a garden, not beginning them and they must work day in and day out in order to gain anything from their garden.
Candide is a representation of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an era of change, the way people think changed, scientific ideas changed along with many other beliefs. Voltaire was an Enlightenment philosopher that changed the meaning of the word optimism, wrote many books to spread new ideas throughout the area. Candide is about a man that lives during the Enlightenment, as he travels and lives through the Enlightenment he realizes that the world should be changing. when Jacques drowns Candide’s response is why was it you of all men, men that shouldn’t have drowned in the very harbor. Candide says this after Pangloss is hanged “If this is the best of possible worlds, what then are others?” Candide is thinking about the world he lives
He had learned from a Turk that by keeping to themselves and cultivating that it had kept them from three great evils, weariness, vice , and want; all of which Candide and his companions had experience during their travels. By refraining from public life would keep him from being exposed to the evils of the world as he has had in the past. Candide accepted things as they are because he was a believer of Pangloss and his teachings of methaphysico-theologico-cosmolo-nigology; no effect without a cause, that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end and all is necessary for the best end. But at the end of the book, Candide, didn’t believe in Pangloss’ teachings and by retreating to his garden, he had in a since
One of the main female characters of this story is Cunégonde, the love interest of Candide, whose life did a complete 180 turn around. When we first find Cunégonde we see that she lives a lavish life with her family. We see her life turn around when her house is burned down, and her family murdered. Cunégonde herself is raped and sold to a man known as Don Issachar. She is then forced to be shared with another man known as The Grand Inquisitor. Although Cunégonde is a victim in the beginning, she retains her strong character, and after Candide slays the two men, she quickly seizes the opportunity to leaves with Candide and the old woman. If she were a victim,she would quickly falter, unsure of how to act or move because of
Cunegonde is the daughter of a wealthy German lord. She is described as “extremely beautiful” (Voltaire. 5) and is repeatedly referred to as “the fair Cunegonde.” (39). She is the typical damsel-in-distress: a woman who is completely reliant on male protection and often fainting at the sight of anything the least bit distressing. She is a vapid beauty and completely obsequious to whomever she happens to belong to at the time. However, Voltaire does not blame her foolish naiveté on her femininity. Candide himself is terribly innocent and is unable to make decisions without the advice of a third party. In a way, Cunegonde accepts her situation in life better than Candide does. She knows that as a woman in the eighteenth century she has few options if she wishes to survive and she is not above using her beauty to her advantage. She never questions or philosophizes like many of the male characters. Her acceptance of the sexual slavery she finds herself in belies an understanding of the limited options women had at the time.
Catherine is very pleased to meet Isabella after being disappointed in not seeing Mr Tilney again. The narrator informs the reader that Catherine is fortunate in finding a friend as ‘Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.’ (p.18 NA). Isabella being the elder of the two has much more knowledge of fashionable society than Catherine and is, therefore, able to teach her a great deal about the expectations of society at that time.
Catherine’s emotions are as vivid and wild as her beauty. The theme of external looks and internal character is explored through Catherine’s emotional tantrums and the other characters who witness her tantrums. Catherine is intelligent, but she is also impetuous. Because Edgar loves Catherine, he has not seen her for her faults. He sees Catherine through rose colored spectacles, and he thinks she is perfect. It is not until their love is challenged by Catherine’s love for Heathcliff, that Edgar sees Catherine’s more volatile nature. Nelly, however, is not alarmed by the emotional tides of Catherine. She is used to the way that Catherine behaves, and the drama does not affect her in the same way that it affects Edgar.
Voltaire's Candide captures the extremes of human suffering, providing a disparaging account of what many of us would deem an unbearable cross to carry. While the author's message was not to glorify his characters for their resilience, the reader will clearly feel humbled after learning of the intense suffering that Candide and friends endure. In particular, it is the story of the old woman, who perhaps best explains the spirit of the characters, when she says 'A hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but I always loved life more.' Considering that she has been raped repeatedly and essentially gone from riches to rags, her passion for life should remain unquestioned. Candide also displays this sense of hope in light of his many hardships. He honors his commitment to marry Cunegonde at the end of the story despite the physical abnormalities that have plagued her. Cunegonde, as you may remember, was also raped and taken as a sex slave. In addition, she was a victim of cannibalism and her face has clearly made a turn for the worse. Essentially, her once beautiful physique has undergone a complete transformation.
The first, most obvious trait of Catherine’s heroism is that she values human relationships above materialism. Nothing is more important to Catherine than her lover, Henry, and as the novel goes on, her baby. When Henry is injured and sent to Milan, she has no trouble transferring to the new hospital there. Catherine loves Henry and would drop anything to be with him. Nothing material holds her back from being with him. Even when they live in Switzerland, they don’t have many material possessions. They live very simple lives because all the couple really needs is each other. In chapter forty, Henry describes their time together with this quote, "When there was a good day we had a splendid time and we never had a bad time. We knew the baby was very close now and it gave us both a feeling as though something were hurrying us and we could not lose any time together." Catherine obviously values her time with Henry more than anyone else, but it isn’t the physical aspect of getting out and doing things that satisfies her. What satisfies Catherine is the extra time she gets to spend with the love of her life b...
Catherine’s revenge does not make things better for her. Her revenge on Heathcliff by blaming him for her upcoming death does not meliorate her mind. Just before she dies, she ascribes Heathcliff for her “murder.” “You have killed me, and thriven on it, I think” (Bronte 158). Catherine resembles what Oliver Goldsmith said, “When lovely woman stoops to folly, and finds too late that men betray, what charm can soothe her melancholy?