Equality is a central theme in Candide. It plays a concrete
role in each of the chapters 14-19. I will mainly be focusing on two sections,
one from chapter 15 and the other from chapter 19. In chapter 15 we see the
resurrection and rebirth of Cunegonde’s brother. A rebirth implies a spiritual
awakening or enlightenment. The Baron was able to embrace Candide, exhibiting a
small measure of spiritual growth by calling him his “brother” and “savior.”
The use of these terms implies that Candide is now family, indicating that he
is of equal status despite having a questionable lineage. The Baron does not
see Candide as equal enough to marry his sister who has “seventy-two
quarterlings.” Candide has served as savior to both the Baron and his sister
Cunegonde, proving that his motives are nobler than those of the Jew and
Inquisitor who took turns exploiting her. The Baron completely rejects
Pangloss’s philosophy and his abrupt anger concerning Candide’s desire to wed
Cunegonde is extreme. He holds on to his values until his death. This satirizes
the importance the aristocracy placed on pure noble blood. Wealth and pedigree
are valued over character, leading to a society filled with greed and
corruption. Candide’s reaction to the Baron’s rejection is also noteworthy. He
did not make a conscious decision to kill the Baron; it was more of an impulse,
regretting it immediately afterwards. I could not figure out what Candide meant
by stating “‘I am the best fellow in the world.” The only explanation I could
come up with is that he is using sarcasm.
In chapter 19, Candide and Cacambo encounter an African
slave with one hand and one leg. The entire hand was cut off because a finger
was severed during an accident while the leg was cut off because the slave
attempted to escape his captor, Mr. Van der Hartbargin. Candide has faced and
witnessed many injustices in his journey so far, but views slavery as the
worst. The tone of this passage is lacking in exaggerations, sudden impulses,
and humor seen in almost every other misfortune discussed. The interaction
between Candide and the slave is grave and serious. It holds a heavy air that
indicates that slavery is the greatest evil when coupled with the fact that
Candide renounced “Optimism” for the first time, especially after witnessing
the “best of all worlds” in El Dorado. The cruelty shown to the slave had a
greater impact on him than Cunegonde’s apparent death and Pangloss’s
unjustified hanging. He refers to it as an “abomination,” out ranking his beloved
Cunegone’s rape and exploitation. There is a similarity between Candide and the
African slave’s viewpoints. Both see all men as equal. Candide understands all
men to be equal through Dr. Pangloss’s teachings while the African slave
cleverly interprets the Dutch fetishes’ teachings about the sons of Adam. He
concludes that if the preachers are correct, whites and blacks are all
“’cousins born of first-cousins’” and that the slaves should receive better
treatment at the very least.
Passages of interest:
“The Baron could not desist from embracing Candide. He
called him his brother, his saviour. ‘Ah, my dear Candide,’ he said, ‘perhaps
we can enter the city as victors, the two of us together, and rescue my dear
sister Cunégonde.’ ‘There’s nothing I’d like better,’ said Candide, ‘for I was
intending to marry her, and I still hope to.’ ‘You insolent man!’ retorted the
Baron. ‘You would have the audacity to marry my sister who has seventy-two
quarterings! I consider it great effrontery on your part to dare speak to me of
so bold an intention!’ Candide’s blood turned to stone at such a statement. He
answered him: ‘Reverend father, all the quarterings in the world have nothing
to do with it. I have rescued your sister from the arms of a Jew and an
Inquisitor. She owes me a number of debts, and she intends to marry me. Maître
Pangloss always told me that men are equal, and marry her I most assuredly
shall.’ ‘We’ll see about that, you scoundrel!’ said the Jesuit Baron of
Thunder-ten-tronckh and, so saying, struck him a heavy blow across the face
with the flat of his sword. Candide, quick as a flash, drew his own and plunged
it up to the hilt into the Jesuit Baron’s gut. But as he withdrew it, all
steaming, ‘Dear God,’ he said, ‘I’ve killed my former master, my friend, my
brother-in-law. I am the best fellow in the world, and already that makes three
men I’ve killed, and two of them priests!’”
-Candide, Chapter 15 pages 35-36
“‘And is it Mr Van der Hartbargin’, said Candide, ‘who has
treated you like this?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ said the Negro, ‘it is the custom. We are
given one pair of short denim breeches twice a year, and that’s all we have to
wear. When we’re working at the sugar-mill and catch our finger in the
grinding-wheel, they cut off our hand. When we try to run away, they cut off a
leg. I have been in both these situations. This is the price you pay for the
sugar you eat in Europe. However, when my mother sold me for ten Patagonian
crowns on the coast of Guinea, she said to me: “My dear child, bless our
fetishes, worship them always, they will bring you a happy life. You have the
honour of being a slave to our lords and masters the Whites and, by so being,
you are making your father’s and mother’s fortune.” Alas! I don’t know if I
made their fortune, but they didn’t make mine. Dogs, monkeys, parrots, they’re
all a thousand times less wretched than we are. The Dutch fetishes who
converted me tell me every Sunday that we are all the sons of Adam, Whites and
Blacks alike. I’m no genealogist, but if these preachers are right, we are all
cousins born of first-cousins. Well, you will grant me that you can’t treat a
relative much worse than this.’ ‘O Pangloss!’ cried Candide, ‘this is one
abomination you never thought of. That does it. I shall finally have to renounce
your Optimism.’ ‘What’s Optimism?’ asked Cacambo. ‘I’m afraid to say,’ said
Candide, ‘that it’s a mania for insisting that all is well when things are
going badly.’ And he began to weep as he gazed at his Negro, and he entered
Surinam in tears.”
-Candide, Chapter 19 page 48
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