Wednesday, April 10, 2013

In Voltaire's Candide, what is the old woman's attitude toward her own suffering and Candide's interpretation of her experiences?

In Voltaire's Candide, the old lady,
who is the servant to Lady Cunegonde, shares her story of her own trials and
tribulations. A high-born young woman herself, her fate seems to have been more tragic
than Cunegonde's, and when she shares her misadventures with her lady and Candide, they
agree. They then listen to the tales of the other people on the vessel which is carrying
them, and again, the two agree that the old woman's life has been more horrific than any
other.


The old woman's attitude is that even though her
life has been horrible, and she has wanted to die many times, still she chooses to live.
She notes that even though people hate their lives, they still cling to
them.



I've
wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but I still love life. That ridiculous weakness
is perhaps one of our most pernicious inclinations. What could be more stupid than to
persist in carrying a burden that we constantly want to cast off, to hold our existence
in horror, yet cling to it nonetheless, to fondle the serpent that devours us, until it
has eaten our heart?



Candide,
having heard the old woman's story, wishes that Pangloss were still alive, imagining the
comments the old man would make regarding her
experiences.


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It's a great pity...that the wise Pangloss was
hanged...he would have told us admirable things about the physical and moral evils that
cover the earth and the sea, and I would have felt strong enough to venture a few
respectful objections.



We can
assume that since Pangloss' character reflects the sentiment that Voltaire is
criticizing—a sense of eternal optimism in the face of all things good
or bad—that with Pangloss' sentiment of "this best of all possible
worlds," Pangloss would find good fortune in the old woman's
experiences; most probably he would tell her that had she not
endured all of the terrible things in her life, she should not now find herself in the
good company of her mistress, Candide, etc. The flaw in this logic, however, is that
things are not really wonderful for any of them: they are on the run because of
Candide's murders of the prelate and the Jew.

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