The Essay

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Theme- Prompt #2 In the novel, Candide, Voltaire demonstrates the destructive nature of self-pity. The main character, Candide, has great pity on himself. After he is kicked out of his “earthly paradise”, he is all alone for the first time. He “rais[es] his eyes to heaven” and weeps and moans over his lady love, causing him to become sick and not wanting to eat, gradually gaining his self-pity (357). He feels like he did no wrong, even though he did, and thinks he does not deserve to get kicked out of the home he has known all of his life. He also gets tricked by the Bulgars, and gets beaten many times causing him to tell the Bulgars he wanted to die, and he almost gets his self-pitying wish. They tell him that he is a hero, but Candide “did not yet understand very clearly how he was a hero” (357) because the beatings he gets all the time. Voltaire is trying to show how stupid and ridiculous self-pity really is and how it can become self-indulgent. Candide thinks he is the victim who has done no wrong or harm, but in reality, he did because he was the one who instigated the kiss behind the screen, and caused the love of his life and himself included, to suffer. He tries to find pity from everyone around him. When Candide is hungry on the street in Holland, he was asked if he “think[s] that the Pope is Antichrist.” Candide tells him that he does not care and says that “whether [the Pope] is or not, I'm in need of bread” (359) because he was hungry. He was not felt sorry for and was told that “[he] did not deserve it” and had a pot of excrement thrown on his head. Voltaire, through his writing, shows that people who pity themselves will encounter devastation in the end because everyone knows that they are doing it for attention. Candide’s love, Cunegonde, is filled with self-pity for herself, because of how she went from fortune to poverty. When she becomes reunited with Candide, she wants all of his pity, and then some. She tells of her misfortune with her sob story of rape, having her belly ripped open and lived to tell about it because “one doesn't always die of these things” (365). She also tells Candide about her left thigh, and she gets a boost of self-pity because Candide instigates it. She goes on to tell of her seeing Pangloss and Candide getting tortured in public and says that she was “frantic, exhausted, half out of [her] senses, and ready to die of weakness” and she said that she felt like “[her] mind was choked” (367). Voltaire states this to show that she is very dramatic and likes the pity of others like when she had all of her jewels stolen, she is in tears and she states “where shall I find another inquisitors and Jews to give [her] money' (368), because she has been rich all of her life and she feel sorry for herself since she has no money and she is living in poverty. When she is on the road with the old lady and Candide, the old lady told Cunegonde and Candide that they “pity [themselves]” and that “[they] have had no such fortunes as [her]” (369). Cunegonde then mocks her and challenges her with her “tragic”story. Voltaire is showing readers by Cunegonde's statements that self-pity is childish and it can destroy a person into trying to entice people to pity another. He is trying to convince readers to stop this type of foolishness and be happy. In conclusion, self-pity is a destroyer and only hurts pitied.
Character- Prompt #1 In the novel, Candide, Candide has the inability to form his own opinions and is dependent on others. In the novel, Candide is described as having “gentle-manner[s]...an honest mind...[and] a simplicity of heart” (355). He is naïve, bland, innocent, and very gullible. His optimistic mentor, Pangloss, teaches Candide that “this is the best of all possible worlds” (356) and Candide thrives on the words because he only thrives on the education that Pangloss teaches him. When Candide is “ejected from the earthly paradise” (357), he is tricked due to his
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