I think this question depends a lot on what you consider Candide's "crime" to be. He has done several sketchy things in the book so far, like killing three people, some in self-defense and some as preventative measures, but I think his over arching "crime," especially according to Voltaire, would be his insistence on his protagonist views. He has been a firm believer in Liebniz/Pangloss' philosophy, his faith wavering at times but never failing to return to him.
In this sense of a crime, I think his punishments do fit it. Voltaire is playing with him, as a test subject to test the validity of the idea that all is good in the world. He keeps throwing him all of these terrible, unexplainable things to show him that it is not so easy to explain everything away with the sweeping statement that all is for the best. When Candide insists on holding his beliefs, Voltaire punishes him by showing how harsh his ideas can be by testing him with the pain and suffering of someone he loves, Lady Cunègonde. He is trying to show to the reader and to Candide how the philosophy gets harder and harder to stand by when terrible things happen for, seemingly, no reason at all. Every time Candide has been "punished" he has doubted his beliefs for a moment, and then something else has happened that solidified them in his mind and let him return, in full, to Pangloss' philosophy. Voltaire's world then responds by punishing him again, trying again and again to show Candide how wrong he is and what a harsh place the world can be.
I agree, there are a variety of different crimes to analyze during this text such as the murders but the biggest underlying crime is Candide's beliefs. Voltaire is obviously going against them and he is using Candide and the other characters to prove to the reader that this logic is false. One example would be Pangloss who once was a teacher and then was dying of syphilis, his body was destroyed, and he was a beggar yet he still believes the world is all for the best. This is just ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you point out that Candide is punished again and again, all for what you describe to be his single crime of believing Pangloss'/Leibniz' philosophy. I suppose his understanding of the word is so deep-set at this point that it takes this repetition of punishment for anything to even begin to change.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about how Candide's punishments were fair based on the crime he committed. I also mentioned something along those lines. I also liked how you mentioned the overall crime was that Candide was a strong beliber in Pangloss's philosophy.
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