Candide

by

Cast of Characters

Candide: The protagonist of the novel. Candide is an open, honest young man 

whose driving motivation is to find and marry his love Cunegonde, from whom he has 

been separated. Throughout his adventures, Candide both witnesses and personally 

experiences such terrible suffering that he is forced to question the teachings of his 

mentor, Pangloss, that “all is for the best” and that this is “the best of all possible 

worlds.” 

Pangloss: The pompous tutor of Candide and the young Baron of Thunder-ten-
tronckh. Pangloss’s character is a satirical version of Enlightenment philosophers whom 

Voltaire considered foolishly optimistic. Although the characters in the novel repeatedly 

experience things that contradict his philosophy, Pangloss never wavers from the belief 

that “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” 

Cunegonde: The daughter of the elder Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh and the object of 

Candide’s devotion.

The Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh (younger): The arrogant German Baron who 

inherits his father’s title after the elder Baron and Baroness are killed by invading 

Bulgarians. He refuses to permit Candide’s marriage to Cunegonde on the grounds that 

Candide’s blood is not noble enough. 

The old woman: The daughter of the Pope and a princess, the old woman has 

endured such a series of calamities that she is now reduced to servitude. As the maid 

of Cunegonde, she rescues Candide from public execution in Lisbon, and eventually 

settles down with the rest of Candide’s company on a farm in...
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Essays About Candide