Candide
by Voltaire
Table of Contents
Candide
As Candide’s name implies, he is an open and trusting character. Like all of the
novel’s characters, Candide is more a simplified representation of a concept rather than
a fully-developed, multidimensional character. However, as the protagonist of the novel,
Candide experiences more of a personal transformation than most of the other
characters. In the beginning, Candide accepts the wisdom of Pangloss without
question, and continues to cling to it even after his eviction from the castle. Because he
knows of no other philosophy, Candide must sometimes perform great leaps of logic to
understand his suffering with the context of optimism. As Candide experiences more of
the world and bears witness to other people’s misfortunes, however, he finally begins to
question Pangloss’s teaching. After hearing the terrible stories of his fellow ship’s
passengers on the way to the New World, Candide declares, “It is a great pity... that the
sage Pangloss was hanged,” because Candide would now “be bold enough... to
propose some objections” to his teacher’s theories. At this point, Candide begins to
think for himself more than previously and gain a more complex understanding of the
world. Although Candide still tends to revert to his early belief in optimism whenever
something good happens to him, by the end of the novel he no longer considers
philosophy of any kind as important as he once did. Over the course of the novel,
Candide evolves from a youth preoccupied with philosophizing to a man of action. He
now focuses his attentions on cultivating his...
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