The Candide
(Voltaire)

Candide

The main character of Voltaire's novel, Candide grew up in the sheltered household of the Baron's castle. Two main forces from his days in the castle drive his adventure - his belief in professor Pangloss's optimistic beliefs and his love for the beautiful Cunegonde. Upon being kicked out, Candide experiences the harshness of reality for the first time and undergoes many hardships. Eventually he comes to question Pangloss's beliefs, and marries Cunegonde despite her becoming ugly. He decides to live a content life on his farm, working to grow his own food and support himself.

Pangloss

Candide's first teacher and a professor of metaphysics and philosophy, Pangloss serves as Candide's role model for the first part of the novel. Pangloss is a staunch believer in optimism, and Voltaire uses Pangloss to show how extreme optimism is foolish and unhelpful. During the earthquake in Lisbon, for instance, Pangloss tells the earthquake victims that their city being laid to the ground and their friends and family dying is for the best. Not only is this level of optimism hurtful, it is also not realistic. At the end of the novel, Pangloss holds to his beliefs for the sake of not changing his mind, but even he gives them up on some level.

Cunegonde

The Baron's beautiful young daughter, Cunegonde and Candide are deeply attracted to one another. After Candide leaves the castle, Cunegonde is raped by soldiers and becomes passed around from man to man as a mistress because of her beauty. She handles this situation calmly, and even after escaping her role willingly goes back to it in exchange for a comfortable life. Cunegonde is Candide's main driving force, and he believes (mistakenly) that if he and Cunegonde can marry that he will finally be happy. Most of his adventures center around trying to get back to Cunegonde and rescue her from whoever is her owner at the time.

The Old Woman

Cunegonde's servant, the old woman is loyal to her and gives her practical advice. When Cunegonde complains about her lot, the old woman reveals that she is, in fact, the daughter of a pope, and, like Cunegonde, was renowned for her beauty. She lost her family and became a slave passed from household to household until her beauty was gone and eventually she became united with Cunegonde. The old woman does not change throughout the novel, but serves as a comparison to Cunegonde as well as a source of practicality that is neither optimistic nor pessimistic.

Cacambo

Candide's valet who joined him on his flight from Buenos Aires. Cacambo is a Negro who is knowledgeable in the ways of the world. He recognizes that Candide is a good man, and becomes loyal to him, helping him throughout the novel. Because of his experienced nature, Cacambo serves as a foil to Candide's ignorance of worldly affairs. After experiencing El Dorado and returning to Europe, Cacambo goes to find Cunegonde and remains loyal to his good friend Candide even after becoming a slave to someone else. In the end, Cacambo lives on the farm with the rest of the group.

Cunegonde's Brother

Cunegonde's brother also survives the attack of the Bulgarian soldiers and becomes the second Baron. After his near death experience, he becomes a member of the Jesuit order and is sent to Paraguay where he runs into Candide. Happy at being reunited, the celebration is short lived, and ends when Candide reveals that he wants to marry Cunegonde. Because of their slight difference in amount of royal blood, the new Baron takes offense to the match, and Candide kills him. Like many others, the Baron comes back to life, signifying that arrogance and hypocrisy do not really die.

Martin

After Candide has lost his fortune and entered his dark period, he hires the philosopher Martin to be his travel companion. The direct foil to Pangloss, Martin's hardships during his life made him a complete pessimist. He cannot find the good in anything, and, while his advice is often more logical, he often revels in the misery of others because they prove him right. Just like Pangloss's optimism, Martin's pessimism does not help situations but instead makes them worse. He holds to his pessimistic beliefs until the very end, although Candide ultimately rejects them.

James the Anabaptist

One of the more kind and helpful characters in the novel, James takes in Candide and Pangloss when they are in trouble in Holland. His philosophy is neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but he believes in always helping others and gaining joy in that way. Ultimately, his humanistic beliefs lead to his downfall when he risks his life to rescue a brutish sailor and is thrown overboard in the process. Voltaire seems to be cautioning against always helping others, because it might lead to being taken advantage of. James' kindness, however, touches Candide in a way that the hardships of the world failed to do.

Cunegonde's Owners

Cunegonde goes through several owners, and is fought over because of her beauty. These owners do not love Cunegonde, but just want her charms. When they are done with her, however, they inevitably sell her again. The most notable of these men are Don Issachar, the Jewish merchant, the Grand Inquisitor, and the Buenos Aires lord Don Fernando d'lbarra y Figueroa y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza. Candide kills both Don Issachar and the Grand Inquisitor, but Cunegonde goes with Don Fernando willingly in exchange for a good life. These men represent the evils and arrogance of aristocracy, and have a sense of entitlement.

The King of El Dorado

In charge of the wealthy and peaceful kingdom of El Dorado, the king welcomes Cacambo and Candide to his land with open arms. When the two voice their wish to leave, the King thinks they are crazy to want to leave a land where they are content and live in constant luxury. He helps them anyway, and has his scientists construct a flying machine to take them over the mountains. He also gives them 102 sheep laden with provisions and treasure for their journey.

The Various Con Artists

After Candide returns to Europe with his vast fortune, he is repeatedly taken advantage of by people who want his money. When trying to set sail to Venice, a Dutch captain steals his sheep. In Paris, many people pretend to be his friend in order to swindle him. Among these is the Abbot of Perigord and the Marchioness of Parolignac. Both of these flatter him and ultimately steal his money. These betrayals hurt Candide worse than many of the physical hardships he encounters, and proves that wealth often brings more trouble than good in the world.

Paquette and Friar Giroflee

The serving maid at Candide's childhood home, Paquette is a pretty young woman who gains favor with others through prostitution. Candide encounters Paquette in Venice while waiting for Cunegonde to arrive, and makes a bet with Martin that she and the friar she is with are happy. When he learns her story, he realizes that although she may look happy on the outside, her life has been full of just as much misfortune as everyone else's. The friar too hates his profession and is not satisfied with his life. To make up for their troubles, Candide gives them money to help them along. In the end, both Paquette and Friar Giroflee squander their money and join the group living on the farm.

The Six Kings

In Venice, Candide has dinner at the inn with six foreigners who are in town for Carnivale. One of them has bought Cacambo as a slave and offers to take them to Constantinople. When dinner is over, Candide realizes that all six of them are being addressed by their slaves as if they are kings. Thinking it is a joke, he asks them. Turns out all six are dethroned kings from all over Europe. Here, Voltaire is mocking European aristocracy as well as pointing out that royal blood does not necessarily mean anything, as Candide is far wealthier than all the men at the table and, in fact, gives charity to one of them.

Senator Pococurante

One of the wealthiest men in Venice, Candide and Martin call on him because Candide wants to prove that people can be happy. They find that the Senator surrounds himself with beautiful landscapes, art, literature, and entertainment but that he is not satisfied by any of it. In fact, he is bored by his wealth tired of trying to appear refined for the sake of appearances. This has turned him into the ultimate critic, unable to see the beauty in anything.

The Old Man and His Children

Candide and his group meet the old man on the way back to their farm. He invites them in, feeds them, and pampers them. Candide is shocked that, out of all the people he's met that this old man seems to live the happiest life even though he does not have much. Candide realizes that the man does not concern himself overmuch with the affairs of the world and spends his time working on his farm and with his children. Candide sees in the old man's lifestyle a solution to all his inner turmoil, and the endless philosophizing of his friends and decides to adopt it. He and the group become content working on the farm and keeping busy.