Saturday, December 5, 2015
From The Play
After watching the play based on Voltaire's Candide, almost everyone agreed that they weren't happy with the play's choice to make Candide and Cunegonde so dumb sounding. I found the choice to be funny because Candide is this dumb in the novella. First off Candide has fallen in love with a girl, Cunegonde, purely from looks, and he also wants to marry her. Next, Candide doesn't think through his actions, Candide runs around almost aimlessly to find Cunegonde around the world. He also doesn't think when he uses his money, instead of bargaining with Vanderdendur, he just shows his wealth from the beginning, making the price rise and eventually gets robed. Most of Candide's misfortunes are from him not using his brain and I feel that the play did a proper presentation of his character.
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3 comments:
Though I agree with you in that the play's depiction of Candide truly represented him as a character. I feel as though Candide's relationship with Cunégonde is not accurately depicted. In the play, there is not enough evidence to show that Candide and Cunégonde don't really know each other, and that their relationship is solely based on looks. I feel like the play's portrayal of the couple is more meaningful than it actually is. Cunegonde is never transformed to an ugly state, and therefore Candide never loses any lust for her. I feel as though, Cunegonde's aging is essential to revealing that Candide's love for Cunegonde is purely based on appearance. Without it, one could argue that the two are actually childhood sweethearts who are separated by the horrors in the world and hope to rekindle their love. I know that's not what happened, but the play almost seemed as though that is how they wanted to stage the relationship.
I also enjoyed the play Anastasia. I thought it was very accurate how childish Candide was. Someone in class said that Candide reminded them of Spongebob and that has stuck with me since. Throughout the series, the audience isn't quite sure if Spongebob is an adult or a child. He carries out an adult life but is very childish. Spongebob is very stupid and is easily tricked, just like Candide. I just think it was very cool how that person just made the connection right away and I've still been pondering it for quite some time.
I still hold that I didn't like how stupid they mad candide though I was ok with cunégonde. I wanted Candide to seem like a decently educated man who was naive and ignorant rather than just completely lacking in intelligence. It demeaned all of the decisions and plot points brought about by Candide and made it seem more like a slapstick or other kind of comedy rather than a black comedy
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