(Can)Did(e) He Really Just Do That?

I just wanted to share my opinion on Candide himself.  I do not like that guy.  I just don’t think he’s a good person; my problem isn’t even his passivity and that he won’t question Pangloss (which I guess he ends up doing, although he really goes back and forth on optimism), it’s that he’s pretty self-centered and seems to only honestly care about himself while also claiming that he's the "best man" out there.  Even though some of his actions can be considered good taken at face value, Candide is truly motivated by selfishness.

For example, when Jacques gets tossed overboard.  Candide just sits there and nods along to Pangloss’ blabbering.  Okay, what?!?  You’re really going to do that to the guy who just saved you?!?  Maybe Candide’s passivity has been ingrained into him, but I don’t think that makes up for his inaction.  I think we can all agree to cross the line when Candide’s passivity starts wandering into actually allowing other people to be hurt.  It’s simply immoral, and it doesn’t matter that Pangloss has talked his ear off about optimism; at some point Candide needs to take responsibility for his own actions.

Then, there’s that time Candide comes across the slave.  “And he shed bitter tears as he looked at this [slave], and he was still weeping as he entered Surinam.”  Wow, Candide, here’s a pat on the back for crying over this poor guy who’s been tortured and enslaved!  Good job.  See, this kind of thing makes me angry, because Candide is over here pretending to be a good man, but he’s really not.  He’s just a guy who has some capacity for human emotion but doesn’t actually stick up for what’s right.  Why does he just walk away from the slave, when he himself has gotten so much help from other people?  Oh wait, I guess we already knew Jacques’ kindness didn’t really  have that much of an impact on him, because HE LET JACQUES DIE.  If Candide really cared, he would have used his newly acquired wealth to actually affect some change in the world, starting with buying this slave’s freedom and getting him some serious medical treatment.

Finally, there’s his treatment of Cunegonde.  Candide doesn’t really care about this woman.  He sees her as an object for him to admire.  When he sees that she has lost her former beauty, “The tender lover Candide, seeing his lovely Cunegonde […] then advanced only out of politeness” (Voltaire 243).  And then he sends Cunegonde’s brother back to the Levantine captain who was whipping him!  Candide is just so disgusting and spineless.  He doesn’t care about right or wrong, and he’s shallow.  If he had the chance to become one of those creepy monks, he would probably do it!  The fact that he claims to be such a great guy makes me roll my eyes.

I guess my opinion of Candide is kind of harsh given that he’s never really had the opportunity to challenge Pangloss’ teachings, but I still thinks he acts in a way that just isn’t moral, even when he does start to question Pangloss.  I find Candide very frustrating because he doesn’t seem to care about what’s right or wrong, he just wants to follow along and get what he wants.  That makes it very hard to have compassion for him, or to admire him as a protagonist.