Thursday, September 25, 2014

Candide's Punshment. Do they fit the crime?

In Candide, poor Candide suffers from punishments that hurts him physically and emotionally. His first "crime" was nothing more than a kiss to his love Cunegonde. One might say a person that cannot trace his bloodline should not have affection and a relationship with royalty, but Candide and Cunegonde had mutual feelings towards one another. Yet, Candide was punished for the kiss and was kicked out of Westphilia. In this instance the punishment does not fit the crime.

However, Candide later becomes a murderer, killing the Grand Inquisitor and Don Issachar. Although he killed Don Issachar due to self defense, he later killed the Grand Inquisitor just to prevent future problems. Later on, it was discovered and he was forced to flee without Cunegonde. Not being with her yet again was another punishment that was served to Candide. Although this time I believe the punishment was fitting of the crime.

Candide and Pangloss were also punished for supposedly causing the storm that killed most of the people in one of the towns. Pangloss was hanged, and Candide had to partake in an auto-de-fe. This punishment did not fit the "crime".

Through Candide, Candide faces many road bumps, he constantly loses the woman he loves, and he also is punished for many things. I think Candide's punishment for certain crimes were fit, and to some were not. It all just depends which of the many alleged crimes we are focusing on.

4 comments:

  1. I also thought that the combination of physical and emotional punishments was interesting. You did a nice job of clearly explaining each in this post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree that Candide deserves some of his punishments: he did murder a guy with no motive. I like how you describe the difference in severity between his crimes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Candide is has endured many hardships. But he has committed acts that were wrong. I do agree that his punishment for his first crime was a bit absurd.

    ReplyDelete