Annalise Steinmann

Mrs. Balka
IB English HL Year 1
16 October 2019
Candide on Wealth and Class
Throughout the passage of time, before, during, and certainly after the time period of
Voltaire’s lifespan in the 1700s, the disparities between the higher and the lower classes, or those
who have money and those who don’t, have always been prevalent. It is through Voltaire’s
Candide​ that Voltaire addresses this issue through the story of young, innocent Candide who at
times finds his lack of money and nobility to be the barrier stopping him from reaching what he
most desires, which in this case, is the lovely Cunegonde. In his novel, ​Candide​, Voltaire
criticises how wealth and class determine the freedoms and abilities people can exercise in
society, and the inevitability of this concept, through absurdity, and the juxtaposition between
two polar-opposite emotions towards Candide.
Through certain examples of absurdity, Voltaire portrays the lesser ability of the poor and
lower class to exert control over their own life. When Candide’s extensive travels take him to the
New World, specifically to Paraguay, Candide finds that the long lost brother of Cunegonde,
now a Jesuit, is alive. In all their surprise and happiness to see each other, Candide tells of his
heroic efforts to save the Baron’s sister, to which the Baron is delighted. When Candide
expresses his wish to marry her, the Baron immediately reels back in surprise, and says that
Cunegonde has “seventy-two quarterings in her coat of arms”(67). This purports as an example
of absurdity as some of the most noble families of this time period had under ten quarterings,
which essentially puts the Thunder-ten-tronckh family, and more specifically, Cundegonde, on
an unreachable pedestal of nobility that a poor man like Candide has no chance of marrying into,
for a quartering is essentially a connection to a noble family for a potential marriage. Also, even
though Cunegonde has an absurd number of potential suitors in marriage, yet there’s none of
which who reach out to Cundegonde or her brother seeking her hand, is a comment on how little
respect the Thunder-ten-tronckh name rakes in as of this moment. However, since the family is
still technically a family of nobility, it is absolutely unfathomable for the Baron to consider his
sister being wed to Candide, a man of little nobility, showing that even under changed and
unfortunate circumstances for a noble family, the rigidity between these social classes still does
not permit a ‘lesser’ man to marry the woman he loves.
Another example of absurdity within Voltaire’s ​Candide​ occurs when Candide (attempts)
to kill the Baron over his inability to allow Candide and Cunegonde to get married(67). This
displays both the how immovable the Baron is on the subject, and how infuriated and passionate
Candide feels as well, as Candide feels that he earned Cunegonde’s hand in marriage through his
never-ending devotion to her, and he feels that he proved himself to both her and the Baron
through his slaying of the Spanish Inquisitor and the Jew for her. This is a concept repeated
throughout the book, as a mirrored happening occurs again later in the book when Candide
proves himself immensely once more in resucuing Cunegonde several times throughout the
novel and in buying the Baron out of slavery. Even after Cunegonde becomes an ugly maid,
essentially lowering her status in the context of social hierarchy, and after rescuing the Baron
from heavily laborious work he was not good at, resulting in him getting whipped countless
times, the Baron still refuses to consider a marriage between his sister and Candide as he still
clings to his fine-bred heritage as a deciding factor, despite himself and Cunegonde having lost
all of the other markers of nobility and social superiority, reflecting Voltaire’s overall view that
wealth and class confines the amount of freedom a socially inferior man has over his life.
Juxtaposition between distinctive emotions, and more specifically, nicknames, within a
dialogue between Candide and the Baron illustrates Voltaire’s emphasis on the disparities
between the socially powerful and impotent. When Candide first finds the Baron in Paraguay and
tells of his heroism in aiding Cunegonde, the Baron calls Candide his “brother and saviour”(66).
But as soon as Candide proposes the idea of marrying Cunegonde, the Baron is quick to dub
Candide an “insolent fellow” as well as a “rascal”(66-67). As the Baron is learning of Candide’s
heroic measures that rescued Cunegonde from her unfortunate situation, the Baron, in all his
gratefulness and appreciation, feels the need to address Candide as his “brother”, someone
directly related to him, and as a “saviour”, a hero, which are both heavily connective words that
indicate an unmatched level of trust and indebtedness. In the event of a marriage between
Cunegonde and Candide, Candide and the Baron would actually become brothers. So when this
opportunity actually presents itself, the Baron quickly reacts in frustration and disgust, paired
with immediate refusal. This 180 degree transition happens so quickly only at the thought of
himself being related to Candide, and at the thought of his sister marrying into a poor family.
To conclude, Voltaire feels as though the disparities between the higher and lower classes
of society are unfair, unjust, but however, inevitable and unavoidable. Despite the injustices the
lover classes have to endure, and despite them being morally wrong, it is something unchanging
and unable to be changed in society, as shown through examples of absurdity and juxtaposition
within Candide’s journey.

Reflection paragraph: I didn’t end up changing much in my essay, as I felt I had topic
sentences for each paragraph, and I felt that my thesis statement correctly reflected my global
issue as well as the techniques I analyzed. I also already had only used quotes from my IO
passage to begin with, so there wasn’t much editing I had to do there. I just reconstructed a few
wordy sentences and fixed my analysis in a few places, and otherwise I believe this essay is
pretty good. Hopefully this essay is actually good!