Page 145 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

Professor Pangloss no longer accepts his own teachings he simply repeating them because is

always has.

Reconciliation can also be in Candide’s love for the dearest Miss Cunegonde as well as

Miss Cunegonde’s own misfortunes. Voltaire writes, “Candide listened attentively and believed

implicitly; for he found Miss Cunegonde exceedingly pretty…” and “…after being born Baron

of Thunder-Ten-Tronckh, the second order of happiness was to be Miss Cunegonde…” (Voltaire

356). The palpable naïveté Candide exhibits regarding love affairs is rooted in the teachings of

Professor Pangloss, “since everything is made to serve an end, everything necessarily serves the

best end” as well as lack of experience in matters of love (Voltaire 356). The feelings Candide

and Cunegonde share for one another are made evident when Voltaire writes, “…she held his

hand quite innocently, he kissed her hand quite innocently with remarkable vivacity and

emotion; their lips met, their eyes lit up, their knees trembled, their hands wandered” (Voltaire

356). This moment is pivotal to the remainder of the story, as to Candide it is a manifestation of

Professor Pangloss’s teachings that everything serves an end therefore it serves the best end

(Voltaire 356).

Miss Cunegonde, being another pupil of Professor Pangloss, is eventually liberated of her

indoctrination by her own worldly vicissitudes. After suffering a great deal of misfortune and

finally “renouncing Pangloss’s optimism,” “she adopts a hard-headed, pragmatic attitude toward

life” (Scherr 93). This approach is made obvious by her submitting to the will and complying

with the wishes of whomever she was slave or mistress to as her survival depended on her

compliance. Had Cunegonde not complied as she did she may have very well been punished

and/or killed. The final transformation of Miss Cunegonde’s naïveté to worldliness happens with

the encounter of the old woman. It appears that Miss Cunegonde is naïve enough to believe the

144