The Anabaptist sees to it that Pangloss is cured, and then takes him and Candide to Lisbon via ship. In spite of Pangloss's condition and the horrors around him, the good doctor still believes in philosophical optimism. Pangloss recounts his recent experiences, including the death of the baron and his family at the hands of soldiers. Candide makes his way to Christian Holland, where he hopes to find charity but finds hardhearted people, save one, an Anabaptist, who shows Candide kindness and generosity.Ĭandide then meets a beggar who is suffering from a disfiguring disease and soon discovers that the beggar is Doctor Pangloss. He runs away, coming across war-torn villages in the process and witnessing the horrors of war firsthand.

He is pressed into service and endures beatings at the hands of his superiors. Hungry and cold, Candide makes his way to a neighboring town, where he is aided by two soldiers. When the baron catches them, Candide is kicked out of the castle. The baron's beautiful daughter, Cunégonde, witnesses the affair and decides to try something similar with Candide. In the first chapter, Doctor Pangloss is having an illicit affair with Paquette, a chambermaid. Thus, philosophical optimism is the focus of Votaire's satire anti-war and anti-church refrains also run throughout the novel. in this best of all worlds.' Candide, a simple man, first accepts this philosophy, but as he experiences the horrors of war, poverty, the maliciousness of man, and the hypocrisy of the church, he begins to doubt the voracity of Pangloss's theory.

A noted philosopher, Doctor Pangloss, tutors the baron on philosophical optimism, the idea that 'all is for the best.

Candide begins in the German town of Westphalia, where Candide, a young man, lives in the castle of Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh.

Candide novel