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The orator’s wife seemed to agree with her husband, as she proceeded
to throw a chamber pot on Candide’s head. The action can be viewed as a
mock baptism for Candide, as it involves a liquid being put on his head –
though a much ruder and unpleasant liquid than water. Almost fittingly so, a
man who has not been baptized enters the plot. James the Anabaptist takes
Candide under his wing and aids him for awhile. Note here that Voltaire puts
our dear Anabaptist in affirmative light! He expresses his approval of the
Anabaptist ideal: that the individual should have the choice of whether or not
they want to engage in religious practices once they are responsible enough
to choose as opposed to bringing them up thinking a certain manner from
childhood.
To show this, Voltaire talks about how Candide has to save his love,
Cunegonde, from the clutches of two prominent men, a grand inquisitor and
Don Issachar, a Jewish merchant. The two are sharing Cunegonde, and have
decided that only one will get Cunegonde during the Sabbath day. However,
due to their different religions, they have found themselves arguing over
Cunegonde on Saturday and Sunday, claiming that the other has taken her
on the wrong day. Aside from this attack on organized religion, Voltaire goes
at great lengths to exploit the Inquisitor, an agent of religion, as a very
corrupt and evil individual. He acts amorally toward Don Issachar, and even
threatens to blackmail him. This shows that even the most prominent
religious officials are not by any means free from corruption, and that
organized religion to be used as a means of being virtuous is flawed.
Anon, Candide is separated from Cunegonde and the old woman, and
is in North America with a page named Cacambo. Candide and Cacambo
arrive in a city called Eldorado, which is a paradise. In Eldorado, everything is
absolutely splendid. There is no jealousy of other people, because everyone
has everything. Since everything is free and everyone shares, there is no
hunger. It is almost like Thomas More’s Utopia. A curious aspect of Eldorado,
however, is their approach on religion. As a perfect place, Voltaire shows that
he thinks the Eldorado idea of religion is the perfect one. Their approach is
that everyone should serve G-d, and that is all. Everyone does it on their own
Voltaire’s Satirical Stance of Organized Religion
way. The religious monks do not argue with each other on the methodology
of such, they simply serve G-d in their own way.
Paquette and the monk settle down with them. Their “happily ever
after” at the farm is devoid of any religious services. Instead, they all live
lives of hard work which keeps them occupied so that they do not suffer from
the “three evils,” all of which are born of uselessness. It is not any religious
Voltaire’s Satirical Stance of Organized Religion
lifestyle which leads them to happiness. This delineates that, once again,
religious organization does not necessarily lead to happiness, and that
religious organization is not vital for happiness. In fact, it is better to do
without.
The final line of the book really puts Voltaire’s idea all together. “’Well
said,’ replied Candide, “’but we must cultivate our garden.’” The simple fact
that Candide is turning away from a conversation that could lead to
hypothetical thought and instead work at what is at hand is profound. By
doing this, Candide grasps the material world, one of ration (which Voltaire
loved), and not of spirituality or of pure intelligence. Religious organization
itself is not one of tangible reward. It is one of thought. By a short stretch,
Voltaire is saying that it’s not worth thinking about things that you don’t
know will help in the end, exemplified by organized religion. Recalcitrate, you
should spend your time doing something that will have a tangible and
predictable cause, such as tending to your garden; or, as Voltaire also
stresses, by helping others.