Candide-Satire with Optimism - Book Report/Review Example

This itself sets the pace for and acts as a revelation of Voltaire's satirical take on the mere 'objectification' of women. Further, Candide falls in love with her, owing to her good looks. For this, he is banished from the house of the Baron. Later, Cunegonde falls prey to the exploitation of Bulgar soldiers. As the novel progresses, we find that Cunegonde is constantly being shipped to Constantinople or is made a slave and exploited. The author recurrently brings to our notice that men were a superior clan, while women were merely their counterparts, who had no prominent role or more meaning to their lives apart from succumbing to the carnal desires of the superior males.

This gender pattern was a great source of ridicule for many authors and Voltaire certainly does highlight this societal pattern and ridicules it in his satirical novel.In the process of satirizing the objectification of women, Voltaire does come to a conclusion regarding the same. He puts forth two exemplary characters; that of Candide and Cunegonde. While the latter succumbs to the system and becomes "ugly and shrewish", the former refuses to let his love for his lady succumb to such patterns; and gradually accepts her in spite of how she is!

He undertakes numerous hardships for her and finally, even when she is far from the 'object' of desire, he proposes to her on account of his undying love which has extended beyond the boundaries of physical appearances and has reached a more spiritual stage! These are the twin solutions offered by Voltaire---succumb to the system or rise above it! The former is definitely a problem, adding to the woes of society and the latter is a futuristic solution!Thus, Voltaire, in his usual satirical tone, does use gender roles as an object of satire.

Nonetheless, he does place before us a choice---to bow down or rise above! Even though Voltaire satirizes optimism, he does come up with an optimal solution.