The Chambermaid Of Cunegonde Summary

Hannah W. Foster’s The Coquette is a young woman’s path navigating the expectations of society while not surrendering her own wants and needs. Marriages, in the eighteenth century, are based on financial security and social rank, not love. Women, especially those who did not have a dowry, married a man of wealth and connections. The sad, tragic tale of Eliza Wharton validates the fact that defying expectations in the eighteenth century caused women to fall from grace.

Candide studied under Professor Pangloss, who taught him, we live in the best of all possible worlds. In the beginning, Cunégonde seeks out to have affectionate affairs with Candide. Unfortunately, they were discovered, which caused Candide to be ejected from the castle. This could symbolize the Biblical Fall. Like Eve, Cunégonde comes across the forbidden knowledge of sex and shares it with another person.

Another scene of Candide claiming tyranny being manifested is when “they put me in prison instead. My innocence would not have saved me, If I not been moderately pretty. The judge released me on condition that he succeeded the doctor, But I was soon supplanted by a rival and dismissed without a penny in my pocket. That’s how I have been forced to continue in this detestable way of life.” (115) As Pangloss young, old mistress, Paquette was taken under a surgeon’s wing and cured her disease after it was acquired initially by Pangloss, but as time progressed, the surgeon’s wife was abusive and then poisoned by her own husband, so he then left them both and Paquette was then soon sent to prison and acquired by a judge that took advantage of her. Under certain conditions of her “freedom” was the simple fact that she was his mistress but he soon dismissed her while leaving with her money.

In Candide Voltaire discusses the exploitation of the female race in the eighteenth century through the women in the novel. Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman suffer through rape and sexual exploitation regardless of wealth or political connections. These characters possess very little complexity or importance in Candide. With his characterization of Cunegonde, Paquette, and the Old Woman Voltaire satirizes gender roles and highlights the impotence of women in the 1800s.

He sees firsthand the results of violence and rape, page 6 “There several young virgins, whose bodies have been ripped open, after they had satisfied the natural necessities of the Bulgarian heroes, breathed their last….The ground about them was covered with the brains, arms, and legs of dead men”. Moreover, two of the female characters, Cunegonde and the Old Woman are also subjected to rape and servitude as a result of warfare. Most of the violence in the novel Candide is as a consequence of continuous warfare and struggle for power. On page 95, the Old Woman remarks “ I would like to know which is worst, to be ravished a hundred times by Negro pirates, to have one buttock cut off, to run the gauntlet among the Bulgarians, to be whipped and hanged at an auto-de-fe, to be dissected, to be chained to an oar in a gallery..”. All of these atrocities highlight the consequences of warfare in the 17th century, and exhibits Voltaire’s view of the world as absolutely chaotic in terms of the violence experienced by many of the characters in the novel, with so much suffering inflicted on all them that it becomes almost comical due to the frequency of their

In choosing to present the ideas of liberated women to the group, The Decameron becomes important when measured in the context of the queen’s story because her story of Narbonne (IX, III) also depicts a courageous, outspoken woman who defies the traditional role and eventually wins herself a very honorable man. Through the story of Narbonne, the queen brings a narration evocative of the social order from which some women escaped. In the Middle Ages, “[woman were] not allowed a say in the government of the kingdom or of society. [They were] prohibited from holding any political, professional or public office.” (Sandison). It can be inferred that women who tried to influence government officials and make their own decisions received a barrage of criticism in Boccaccio’s era. Some people may attempt to interpret the story of Narbonne as misogynistic because they probably despised women who tried to influence kings or other nobles by acting out of their expected roles. Through the story of Narbonne, however, Boccaccio proves them wrong. In the story, Gilette of Narbonne endeavors to win her lover, Bertrand of Rousillon, by curing the King of France and using her wits to convince Bertrand to acknowledge her as his wife. After curing the King of France, unlike other contemporary women, she demands that the King give her Bertrand as her husband. Moreover, she uses her wits to win her love when she

Enlightenment thinkers wanted tangible, concrete evidence to back their arguments. Pangloss based his arguments on nothing. Voltaire portrays him as naïve, scorning him for not experiencing and studying the world before he becomes firmly planted in his ideas. Even after Pangloss experiences the evil ways of the world, he refuses to change his philosophy. Pangloss would rather preach something attractive to the ear rather than reality. Candide’s servant Cacambo also speaks of false optimism as he tries to console Candide over the loss of Cunegonde. He says that women are never at a loss and that God takes care of them. However, Cunegonde and the Old Woman both experienced brutality and suffering many times over in their lifetime. Cunegonde was bought, sold, and treated like a possession throughout the novel. She and the Old Woman were left vulnerable to molestation and treated like objects. The only hint of optimism in Voltaire’s novel is when Cacambo and Candide stumble upon the country of Eldorado. However, this optimism is quickly distinguished when the two men foolishly trade such a perfect society for jewels, gold, power, and influence. Eldorado is a country in which there is no organized religion, no courts or prisons, no poverty, and complete equality. Even the king is treated as a normal citizen. Candide overlooks the fact that this is a perfect society because of the ideals they practice, and believes that the riches are the most

In Candide, written by Voltaire in 1758, the women are flat characters whose personalities revolve either around their beauty, or lack thereof, or the misfortune that they’ve endured during their lives. Each woman – the old woman and Cunegonde – have the same characteristics that make up their personalities; these women are reduced to their ability to be sexual objects, their obtainability, or as a tale of woe. All of the decisions these women make are, on the surface, in regards to men but, survival seems to be lurking just beneath the surface. While Candide is a satire, the blatant similarities between the old woman and Cunegonde signify that a woman’s role in the world of Candide is to ultimately be an object to be bartered, won, or mutilated as men see fit.

In Voltaire’s Candide, we are taken by the hand through an adventure which spanned two continents, several countries, and to a multitude of adverse characters. The protagonist, Candide, became the recipient of the horrors which would be faced by any person in the 18th century. But Candide was always accompanied with fellows sufferers, two of which our focus will lay, Pangloss and Martin. In equal respects, both are embodiments of different philosophies of the time: Pangloss the proponent of Optimism and Martin the proponent of Pessimism. Each of the two travelers is never together with Candide, until the end, but both entice him to picture the world in one of their two philosophies. Throughout the story there is an apparent ebb and flow

Candide is a good-hearted, but very naïve young man from Westphalia. From the very beginning Candide had his eyes on a beautiful woman named Cunegonde who is the Baron’s daughter. Candide was chased from Westphalia after being caught stealing an innocent kiss from

The story is highly critical of the social institutions in place during that time. The societal aspects of focusing on religion and the class system were evidenced throughout the story. The story also offers many displays of unequal rights for women. The main female characters are prostitutes, which could be described as weak and defenseless, who establish relationships or marry only for money, spread diseases, and are continuously victimized through rape, enslavement, and live in a perpetual state of submission. Candide also explores the hypocrisy that was common in the churches leading up to and during the period of Enlightenment. One example of this is the inhumanity of the clergy, especially in the Inquisition, who hang and execute fellow citizens over philosophical differences. Another example is that of the church officials who are depicted among the most sinful of all citizens, by having mistresses, engaging in homosexual affairs, lying, cheating, and stealing. The Pope even fathers a daughter after committing himself to a life of

Most of Voltaire’s characters were able to explain why they could consider themselves as the “most unhappy” by providing a story of what had occurred to them. Their experiences vary from natural to man-made misfortunes. However, even though, the characters’ reactions to their misfortunes are of a similar, the experiences between the male and female characters of Candide are quite different in regards to what is taken away from them.

The first half of Charles W. Chestnutt’s The Conjure Woman begins with the interaction between a Northern white male and the conventional portrayal of a slave. In the novel an old ex-plantation slave, Julius, recounts stories that he says he heard as a child. The audience of the stories is the white Northern male, who is the narrator of the story, and his sickly wife, Annie. The stories are told for many purposes but my favorite reason behind the telling of the tales is Julius’ attempt and in most cases achievement to acquire several things by this sly action.

Voltaire also illustrated in Candide that society as a whole places more emphasis on physical appearance than on inner beauty. Throughout much of the story, Candide is obsessed with the idea of being reunited with Cunegonde. Candide speaks of how beautiful his future bride is and of how much he really loves her. As the story concludes, Candide is reunited with Cunegonde only to find that she has become ugly. Candide has a change of heart and

When Candide was faced with the true reality about Pacquette and the monk, he was unable to accept that all was not well, " `That sir...is one more misery of this way of life. Yesterday I was robbed and beaten by an officer, and to-day I must appear good humored to please a monk.' This was enough for Candide" (Candide, 116).