But what was this world created for? To drive us mad ----- Candide

When Candide returned to Europe, he was still a very wealthy man. In his journey he had befriended Martin, a man who had gone through terrible misfortunes. Martin can be seen as the exact opposite of Pangloss. Martin seems to believe that all is for the worse and that humans cannot possibly be happy in society. “But what was this world created for?’ said Candide. ‘To drive us mad,’ replied Martin (pg 95).” Martin no longer believes in good or in the future. He simply lives the live he is giving knowing all other humans are going through similar misfortunes. He also knows men are evil almost by their very origin and they will do everything to benefit themselves. This is proven when Candide falls ill in France. When the attendants of the inn see his money chest and jewels, doctors are sent immediately, women care for his food and people came to entertain Candide. To this, Martin said, “I remember being ill myself during my first visit to Paris. I was very poor. But then I had no friends no kind ladies, and no doctors, so I soon recovered. (pg 97)” Here, Voltaire mocks human’s hypocrisy and action when personal gain is possible. The doctors actually worsened Candide’s ailment and brought him close to his death.
Even after going through dozens of misfortunes and being cheated by many people, Candide still kept his Panglossian naivety. During his recovery, Candide was visited by strangers who played cards with him and he always lost. “It astonished Candide that he never held and ace in his hand, but Martin was not surprised. (pg 98)” Here we can see Candide’s naivety contrasted with Martin’s pessimistic knowledge of society. The biggest show of Candide’s ever present naivety is how he lets himself be basically siphoned of all his riches by a French abbe who takes him to many places of entertainment. Voltaire even makes the reader know about this: “He had had only a small share of the fifty thousand francs Candide had lost at cards and of the value of the two diamonds which the Marchioness had wheedled from him. (pg 106).” This conflict between Candide’s optimism and Martin’s pessimism will be present in then rest of the novel; however, why doesn’t Martin simply make Candide snap out of it? Why make him lose millions to thieves and brigands? I think Martin knows that the only way for Candide to really understand life is for him to live it. Either that or Martin simply does not care, as he ceased to care for everything else.
After he was tricked by the French and had to pay a lot of money for his liberty, Candide reached the shores of England. There he saw an interesting event: “Four soldiers stood opposite him and fired three rounds each into his skull with the utmost composure, at which the crowd dispersed evidently quite satisfied. (pg 110)” This gruesome sight horrifies Candide, even more after Martin tells him it was British admiral who was executed for not killing enough French. This was done to keep the other admirals “on their feet”. For this coldness, Candide swears to never set foot in England. I also found this excerpt interesting because of the last phrase, “at which the crowd dispersed evidently quite satisfied.” Here I felt the irony with which Voltaire wrote this phrase. How could people leave satisfied from an execution? Voltaire is mocking the 18th century Man of “Reason”, who is supposed to use logic and his values to act properly. When this enlightened man views and commends an execution, he is renouncing all of his claims of civility. Humans are not civilized.
In this section of the novel we also see the value of money. To Candide, who has more wealth than most Europeans, money seems of lesser importance than any other thing. The question there is whether this is true because he happens to be rich or he actually does not believe that money is important like Count Pocurante. I think it is because he has so much money that he doesn’t care about his spending. In previous chapters he often cared about it like when he decided to return to Europe as wealthy as possible. Voltaire I believe also mocks high-class society with Candide. At this time of enormous social inequality, the aristocracy spent sickening amounts of money on petty things like banquets or clothing. Candide’s enormous pending made me see this connection with the novel. This disdain for money is contrasted by the demeaning things many will do for it at a minimal effort, like the people who played cards with Candide, the women who wanted to tend for him or the abbe who even wrote a forged letter from Miss Cunegond in order to get Candide’s wealth. This humiliation is shown by Voltaire to state how materialistic and void of values society has become.