Chapter 5: Traveling to Lisbon
on a business trip, Jacques brings along his two philosopher friends, Candide and Pangloss. A
terrifying storm ravishes the sea during the boat trip, destroying the vessel and killing all but three
of those on board-Candide, Pangloss, and a "brutal sailor" who survives at the expense of the kind Christian,
Jacques. Once ashore,
Candide and his mentor see the awful effects of the Lisbon earthquake, a historical natural disaster
which killed over 30,000. With Candide helping many of the surviving victims of the earthquake,
Pangloss "consoles" the people with his doctrine of universal reason. When an Inquisition agent
asks the wise philosopher if he believes in original sin or free will, Pangloss asserts that both agree
with his theory.
Chapter 6: In this chapter, Candide
and Pangloss experience the auto-da-fé, a public ceremony intended to avert future disasters through
a demonstration of contrition and self-degradation. This event, like the earthquake which preceded
it, actually occurred in Lisbon during the summer of 1756.
Also connected with Candide's auto-da-fé is the Inquisition, replete with human sacrifices.
Soon Candide and Pangloss find themselves under the category of human sacrifices, having been arrested
for the comical charge that one was talking and the other "listening with an air of approval." Though
Pangloss is hanged (against auto-da-fé custom), Candide, luckily, is only flogged "in cadence to the
music." This savage pageantry (of Candide being whipped to the beat of a beautiful song) is used by
Voltaire to underscore the intolerance and injustice of the Church through its brutal treatment of innocent
victims, like Candide, though it maintains the false exquisiteness of tradition. It's interesting
to note that a second earthquake struck the city only a few hours later (Obviously the auto-da-fé was
not successful.). All this
causes Candide to seriously question the optimistic way of thinking, as he seems to be approaching death
before an old woman mysteriously appears to aid him.
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