Candide Theme: Hipocrisy

Topic Tracking: Hypocrisy

Chapter 3

Hypocrisy 1: The orator tells Candide he deserves to starve because Candide does not know whether the Pope is the Antichrist. Just before, the orator had been addressing a crowd about the virtues of charity.

Chapter 5

Hypocrisy 2: Jacques the Anabaptist is kind enough to rescue the drowning sailor even though the sailor hit Jacques. When Jacques gets pulled into the water from the effort of rescuing the sailor, the sailor leaves him to drown.

Jacques saved Pangloss's life when he paid for Pangloss's cure. When Candide has an opportunity to help Jacques and save him from drowning, he reasons that Jacques was meant to drown.

Chapter 6

Hypocrisy 3: The Spanish Inquisition was Spain's political tool to rout out heretics and usurpers. Officially sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, the Inquisition relied on practices such as torture and confiscation of property to terrorize its victims and get false confessions. Christianity advocates the virtues of charity, forgiveness and love. Official policies and practices of the Inquisition were anything but charitable or loving.

Chapter 9

Hypocrisy 4: Don Issachar was a court banker and influential merchant. Nevertheless, because he was Jewish, his body is thrown in the sewer. The grand Inquisitor, who burned people at the stake, was given all the respect of a proper burial.

Chapter 10

Hypocrisy 5: A reverend Franciscan father steals money from CunÐ"©gonde, while a Benedictine friar swindles the threesome out of a good horse. These churchmen have little integrity.

Chapter 11

Hypocrisy 6: While participating in the carnage of war, not one Moroccan neglects to perform his five daily prayers, which are spaced throughout the day. The coupling of Christian prayer with war is ironic, and reminiscent of the Bulgarians' and the Abares' praise of god for their battles.

Chapter 12

Hypocrisy 7: One Christian country employs the King of Morocco to destroy the merchant ships of another Christian country, a gesture that seems contrary to Christian principles.

Chapter 14

Hypocrisy 8: Cacambo praises the government of Los Padres, which he aptly calls a "kingdom". But read between the lines and notice how Cacambo, as well as the narrator, inadvertently point out the inconsistencies in Jesuit practices. In South America, the Jesuits rebel against their European monarchies; in Europe the Jesuits act as their agents.

Ironically, the Jesuits have established their own microcosmic monarchy in Paraguay. The natives "have nothing", and are forced to eat their gruel outside in the heat of the sun while high-ranking officers like the commandant enjoy the shade of beautiful arbors.

Also noteworthy is the fact that the Jesuit fathers hold both religious and military titles, "the reverend father Commandant" for instance. Acting as militants, the Jesuits have tainted their roles as churchmen. The narrator underscores this with a mocking description of the Commandant, who wears a sword and a three-cornered hat, and his gown tucked up around him for more freedom of movement.

Chapter 15

Hypocrisy 9: The Baron's son alludes to a homosexual relationship he had with Reverend Father Croust, the Jesuit superior. This is a comical jab at the inconsistencies between church doctrine and human action; homosexuality was at the time a sexual practice absolutely forbidden by the Church.

The Baron's son predicts that the Spanish soldiers will be beaten and excommunicated from the church when the Jesuits triumph.

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