Voltaire had a rather cynical perspective on the subject of human nature, and his views of human nature permeate Candide. Perhaps the finest examples of the author's predilection for the negative occur in the exchanges between the naive and good-hearted Candide and the "old philosopher" named Martin, with whom Candide joins up along the way. In Chapter XXI of Voltaire's Candide, titled "Candide and Martin, Reasoning, Draw Near the Coast of France," the titular character, having already experienced much in the way of physical brutality during his travels, and having witnessed even more, is accompanied by Martin, a well-traveled student of human nature. Any expectation that Martin will prove an antidote to the miseries that preceded him are rapidly dispelled. Before his name is uttered, Voltaire's narrator describes this new character as follows: "This philosopher was an honest man; but he had been robbed by his wife, beaten by his son, and abandoned by his daughter who got a Portuguese to run away with her." So, the honest man who encounters Candide in Surinam, who has previously been a bookseller in Amsterdam, sets sail for Bordeaux with the story's main protagonist. What follows are exchanges between the two men that further illuminate the cynicism regarding human nature referred to earlier.
As they approach the coast of France, Candide asks of his travel-mate whether the latter has ever visited France, eliciting this response: "Yes," said Martin, "I have been in several provinces. In some one-half of the people are fools, in others they are too cunning; in some they are weak and simple, in others they affect to be witty; in all, the principal occupation is love, the next is slander, and the third is talking nonsense." "But, Mr. Martin, have you seen Paris?" "Yes, I have. All these kinds are found there." There is no shortage of examples of Voltaire's philosophy of humanity in this novella. Indeed, only as the story nears its end does one find a measure of hopefulness and social tranquility, and that is on a farm operated by a farmer who is content with his limited lot in life.
The reader should never lose sight of the fact that Martin is among the more scholarly and erudite of individuals Candide encounters along his journeys. Consequently, passages like the following should serve well to reflect the underlying belief that humanity is not all it is cracked up to be:
“'Do you believe,' said Candide, 'that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody-minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?' 'Do you believe,' said Martin, 'that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?”
Again, as will be seen in Chapter XXIV, Voltaire's more traveled and experienced character is the one who best exemplifies the author's cynicism regarding the human condition. Upon being accused by Candide of lacking faith, Martin replies, "It is because I have seen the world."
As for the Bible? If one assumes that both Old and New Testaments are consulted, then one can easily surmise that the human condition has always been problematic. From "the original sin" to the crucifixion, there is plenty to assuage the grief of any individual who laments the shortage of human fallibility and venality. One need not be a scholar of the Bible to be fully aware of the travesties of justice that permeate the text.
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