What are we to make of this?
Deadline:
Thursday, April 28, 2011
For Credit: All the Single Ladies... (BUMPED, deadline extended)
The women represented in Candide are either the victims of rampant and unremitting sexual violence...or they are prostitutes (which does not necessarily preclude being a victim of sexual violence). Or they cheerfully make love to monkeys.
What are we to make of this?
Deadline:Wednesday (4/27) Friday (4/29), start of class (since we didn't have much opportunity to discuss this issue on Wednesday).
What are we to make of this?
Deadline:
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12 comments:
Having just read the story of Paquette and the Theatine monk, I can't agree more that the women in Candide seem to suffer terrible fates at the hands of men. Perhaps this is a commentary on the treatment of women before and during the Enlightenment era. While we like to think that women had more of a voice during these times, we have to remember that the majority of society may have been slow to catch up with Enlightenment writers. Lady Montagu, an Enlightenment writer, said herself that, "There is nothing more wretched than a learned woman." We can see this chauvinistic attitude being poked fun at in "Candide or Optimism". Voltaire criticizes everything else in this novel, why not sexism?
I think Voltaire is definitely making a point that the way men of his time period view women is wrong and he shows this by putting them in absolutely absurd situations. Cunegonde experiences horrific physical and sexual torture, and yet seem pretty okay with it. Cunegonde in particular, after describing her awful experiences, says simply "You must have a terrible hunger, and I have a large appetite. Let's begin with supper" (465). Candide doesn't really even respond to her experiences, or comfort her, he just sits and listens passively, as he does to the old woman's story as well. I think Voltaire is taking the stereotypical female as seen in men's eyes during his time period and taking her to an extreme. Not only are the events that happen to her horrible, and the fault of men, but even the 'good guy' Candide views her as an object of his own life, not as an individual. He tries to save her and even stays with her in the end when she has lost her beauty and yet, they never have a conversation, within the story at least. Cunegonde's actions and apparent unfeeling towards the pain inflicted on her by men satirizes men's belief that women don't have feelings and Candide's ignorance of her also satirizes the disregard with which men treated women.
The old woman loss of a buttock did seem a bit weird. The repeated fact within the story about her loss brings up an important thought. She has experienced so much in her life with things like being raped, a servant and losing her lover but she still lives on. Pangloss makes different thought about life and things of that nature which in turn reflects the way that she continues to live on even though life may get her down. She wants to commit suicide but finds something that keeps her going. The women in the story are presented his way because this is the way that women are portrayed in this time period. They were love slaves or subjected to bad treatment but men. This story can serve as a way to highlight that treatment.
In light of the fact that Candide is a satire, I feel like Voltaire must be communicating something about the nature of women or how society perceives them through sarcasm. Perhaps that is a given? but given my partiality to a mathematical rigor to in analysis I thought I would make it clear that I'm building on that assumption. So in Candide, women are raped and mutilated and through it all are able to come out alive although not perfectly well. I think what Voltaire might be trying to communicate is that women are not invisible and are human entities as much as men, as in they are not just outlets of perverse sexual desire.
On the other hand, given that Voltaire was a man, maybe that is exactly the view he held about women and perhaps was just exaggerating it for the sake of humor.
A question that I have, though, in regards to women is: What significance do you think there is in Cunegonde becoming ugly at the end of all Candide's trials?
Although Candide is a satire, I think that Voltaire is trying allowing others to understand the nature of women and the way society perceives them. I think the importance of Candide, addressing that women are still able to live their lives after being mutilated and raped says something. Therefore, Voltaire is trying to say that women are not invisible but serve as human article to men. Since Voltaire is a man I believe that he could have had this view towards women initially. He writes this because he will receive recognition for making it humor by exaggerating it to an unnecessary extent.
I am to believe that this shows the sexual connotation that goes along with women during this time period. Whether or not they are enjoying themselves or doing it because they are made to, women are constantly displayed as sexual beings who cannot have enough sex. In one than a few stories we have read, the sexual adventures of the female characters are always explored. Authors seem to be fascinated with the fact that women like or have sex just like men.
I think that Voltaire goes even a step further than merely satirizing the way women of the period were treated and portrayed by men. I think he makes a causal link between the way women were treated, and the characteristics they then developed which then are portrayed to the public by male (and even some female) writers as their "natural state". If this sounds familiar, it's because it may sound an awful lot like the arguments made in class about the natives of south America and whether or not what Voltaire described them as was "natural" or merely a result of the brutality they had been subjected to under the Jesuits.
In the case of the women of Candide, it is obvious that Voltaire is critiquing their treatment, but I don't think he sets up Cunegonde as a mere satire of the typical woman. The episode alluded to above, when she offers Candide super rather than wailing about her misfortunes, doesn't necessarily have to be seen as completely unnatural. People respond to trauma in different ways, Cunegond's nonchalance may be a direct result of her trauma; an inability to emotionally address what she has been put through. The story ends with Cunegonde being an ugly bitter woman. I think Voltaire would say that she had every right to be bitter, and that the ugliness goes along with all the time of abuse and rough circumstances under which she'd been living. It seems that Voltaire may be telling the world in general "you write about and speak about ugly old women incapable of saying a pleasant word to anyone, but how do you think they got that way?". Voltaire isn't just pointing out the injustices that women suffer, he's pointing out the fact that these accumulated injustices have a costly effect, and it is hardly fair to claim that the state of women is "natural" given the world in which they are forced to live.
That woman are not to be respected. Woman are either being raped and/or phyiscally hurt, like Miss Cunégonde, and afterwards are shown very little sympathy. Candide seems to be one of the few men that actually respects her. Woman who are not beaten and raped choose to degrade themselves. This story really does show women in a negative light, for the most part.
I think Voltaire is just showing another way in which European society is corrupted. As each female character's sexual exploitations are told, none of the male characters find it gruesome or bothersome. None of them go, "Oh my God! That is just terrible!" but seem to just accept it without being disturbed. Even the way the narrator tells everything in a very straightforward, matter-of-fact manner leaves almost no room for the reader's reactions. The pacing of the story is so ridiculously fast that you can only glance for a moment at these unfortunate events and move on. It really shows the mindset of men during this time period. Women were expected to be chaste, but yet men did nothing to help keep their chastity.
When Candide worries about Cunegonda, Cacambo says, “Women are never at a loss. God sees to that” (Chapter 14, paragraph 5). So, what’s up? Perhaps this quote explains why Voltaire has Candide marry Cunegonda in the end? Or does Voltaire mean that no matter what happens to a woman, she is never at a loss as to how to connive? Somehow this quote is important, or it’s a joke I’m missing!
I believe that a lot of this sentiment comes from the Enlightenment era- women are not always portrayed in the best of lights. Many times they are seen as men's "play things" or "toys", which seems to me how they come across within Candide. Why else would Voltaire over and over again have women raped, prodded, make love to monkeys...
It seems to be the general consensus that Voltaire highlights the absurd treatment of women up until and even during the period in which Candide was written. I also think that the ability of these characters (looking at Cunegonde and the old woman in particular) to survive through these acts of cruelty and torture show Voltaire commenting on feminine perseverance. It seems that Voltaire, in a satirical fashion, is saluting women for being able to push through the oppression thrown at them and to continue working towards equality in a society that (referring to the Enlightenment era) encouraged forward thinking.
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