Corruption Within the Church

Throughout the satirical novel ​Candide​, Voltaire illustrates the hypocrisy and corruption
of the Catholic Church and Jewish religion through the use of stereotypes of religious leaders,
situational irony involving the Catholic Church, and the absurdity associated with one human
owning another.
To begin with, Voltaire utilizes stereotypes of religious figures to portray the church in an
immoral light. When Cunegonde is no longer found to be desirable by the Bulgarian captain, she
is sold “to a Jew, named Don Issachar” who did not have the chance to sexually abuse
Cunegonde due to her being “more successful in resisting him than the Bulgarian soldier”
(Voltaire 41). Despite the Jewish Church preaching purity and respect, one of its most renowned
followers and prominent members in society engages in a sex trafficing transaction and attempts
to sexually abuse the young woman at hand. The Jewish church and its followers are
undoubtedly corrupt and, although their actions may relay a message of kindness and love, the
abusive actions of their followers display that the religion is hypocritical and undeserving of
respect. In this instance, with the Jew being a symbol of the Jewish church, the entire institution
encourages and accepts acts of evil and violence due to their followers engaging in these terrible
activities. The audience is surprised at such abhorrent actions committed by a man of worship
and their sympathy for Cunegonde fuels their anger towards the corrupt Jewish church.
Moreover, Voltaire continues with this stereotype of religious figures and implements
situational irony with the reveal of the Grand Inquisitor as a fraudulent man who participates in
the abuse of Cunegonde as well. Although the Jew did not want to share his newly found sex
object, the Grand Inquisitor “forced the Jew’s hand” with the threat of an auto-da-fe and
Cunegonde; thus, “[belonged] to both of them in common, to the Jew on Mondays, Wednesdays
and Sabbath days, and to the Inquisitor the other days of the week” (Voltaire 42). The audience
expects the Grand Inquisitor to punish the Jew for holding a woman against her own will and
attempting to coerce her into having sex; instead, the Inquisitor joins in on the operation and
threatens the Jew into compliance. Evidently, the Catholic Church’s strongly held values on a
woman’s virtue until marriage were quickly abandoned with the prospect of “owning” a
beautiful woman. The corruption of the Catholic and Jewish Church accompanies the
objectification of women in that time period with the belief that a man could “own” a woman,
such as Cunegonde, and society be accepting of it. Voltaire utilizes this situational irony and
stereotypes of the church leaders to display that Candide’s strongly held faith in the Catholic
Church throughout the entirety of the novel is a mistake. Furthermore, this characterization of the
Inquisitor exposes the fault in Pangloss’s or Leibniz's philosophy that “all is for the best”
because God made this world, due to one of the head Christian leaders, that is supposed to
represent the church and what Leibniz and Pangloss believe in, disregarding his religious beliefs
in order to engage in abusive sexual activity.
Furthermore, the absurdity of sexual slavery within the households of prominent church
members is developed further on in the passage. Following the description of the pact the Jew
and the Grand Inquisitor made in regard to Cunegonde, Cunegonde goes on to explain in a
nonchalant tone that “several contests” had occurred on the question of whether the “space from
Saturday night to Sunday morning belonged to the old or the new law” (Voltaire 42). The
absurdity revolving around two men sharing custody of a woman on specific days, parallel to
how divorced parents would share custody of a child, is intensified with the involvement of
religion. These two men are symbols of the Jewish and Catholic Church and are fighting over the
right to sexually exploit a woman with the justification of their holy books. The corruption of the
churches is explicit in this imagery with the church prioritizing personal gain and desire over
their morals. Likewise, corruption of religious figures and the church is not solely evident in the
life of Cunegonde but also in other parts of the novel. Earlier in the novel, when Candide is
forced into a state of near starvation and close to death, he stumbles upon a minister who had
been preaching on charity and the giving of alms to those in need. Despite Candide asking this
minister for food, the minister turns his back on the needs of Candide. Not only are prominent
religious figures blinded by evils that prevent them from adhering to their religious beliefs,
common followers of the church often disregard their philanthropic beliefs when they are put to
the test.
Evidently, the corruption of the Catholic and Jewish church in ​Candide i​ s explicit
through stereotypes of religious figures contradicting with their actions, the situational irony
surrounding the Grand Inquisitor, and the ludicrous belief that one person can have their natural
right to freedom taken away from them with society being utterly accepting of it.

Prior to my revisions I had included quotes from other parts of the novel, focused on only one
literary technique, did not emphasize my “plan” in my topic sentences, did not have a
conclusion, and did not connect my analysis back to my thesis. Therefore, I removed quotes from
other parts of the novel due to not being able to include any quotes aside from the ones in my
excerpt. However, I included examples of corruption in religion from other parts of the book to
display my understanding and knowledge of the book as a whole. Additionally, I added
situational irony and absurdity to the stereotype technique that I had previously. I updated my
topic sentences and provided a conclusion to help with the flow of my essay. Finally, I dove
deeper in my analysis to highlight Voltaire’s true purpose.