Candide

Character Guide

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Candide

A gentle, naive young man raised in Baron Thunder-ten-Tronckh's castle, taught by Pangloss to believe all is for the best; he is expelled from the castle and sent on a journey of hardship after being caught kissing Cunegonde.

Pangloss

Candide's tutor, a philosopher who teaches 'metaphysico-theologico-cosmolonigology' and insists this is 'the best of all possible worlds,' no matter what disasters occur.

Cunegonde

The Baron's daughter, fresh and comely, whom Candide loves; her fate becomes uncertain after the castle is attacked and she disappears.

The Baron of Thunder-ten-Tronckh

The proud lord of the Westphalian castle where Candide is raised, who expels Candide for daring to love his daughter.

The Baroness

The Baron's large, dignified wife who runs the household with great ceremony.

Martin

A learned but pessimistic scholar Candide meets later in his travels, who becomes his companion and philosophical foil to Pangloss's optimism.

Cacambo

Candide's clever and loyal valet, born in Tucuman, who assists him through many of his adventures and speaks multiple languages.

The old woman

A mysterious woman of once-high station who cares for Candide and Cunegonde and hints at her own extraordinary past sufferings.

The Anabaptist (Jacques) (Jacques)

A kind, charitable man who helps Candide after his expulsion, representing practical goodness in contrast to abstract philosophy.

Glossary

Auto-da-fé

A public ceremony of the Inquisition involving punishment (often burning) of condemned heretics, used in the book to satirize religious cruelty and superstition.

San-benito

A penitential garment painted with flames and devils, worn by those condemned by the Inquisition during an auto-da-fé.

Metaphysico-theologico-cosmolonigology

Voltaire's invented mock-academic term for Pangloss's absurd philosophical discipline that 'proves' all is for the best.

Manichean

A believer in the doctrine that the world is governed by opposing forces of good and evil; Martin uses it to describe his pessimistic worldview.

Quarterings

Divisions on a coat of arms indicating noble ancestry; used to satirize obsession with aristocratic lineage (e.g., 'seventy-two quarterings').

El Dorado

A legendary hidden kingdom of immense wealth that Candide and Cacambo actually visit, depicted as a utopia untouched by European greed.

Bulgarians and Abares

Fictionalized warring armies in the novel, understood as satirical stand-ins for real European powers (like Prussia and France) at war.

Pistole

A gold coin used across Europe in the period, referenced repeatedly as a unit of currency and bribery in the story.

Effendi, Pasha, Cadi

Ottoman titles for officials and judges, seen being exiled and replaced in a recurring satirical image of political instability.

Theatin

A member of a Catholic religious order (the Theatines); used here to describe a friar living a worldly, indulgent life despite his vows.

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