Candide's first crime (loving Cunegonde) had an extremely unfair punishment. Why should someone have to face exile from the "best of all worlds" simply because they fell in love? That will never make sense to me.
Even though it was an unfair punishment, it helped Candide grow as a person and experience places and people that he never would have if he wasn't exiled. Another reason that Candide should not be upset that he got exiled is because if he wasn't, he probably would have been slaughtered along with the rest of the residents of the castle.
All in all, Candide's punishment for loving someone of higher class than he was extremely not qualified, but it all worked out in the end, so there's really nothing to complain about.
I am a bit confused about what you are saying. First you say his punishment of being kicked out the castle was unjust, but then you say that it was a good thing because then he expereinced more of the real world and didn't get killed with the rest of the residents in the castle.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it was unjust in the beginning, the outcomes helped Candide grow as a person, so he should not be upset about his punishment.
ReplyDeleteIt is not an unfair punishment because the best of all possible worlds does not exist.
ReplyDeleteIsn't the best of all possible worlds subjective to the person you are asking? How can one judge their life compared to another, when they are only experiencing theirs?
ReplyDeleteIn order to assess the justness of the punishment, we must consider the punishment merited by the intrinsic wrong-doing of the actions. To determine the justness of the punishment based on indirect effects of the punishments and assumptions about the result of alternative courses of action is to take irrelevant factors into account. You're right in saying the punishment was unfair because the crime is falling in love, which is no crime at all. Unless he took his love to further degrees by pursuing it in ways the government deemed inappropriate, than the punishment is unfair.
ReplyDelete