Candide has been punished many times in the book; some
justified others not so much. His initial punishment that seemed to set
everything in motion is getting kicked out of the castle after kissing
Cunugonde. That punishment was unjust, for the fact that kissing someone isn't
a big deal and being kicked out of the house was almost like over kill. The
punishment was given to the wrong crime, kissing isn't bad but kissing a
cousin, is just wrong and should be punished. Then he gets punished for trying
to leave the army that he didn't even know he signed up for. I think this was
wrong because he didn't go into it at will, he wasn't given a chose. And he
should have been able to leave without consequences. Another reason i believe
that Candide’s punishments don't fit the crime is because, i don't think that
Candid is smart. He isn't very bright, and he is wondering around looking for
his missing Cunegonde, while I’m not saying this is an excuse for him to do
bad things and not get punished for it, I think that his intelligence needs to
be put to question when it comes time to Judge him.
I agree with the idea that Candide's ignorance should be considered in evaluating whether or not he deserves his "punishments", but I think he does kind of need them in order to get rid of his ignorance.
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