A Freudian Analysis of Voltaires Candide Essay -- Candide Voltaire F

A Freudian summary of Voltaires Candide In Civilization and its Discontents, Sigmund Freud refers to the important role that pick out plays in the being of Man. Love certainly plays an important role in Voltaires Candide throughout Candides journeys, a constant factor is his love for Lady Cunegonde and his desire to be with her. Freud writes the stylus of life which makes love the centre of everything ... comes naturally to all of us, (Freud, p. 29). Candides love for Cunegonde is the cause force of his life from the moment they are parted at the first of the novel until they are bonded in marriage at the end. Throughout his experiences, Candide continues to theorize about Cunegonde. Even after narrowly surviving the Bulgar-Abar war, Candides thoughts are console about Cunegonde (Voltaire, p. 26). We are never so helplessly unhappy as when we have lost our love object, (Freud, p. 29). Man is never more susceptible as when the person he has chosen as the object of his lo ve is taken from him. When Candide is at Eldorado, where no- angiotensin converting enzyme goes hungry or has any needs which go unfulfilled, he tells his companion Cacambo, I shall never be happy without Lady Cunegonde, (Voltaire, p. 82). Candide found, it would seem, the one place on Earth where there is no suffering from poverty, war, or injustice. He and Cacambo could have lived long and fulfilling lives in Eldorado, but Candide insists on reversive to his beloved Cunegonde. When Candide and Cunegonde are at last reunited, Cunegonde asks Candide what has happened to you since that innocent kiss you gave me? (Voltaire, p. 40). The kiss, which Cunegonde describes as innocent, cost Candide dearly her brother the Baron drove Candide from the house w... ...is generally responsible for our misery and we should be much happier if we gave it up and returned to primitive conditions, (Freud, p. 33). Candide realizes at the end of the novel that the formula for being content is simple We essential go and work in the garden, (Voltaire, p. 144). When Man does not have to constrict the rules of civilization, his life is a much simpler lot. Many of the points which Sigmund Freud makes in Civilization and its Discontents kindle be paralleled to the experiences of Candide in Voltaires Candide. These points can also be linked with the company Man lives in today. Candide is clearly a member of Mans society and is offspring to all the needs and desires described by Freud. Works Cited Sigmund Freud. Civilization_and_its_Discontents. New York W. W. Norton and confederacy 1961. Voltaire. Candide. London Penguin Books 1947.