IX: What Became of Cunégonde, Candide, the Grand Inquisitor, and the Jew explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Critique of Religious Hypocrisy

  The Grand Inquisitor, a religious authority, is killed while visiting his mistress, and his body is given a dignified burial while the Jew's is thrown on a dunghill.

• Suffering and Human Cruelty

  Candide's violent acts are driven by jealousy and survival, and the chapter shows the brutal consequences of human passions and institutional oppression.

Characters to notice

• Candide

  Kills Don Issachar and the Grand Inquisitor in self-defense and to protect Cunégonde, then flees with her and the old woman.

• Cunégonde

  Witnesses the killings and fears excommunication and death, but joins the flight to Cadiz.

• The Old Woman

  Advises Candide and Cunégonde after the killings and arranges their escape on horseback.

• Don Issachar

  Attacks Candide in a jealous rage and is killed by Candide's sword.

• The Grand Inquisitor

  Enters Cunégonde's apartment and is killed by Candide without hesitation.

Key passages

• “This Issachar was the most choleric Hebrew that had ever been seen in Israel since the Captivity in Babylon.”

  Don Issachar was the angriest Jew in history.

  Voltaire uses hyperbolic comparison to emphasize Issachar's rage.

• “Had not Pangloss been hanged, he would give us good counsel in this emergency, for he was a profound philosopher.”

  If Pangloss were still alive, he would know what to do.

  Candide still relies on Pangloss's philosophical guidance even after his death.

• “When one is a lover, jealous and whipped by the Inquisition, one stops at nothing.”

  A jealous lover who has been whipped by the Inquisition will do anything.

  Candide justifies his killings as the natural result of his circumstances.