# XXII: What Happened in France to Candide and Martin explained — Candide

> Chapter companion for Candide by Voltaire.

## What happens

Candide and Martin travel to Paris, where Candide falls ill and is swarmed by doctors, devotees, and a priest demanding a bill for the afterlife. After recovering, they are taken to the theater by a Perigordian Abbé, who later arranges a supper with a Marchioness. Candide is seduced and gives her two diamonds. The Abbé then orchestrates a scheme where a false Cunégonde lures Candide to her bedside, only for an officer to arrest him as a suspected foreigner. Candide bribes the officer with diamonds and escapes to Dieppe, then boards a ship for England, still hoping to reach Venice and the real Cunégonde.

## Themes in this chapter

### Suffering and Human Cruelty

Candide experiences illness, betrayal, and arrest in Paris, highlighting the cruelty and deceit of society.

### Wealth and Corruption

Candide's diamonds lead to seduction, theft, and bribery, showing how wealth corrupts and attracts exploitation.

### Optimism vs. Pessimism

Martin's cynical observations contrast with Candide's naive trust, culminating in Martin declaring himself 'more a Manichean than ever.'

## Character check-ins

### Candide

Arrives in Paris, falls ill, is seduced by the Marchioness, and is tricked by the Abbé and a false Cunégonde before bribing his way out of arrest.

### Martin

Accompanies Candide in Paris, criticizes the city's customs, and helps him escape the arrest by advising bribery.

### The Perigordian Abbé

Acts as a guide in Paris, introduces Candide to the theater and the Marchioness, and later betrays him by arranging the false Cunégonde scheme and the arrest.

### The Marchioness

Seduces Candide at supper and obtains two of his diamonds.

### Cunégonde

Mentioned as the object of Candide's love; a false version of her is used to trick him in Paris.

### Cacambo

Mentioned as having been left in Bordeaux with the old woman, to follow Cunégonde.

### The Old Woman

Mentioned as having been left in Bordeaux with Cacambo.

## Key lines

> I remember also to have been sick at Paris in my first voyage; I was very poor, thus I had neither friends, devotees, nor doctors, and I recovered.

Martin recalls that when he was poor and sick in Paris, he had no one to help him, yet he recovered anyway.

_Martin contrasts his own experience with Candide's, implying that wealth attracts unnecessary and harmful attention._

> Travellers are not treated thus in El Dorado.

Candide remarks that in El Dorado, travelers are not arrested and imprisoned.

_Candide contrasts the ideal society of El Dorado with the corrupt and dangerous reality of Paris._

> I am more a Manichean now than ever.

Martin says he now believes even more strongly in a dualistic world where good and evil are in constant conflict.

_Martin's pessimism deepens after witnessing the treachery in Paris._

## Links

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