The Old Woman

As I continue to read Candide I found that specially in these two chapters the old woman is great mentioned. I can say that from what a read she has a negative attitude vs. life but she is alert of the world that she lives in. The old woman relays all her actions and thoughts on the previous life experiences. This is why the proposal that the old woman gives to Cunegond is to base her decisions on what she had to live the past years and on her prior decisions. Also she encourages both Candide and Conegond to gather more knowledge in order to make better judgments.

“I would not even have mentioned my own misfortunes, if you had not irked me a bit, and if it weren’t the custom, on shipboard, to pass the time with stories.” This is what the old woman tells Conegond and through this we can see that she is a person that has passed through very hard moments in life but that these help her form better as a character. Through this character of hers we can see that she completely lacks self-pity.

Personally I think that this old woman has gone through so much misfortunes that she should be constantly thinking about suicide and she does actually but she keeps on saying: “A hundred times I wanted to kill myself, but always I loved life more.” In a way I can relate this to the fact that she is the Pope’s daughter and that she knows that if she takes her life she will be committing a sin and will go to hell. I think that this is the strongest bond that hold’s her towards keep living life.

This old woman is a very interesting and important character in Candide and I really enjoyed analyzing her.