The first thing to be noted is the adroit way in which Voltaire effects his transitions to a new episode and how he maintains suspense. The old woman appears like a deus ex machina just at the critical moment when Candide had no idea which way to turn. Note further the time that elapsed and Candide's repeated inquiries before the discovery of Cunégonde's identity.
Next, it is apparent that the experiences of Cunégonde, in their violence and melodramatic quality, parallel those of Candide and provide counterpoint. In character also, the two lovers complement each other. Both continued to revere Doctor Pangloss; although Cunégonde was beginning to feel much less sure than Candide, neither completely abandoned the optimistic philosophy inculcated by their mentor. Note that Candide's discovery of Cunégonde parallels his discovery of Pangloss: he had thought that both were dead. With fine irony, Voltaire had Cunégonde say that it pleased Heaven to send the Bulgarians to her father's castle; she still accepted the concept of necessary cause and effect, basic to the optimistic philosophy. The author achieved irony and witty understatement when he put these words in Candide's mouth: "We are going to another universe; no doubt it is in that one that all is well. For it must be admitted that one might groan a little over what happens in the physical and the moral domain in ours." Groan a little—this to describe the reactions of a young man who had endured so much! Clearly life, with all its cruelties and injustice, was educating him, but how slowly. But if Cunégonde continued to worship Pangloss and to voice his profound views, she was not so sure as she had been that he was right.
These chapters also carry forward the anti-Church satire, which is obvious enough with reference to the Grand Inquisitor, a prominent official of the Church. Thus, it is at a Mass that his illicit passion for Cunégonde first developed. He competed with an Israelite for her favors and even agreed to share her with his rival. Significant also is the fact that one of his two reasons for deciding to "celebrate" an auto-da-fé was to frighten the non-Christian Don Issachar. And when the police of the Holy Hermandad found the bodies of the Inquisitor and the Jew, the former was given burial with the full ceremony of the Church, whereas the body of the Jew was thrown on a rubbish heap as if it were the carcass of a dog. Add to all this the fact that, in all probability, a Franciscan priest had robbed Cunégonde of her money and jewels.
The responsibility of the Jesuits for the revolt in Paraguay was, for Voltaire (who never endorsed political revolution), new evidence of injustice within the Church: men of the cloth especially should render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. As early as 1605 the Jesuits had succeeded in establishing a kind of imperium in imperio in the little South American country and had drilled the natives in the use of arms, although they did not yet control the government. With the powerful assistance of Zabala, governor of Buenos Aires, however, the anti-Jesuit and quasi-national party was crushed in 1735. In 1750, Ferdinand VI of Spain ceded to the Portuguese both the district of La Guayra and a territory of some 20,000 square miles east of Uraguay. The Jesuits actively resisted, and it took the combined forces of Spain and Portugal to defeat them. The revolt referred to in Candide occurred in 1756 and provides a good example of how topical the tale is in many respects.
