BRIEF SYNOPSIS

Note: On the surface Candide seems like a simple tale of adventure and woe, and this is a brief synopsis of the highlights. However, almost every utterance in the play refers to something in history or philosophy, and many of the events are lightly disguised reflections of Voltaire's own life. The ideas and actions come so fast that the significance of many of them can be lost on first hearing. The detailed synopsis, with many links to notes or other articles, attempts to cover this material for those who wish to explore this extraordinary work in more depth.

ACT I
The action opens in the Westphalian castle of the Baron and Baroness Thunder-ten-Tronck, their son Maximilian, daughter Cunegonde, and bastard nephew Candide. Life there is just about perfect (Life is Happiness Indeed). As described by the tutor, Dr. Pangloss, it is the "best of all possible worlds". Candide and Cunegonde observe Pangloss giving private "lessons" to the maid, Paquette. When Candide follows his example by kissing Cunegonde, he is kicked out of the castle. Sadly the young man wanders off (My World is Dust Now) and falls asleep in a field. He is discovered by two Bulgar recruiters who press-gang him into the army. There he drills, is flogged, and tries to escape. Before he can, the Bulgars declare war on Westphalia and almost everyone on both sides is killed. Starving, Candide wanders about until he meets James the Anabaptist who give him two coins. A beggar with a tin nose appears asking for charity. It is Pangloss who has contacted syphilis from Paquette. He tells Candide that everyone from the castle is dead. James, Pangloss and Candide take a ship bound for Lisbon.

A sudden storm strikes, and James is drowned. Candide, Pangloss and a sailor manage to reach the shore at Lisbon just as an earthquake strikes. With the city in ruins, there is to be an auto-da fé to prevent further disaster, and the population is celebrating (What a Day). Candide and Pangloss are charged with heresy; Pangloss is hanged, but Candide gets away with a flogging and drifts off thinking "It Must Be Me".

The scene changes to Paris where a lavish party is in progress. Cunegonde has not died after all; accompanied by an Old Lady, she has become the mistress of both the Archbishop of Paris and the rich Moor*, Don Issachar. The girl tells her story (Glitter and Be Gay). When Candide enters, they have a joyful reunion. He kills her two lovers, and they all escape to Cadiz with the jewelry Cunegonde has been given. However, they are robbed on the way. The Old Lady tells her sad story (I Am Easily Assimilated). Destitute again, Candide enlists to fight against the Jesuits in the New World and all sail off accompanied by Cacambo, a half-breed South American. (Once Again We Must Be Gone).

ACT II
At a ball in Buenos Aires, the Governor meets a new shipment of female slaves including Paquette and Maximilian (in drag). Candide, Cunegonde, the Old Lady and Cacambo arrive. The Governor is immediately attracted to the young girl and, promising to marry her, tells Candide to join his regiment. However, Candide is recognized as the killer of the Archbishop and Don Issachar, and he and Cacambo make their escape into the jungle.

Three years pass, Cunegonde is not married yet, but she is living in luxury (When Are We Going to Be Married?). Candide and Cacambo have made it to Montevideo to fight for the Jesuits. To their surprise the Father Provincial of the Jesuits is Maximilian and Paquette is garbed as a monk. During a quarrel, Candide appears to kill Maximilian, then dons his robes and runs off with Cacambo. After further wandering, they meet some Indians who, thinking he is a Jesuit, try to eat Candide. Cacambo intervenes, and the disappointed "noble savages" leave. The wanderers come upon a stream and find a boat which takes them to Eldorado, a Utopian country where even the stones are jewels (To Eldorado). They load several " sheep with treasure and continue their travels, finally arriving in the Dutch colony of Surinam. Cacambo is sent to Buenos Aires to rescue Cunegonde and the Old Lady, while Candide is joined by the elderly scholar and pessimist, Martin. The unscrupulous Dutchman, Mynheer Vanderdendur, cheats Candide of his wealth in exchange for passage to Europe. Taking the richly-laden sheep with him, Vanderdendur boards a frigate, sending Candide on a leaky old skiff (Bon Voyage). A storm sinks the skiff. Martin drowns, but Candide, a Sailor and the sheep are picked up by another ship sailing for Constantinople. From it they observe a battle between the frigate and another ship in which both are sunk. Vanderdendur drowns but the sheep is saved. In Constantinople our hero boards a galley for Venice. One of the slaves rowing it is Pangloss who has escaped his hanging. Candide ransoms him. In Venice they discover Paquette, Cunegonde, the Old Lady and Maximilian. Pangloss continues to preach his message of "the best of all possible worlds" but the others are more realistic (Life is Neither Good Nor Bad). They pool their resources to buy a small farm and settle down to "Make Our Garden Grow".

* In the original he is a Jew.

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Revised July 2008
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