Voltaire's "Candide" Part IV Trivia Quiz

Answer: He refuses to set foot on shore

King George II was approached with a request of clemency for Admiral Byng, which he denied. Voltaire says that four soldiers shot the admiral with three bullets each. Admiral Byng was the last admiral to be executed this way.

Candide and Martin find a ship which sails straight to Venice. Candide is very happy to finally be in Venice, where Cacambo will bring Cunégonde.

Answer: Neither of them

The girl is none other than Paquette, the maid Candide caught having sexual relations with Dr. Pangloss in Cunégonde's father's house! She was thrown out of the house not long after Candide after she was seduced by her confessor, and has travelled Europe as a prostitute, and now resides in Venice in the same role. She is most certainly not happy, and pretends to be to please the monk she is with. Martin has won at least half of the bet.

The monk is not happy either. His parents forced him to become a monk when he was fifteen, so that they could give their elder son a larger inheritance. He earns little money, and is "ready to dash [his] head against the walls of the dormitory" every night. So Martin wins the whole bet.

Candide also gives Paquette and Friar Giroflée some money, in the hope that it will make them happy; Martin does not believe it will.

Answer: No

Of course not - is anyone in "Candide" ever truly happy? Pococurante comes from the Italian for "caring little", and this definitely describes the Senator well. He is very wealthy, but he quickly tires of his paintings, music, books, and girls! Nothing is good enough for him, which deeply offends Candide, who still believes him to be the happiest man of all! Martin wonders how there can be pleasure in having no pleasure. Candide decides then that he himself will be the happiest man when he is reunited with Cunégonde.

Answer: They are kings

The kings are, in the order in which they talk to Candide: Achmet III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; Ivan VI of Russia (the dates for Ivan's birth and death in the footnote of my book do differ from this king's, but I am fairly positive that this is who is meant, for the facts about his life that Voltaire mentions correspond to Ivan VI); Charles III of England, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie; Augustus III of Poland; Stanislaw I of Poland (who immediately preceded Augustus III); Theodore of Corsica. They have all encountered misfortunes and lost their thrones.

The other kings, upon hearing Theodore's story, all feel sorry for him and give him some sequins which he could use to buy things. Candide gives him a diamond worth two thousand sequins - the kings are aghast that this man, whom none of them know, can afford to give Theodore much more than they can. When they ask Candide if he is a king, he replies "No, sir, and I do not wish to be".

The date accuracy is off here, for Admiral Byng died in 1756, while Achmet III died twenty years before, in 1736, so there's no way that Candide and Martin could possibly have conversed with him a couple of months after witnessing Admiral Byng's execution.

Answer: Constantinople

Four Serene Highnesses join the table just as Candide is leaving, but he does not care anymore, for he has become wistful and wants nothing more than to see Cunégonde again.

Answer: Pangloss and the Baron

Candide does not realize it is actually them at first, but seeing them causes him to lament Pangloss' death and the Baron's murder, and they turn around when they hear their names spoken. The Baron has been cured of his stab wound, Pangloss has survived the hanging, but both have been arrested for inappropriate conduct, both misunderstandings. Pangloss still holds onto his optimism.

Answer: False

He hesitates to even greet her! Cunégonde does not realize she is ugly (surely she'd be able to see her reflection in water, at least?!) and no one can bear to tell her. She keeps on reminding him of his promise, and he feels he cannot refuse her, but when he informs her brother of their plans, the Baron insists she cannot marry Candide, for his rank is not befitting to marry such a noble lady as Cunégonde! This spurs Candide on to marry her, just to spite her brother and avoid hurting her feelings.

Answer: A dervish

The dervish dismisses their questions, exclaiming "Is it any business of yours?", and slams his door in their faces! Later they hear the news that two Viziers and the Grand Mufti have been strangled.

Paquette and Friar Giroflée have joined them by the time they visit the dervish; they quarreled, then separated, then reunited, then were arrested, then escaped! Phew! Giroflée has become a Turk, as he always said he would.

Answer: No

Absolutely not, not even after all they have gone through! Cunégonde marries Candide, but becomes uglier by the day, and her personality begins to match. They become unhappy, bored, and rather unfriendly to each other, leading the old woman to question which is worse: each of their misfortunes or sitting around doing nothing!

Answer: "Let us dig in our garden."

They adopt this mantra in place of Pangloss' "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds", drawing inspiration from the story of Adam tilling the Garden of Eden, and an old man they visited the same day they spoke to the dervish, who was quite content growing and selling oranges all day every day.