Classic Innuendo
“One day Cunegonde, while walking near the castle, in a little wood which they called a park, saw between the bushes, Dr. Pangloss giving a lesson in experimental natural philosophy to her mother’s chamber-maid, a little brown wench, very pretty and very docile. As Miss Cunegonde had a great disposition for the sciences, she breathlessly observed the repeated experiments of which she was a witness; she clearly perceived the force of the Doctor’s reasons, the effects, and the causes; she turned back greatly flurried, quite pensive, and filled with the desire to be learned; dreaming that she might well be asufficient reason for young Candide, and he for her.”
This quote is from Voltaire’s “Candide.”
I love this quote because it is what really pulled me to read the rest of “Candide.” I was afraid that it would be too dry and that the political commentary it made would be incomprehensible. This innuendo for Cunegonde seeing her tutor and her mother’s chambermaid having sex in the woods, and, from seeing it, developing her own desire for Candide, made me laugh out loud in my high school’s library. It wasn’t a very well-used library, so my laughter didn’t affect anyone else, but it gave me sufficient reason to continue reading.
2 responses so far
I’ll admit that I hated Candide when I first read it, but only because I wasn’t paying attention to what I was reading. All the jokes flew right past me. But during my second read-through, everything became much clearer – the social commentary, the political satire, and all the innuendo. I loved the lewdness of this particular passage, though all of Voltaire’s double entendres are hysterical. I also enjoyed Pangloss’s cheery explanation of how he contracted syphillis.
I’ll admit that I have never yet read any of Voltaire’s works, but I have heard of him (from American Wedding, ironically). Sometimes, outright sex and societal vices are too much for me and I want to see someone attempt to dissect these topics in a humorous, but profound and satirical way. If and when I get the chance, the first Voltaire work I will read is Candide, thanks to Ari and Damla! =)