I will argue that Candide's punishment did fit his crimes. If someone is living under my roof and feeding off of my wealth, his defilement of my daughter is an insult to my hospitality. It is a very reasonable punishment. Does it actually matter if Candide and Cunegonde were ignorant to what they were doing? No, it does not! Does it lessen the evil, of an act, if a man kills twenty people because he thought he was freeing them from a life of misery? I don't think the judge or jury would think so. Would a person's, who thinks that the punishment is not fitting, opinion change if Candide had intercourse with Cunegone? It should not. From a small kiss to intercourse, they both take advantage of the baron.
The real question is, "Do we consider all evil the same? Or are they at different magnitudes?" I think all evil is the same. Why should we discriminate in our punishment if the perpetrator is of different age, race, condition, gender, etc.? Stealing is stealing is stealing is stealing. I don't even know why I'm arguing this. I don't believe in this. I'm writing because of word count. Everyone is writing about how the punishment is not fitting so I decided to be devil's advocate. I can already see the flaws in this. "How about if they were stealing bread to feed starving families?" Bla bla bla: Life has hard choices.
I disagree. Their innocence negates their actions because they are only following their beloved teacher. They had no way of knowing what they did was wrong. Candide did not deserve his punishments.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I addressed that in my argument. So what if their teacher had told them? Does it mitigate the actual act? The act of one of the most enormous disrespectful things you can do to the one who houses you? I think not (as devil's advocate).
DeleteOh my goodness, you scared me! I thought you ACTUALLY believed this until the final paragraph. Nice to see you're giving your mind a work out in entertaining a notion you don't agree with in reality. Well done!
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