Candide Satire

In Candide, Voltaire talks about the female race and the oppression they faced in the Enlightenment. Mary Robinson does the same; however, she goes into vigorous detail trying to express how important it is for women to be at the same level as men. Women were powerless and unable to do anything and both of the authors realized that, desperately trying to get people to see what they saw. Mary Robinson begins her argument by telling us that society has hindered the enlightened women. “Man is despot by nature; he can bear no equal, he dreads the power of women; because he knows that already half of the felicities of life depend on her” (Robinson). Despot means ruler. Men know that they rely on women for many things so he has to show his masculinity somehow which means limiting her. They know that women realize that they’re being mistreated but they can’t let women rise to the occasion, otherwise they believe that they’ll lose all

Beautiful Cunegonde is the daughter of wealthy parents. She is described as a “ruddy-cheeked girl, fresh, plump, and desirable” (Voltaire 424). This girl is your usual damsel that’s in distress. She relies on men to protect her and she’s frequently found fainting when anything gets a tad bit stressful. Cunegonde is always subservient to the person she is taken by. Although, her naïve nature isn’t blamed on the fact that she’s a girl. Candide is optimistic and innocent, not able to make choices without having somebody else weigh in. It seems to me that Cunegonde accepts the way her life is better than our old pal Candide. As a woman in this time, she realizes that her options are limited and she’ll use her looks if she has to. Unlike the men in the story, she doesn’t question or think too hard about things. The quick acceptance of the ways she’s treated give us an insight into how restricted life for women