Free Will In Candide

Vocab:

Gauntlet:

noun

a stout glove with a long loose wrist.

• historical an armored glove, as worn by a medieval knight.• the part of a glove covering the wrist.PHRASEStake up (or throw down) the gauntlet accept (or issue) a challenge. [ORIGIN: from the medieval custom of issuing a challenge by throwing one's gauntlet to the ground; whoever picked it up was deemed to have Flogging:

1 beat (someone) with a whip or stick as punishment or torture : the stolen horses will be returned and the thieves flogged | [as n. ] ( flogging) public floggings.• informal promote or talk about (something) repetitively or at excessive length : rather than flogging one idea to death, they should be a lightheartedpop group.2 Brit., informal sell or offer for sale : he made a fortune flogging beads to hippies. (Not very nice images on google of flogging) From Mac Dictionary

We've already read "Epictetus" and "The Road Not Taken", two different perspectives on free will. Epictetus assures you don't decide what path to follow, but you do decide how to live it. Robert Frost's poem talks about two roads we can choose from. These different views are affected by the authors' lives. Epictetus, being a slave, had no roads to choose from. Frost, on the other hand, had many paths he could take. Candide, has a little bit of both.

Free will is mentioned in Chapter two: "It was useless to declare his belief in Free Will, and say he wanted neither; he had to make his choice" (p. 24). The first thing that stands out, it that "free will" are capitalized. This gives these words a significant importance, suggesting free will is important not only in this chapter, but in the rest of the book. Candide has to decide whether "being flogged thirty-six times by the whole regiment, or having twelve bullets in his brain" (p.24). I find this quite absurd (ding! ding, satire!). Basically, Candide doesn't have the choice of being hurt or not, but he can choose how he'll be tortured. Humorously, Voltaire adds, "so, exercising that divine gift called Liberty, he decided to run the gauntlet thirty-six times and survived two floggings" (p.24). (Again, liberty is capitalized. Is that how it's usually written, or does Voltaire want to highlight it's importance?)

How ironic is it to have the liberty to choose between pain and death? Candide can choose between two paths, both terrible, but can't choose not taking a path at all. So, does he have free will? What would Epictetus say? What would Frost say?