Cunegonde's Epic

Today has been the most terrible, yet terrific day. After my flogging in the court, I was taken by a dear old woman and was fed and given a place to rest. When I awoke and thanked the gracious woman, she told me that it was not her to thank. In fact, it was her mistress Cunegonde! As you can imagine, my happiness was more than words can express now.
After we were reunited again, Cunegonde told her story of all that had befallen her since our last meeting. Her misfortunes have been great and her trials hardly bearable to think of. I almost fainted when she recounted watching the slitting of her father’s throat and the slicing up of her mother. When I learned of the Bulgarian stabbing her, my curiosity of the scar was insatiable, but my eagerness to hear about the rescuing captain kept me eagerly listening. He adopted poor Cunegonde as a servant and took a high liking for her. Three months later, he decided to sell Cunegonde to a Jew, Don Issachar. She did not fancy him as she had the Captain, but he had an eye for her. By now, Cunegonde had traveled a great deal, from Thunder-Ten-Tronckh to Holland, Portugal and finally Lisbon. While in Mass one day, she was observed by the Grand Inquisitor, the very same who ordered my flogging and the auto-da-fes! He too liked Cunegonde and thought it outrageous that she be the property of an Israelite. I too, agree with him. He told Don Issachar that he should let him have Cunegonde or he would have an auto-da-fe. Not having much choice, Don Issachar asked for a joint sharing of Cunegonde and the house. This the Inquisitor agreed to and she was shared half the week with Don Issachar and the other with the Inquisitor. I do not feel comfortable with this arrangement, but there must be some reason and good as to why it took place. Anyway, the Inquisitor invited Cunegonde to his auto-da-fe and that is where she first saw me. Her character warm and loving, she immediately ordered her maid to tend to me after my floggings. And now I am at the point in the story most present. We have just finished dinner and are about to immerse ourselves in conversation again. To be continued later this evening (Chapter IX).

Satiric Techniques
1: "Angered by the man's failure to rise to his feet and salute, the captain killed him upon my body" (19). This is an overstatement. This is criticizing the army and nobility on their careless killings. Just because the soldier didn't solute, he was killed.

2: "The upshot was that my Jew came to a composition, whereby this house and myself should belong to the two of them jointly" (20). This is an example of Black Humor. It is immoral and wrong to share a woman like property.

3: "To think that my dear Candide and wise Pangloss should be here in Lisbon, the one to receive a hundred lashes and the other to be hanged, and all on the orders of my Lord Inquisitor- and he my suitor". This is ironic, because Cunegonde's suitor is punishing Candide, her lover. Cunegonde realizes this, when she sees Candide for the first time since his departure of Thunder-ten-tronckh, but the two men do not.

IDEAS
Voltaire includes this chapter to give an insight on Cunegone's character and all that had happend until the reunion with Candide. Voltaire is showing us that Cunegonde doesn't really care about what happens to her. She says, "A chaste woman may be ravished once, but her virtue is all the stronger for it" (20). When confronted with various different men, she prides herself that they love her and doesn't care that she is treated as a maid and property. Voltaire is pointing out that women at that time only cared about material things and that they also were considered material things by men.