Voltaire's "Candide" Part II Trivia Quiz

Answer: Have Pangloss and Candide executed at an "auto-da-fé".

An auto-da-fé (also auto-de-fé) refers to the ritual of heretics who had been condemned at a trial repenting publicly. An auto-da-fé itself did not involve the torture or burning at the stake it has come to be known for, as it was a religious ritual. The torture and burning usually happened when those arrested were handed over to secular authorities, though as it has now come to refer to burning at the stake, most representations include the execution as well as the religious side.

The auto-da-fé that Candide and Pangloss are involved in is to stop the earthquakes from happening again. Candide is flogged rhythmically to singing, and Pangloss is hanged (Voltaire says that this is an uncommon procedure at an auto-da-fé). The other two men accompanying them, who were chosen to be executed because they had put bacon to the edges of their plates while eating chicken, were burned. Pangloss was chosen because of what he had discussed, and Candide because he had listened to Pangloss with an air of approval!

Answer: She is shared between two men.

Pangloss was slightly mistaken when he told Candide of Cunégonde's ordeal - as he said, she was raped and disemboweled by a Bulgarian soldier, but he didn't realize that she did not die. She was taken as a prisoner-of-war by a Bulgarian captain, after her rapist did not salute the captain and was shot upon Cunégonde's body.

The captain sold her three months later to a Jew named Don Issachar when he became bankrupt, but Cunégonde denied him her body. She caught the eye of a Grand Inquisitor, who threatened Don Issachar with an auto-da-fé if he did not relinquish Cunégonde to him.

They came to the agreement that she, and the house she has been living in, should be shared between them on alternate days of the week.

Answer: Candide

Don Issachar returns to the house first, and threatens Candide with a small dagger. Candide stabs him with a sword he has been concealing underneath his clothes. As Candide, Cunégonde and the old woman try to decide what course of action to take next, the Grand Inquisitor arrives, as it is after midnight, and therefore, his day with Cunégonde. Before he can do anything, Candide also stabs him with the sword.

Answer: Escape on three of the Grand Inquisitor's horses.

It is the old woman who suggests they escape on the Andalusian horses. By the time they have covered thirty miles without stopping and are staying at an inn, the bodies are discovered. The Inquisitor is given a fine burial, and Issachar's body is thrown on a dunghill!

Answer: Troops are sailing there to sort out a problem with the Jesuits there.

They sell one of their horses in order to obtain the money.

During the voyage, Candide is sure that this New World will be the "best of all possible worlds" that Pangloss talked about. Cunégonde is afraid, having gone through so much suffering, that she has lost all hope. The old woman comments that Cunégonde has not suffered half as much as she. Cunégonde laughs and replies, "My good dame, unless you have been ravished by two Bulgarians - stabbed in the stomach twice over - seen two of your castles demolished, two mothers and two fathers having their throats cut, and two lovers flogged at an auto-da-fé - I do not see how you can claim to have endured twice as much misery as I have." But she soon has to eat her words.

Answer: She is the daughter of a pope and princess.

She is the daughter of Pope Urban X (a fictional pope) and the Princess of Palestrina. At the age of fourteen, she is betrothed to a prince, but his jealous mistress kills him by poisoning him. The princess and her mother were traveling with maids to an estate away from the castle to recover from this, but they are captured and sold to Morocco as slaves.

She is raped several times on the voyage. When they arrive in Morocco, they are caught up in a battle, during which the young Princess witnesses her mother and maids torn apart by four men, one holding each limb.

Answer: No

He didn't take her back to Italy as promised - he took her to Algiers and sold her as a slave, where she caught the plague which also killed the eunuch. She was then sold off to many different merchants.

Answer: She only has one buttock.

When she was the property of the Janissaries, they were besieged by Russians, who forced them to starve. The Janissaries ate the two eunuchs who accompanied them, and then planned to eat the women, too. An imam instead suggested they cut off one buttock of each of the women, and eat them.

This the Janissaries did, but as soon as they were finished, the Russians blew them up and killed them.

Answer: To marry Cunégonde.

The Governor thinks that Cunégonde is "the most beautiful thing he had ever seen". He inquires of Candide, now a captain, whether she is his wife. Candide cannot bring himself to say that she is his wife, or even his sister, since she is not, but he admits that they are planning to be married. As soon as the Governor and Cunégonde are alone, however, he proposes to her! She asks for a quarter of a hour to mull it over, during which the old woman reassures her that marrying such a rich man would be great for her, especially considering the hardships she has gone through.

The thief of Cunégonde's jewels is discovered - a Franciscan friar. He has been executed, as a jeweller recognized the jewels as belonging to the Grand Inquisitor. Before his death, the friar made the story of Candide's murdering of the Grand Inquisitor and their flight known, and the authorities have reached Buenos Aires to arrest the Grand Inquisitor's killer!

Answer: Cunégonde's brother

Cunégonde's brother was believed by Candide and Cunégonde herself to have perished when the soldiers raided their home. He had indeed had his throat cut in the fray, but a priest sprinkled holy water over him when he discovered the bodies, and the brother recovered completely in three weeks, and became a Jesuit.