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Candide is a novel by Voltaire that was first published in 0. Read the full text of Candide in its entirety, completely free.
A Westphalian baron banishes Candide, his illegitimate nephew, from his castle for kissing his daughter, Cunégonde. Candide joins the Bulgar army, is court-martialed, pardoned by the king, and then sent to war. He deserts to Holland, where an Anabaptist, Jacques, helps him. He runs into his tutor, Pangloss, now a sick beggar after the Bulgars killed everyone in the baron's castle. Jacques helps Pangloss too and takes him and Candide on a business trip to Lisbon.
After a storm sinks their ship and Jacques drowns, Candide and Pangloss reach Lisbon during an earthquake. As Pangloss shares his ideas in public, Inquisition officers hang him for heresy and flog Candide. An old woman rescues Candide and takes him to Cunégonde, now the mistress of the Grand Inquisitor and a Jewish merchant, Don Issachar. Candide kills both men, and the three of them flee. In Cadiz, they join some troops sailing to South America.
On the ship, the old woman tells them her misfortunes as the daughter of the pope and an Italian princess, who survived pirates' attacks, the plague, and mistreats of men she was sold to in various countries. In Buenos Aires, they learn officials are coming for them for murdering the Grand Inquisitor. The old woman advises Candide to flee but Cunégonde to stay, as the local governor, Don Fernando, interested in her, would offer protection.
Cacambo, Candide's valet, suggests they join the rebellious Paraguayan Jesuits. They discover their colonel is Cunégonde's brother, who survived the Bulgars' attack and is now the baron and a Jesuit. As Candide says he intends to marry Cunégonde, the colonel hits him and is killed by Candide. Cacambo dresses Candide in the colonel's habits and they flee. In a wild country, they mistakenly kill two monkeys and narrowly avoid being devoured by the natives, the Oreillons.
Cacambo and Candide discover the utopic village of El Dorado. As Candide decides to go back for Cunégonde, their king gives him sheep loaded with jewels. They lose them on their way to Surinam and to the captain of a ship Candide was taking to Venice. Candide sends Cacambo to retrieve Cunégonde and the old woman. Then he books a ship to France and pays for a very unfortunate scholar, Martin, to go with him.
On the way to France, Candide finds his sheep in the ocean after Vanderdendur's ship is sunk in a battle. In Paris, Candide becomes ill and is cheated out of his money by two physicians, an abbé, and a marquise. Candide and Martin leave for England on a ship, but as they see an admiral be unjustly executed, Candide arranges for the captain of the ship to take him to Venice.
In Venice, Candide and Martin run into Paquette, Pangloss's old mistress; hears about her misfortunes and her companion's, Friar Giroflée; and helps them with money. Later, they visit Signor Pococurante, a nobleman who doesn't enjoy anything he owns. Finally, Candide reencounters Cacambo, who is now enslaved to a deposed king and offers to take Candide to Cunégonde in Constantinople. Candide listens to six deposed kings' misfortunes and gives the poorest one a diamond.
On the way to Constantinople, Candide discovers the baron and Pangloss enslaved on their galley, buys their freedom and Cacambo's, and hears their stories since he last saw them. In Turkey, Candide frees Cunégonde, returns her brother to Rome , and marries her. With Cacambo, Pangloss, Martin, the old woman, and later Paquette and Giroflée, they live unhappily on Candide's farm until they meet a happy farmer, decide to follow his lifestyle, and become all satisfied.
