Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews June 16, 2023 June 9, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Her daughter, Cunégonde, was about seventeen years of age, fresh-coloured, comely, plump, and amiable.
The narrator introduces Cunégonde. Although she says little throughout the story, she serves as one of the major incentives that inspires Candide and moves the plot along. Later, Cunégonde’s brother the baron banishes Candide from his house for a kiss Candide and Cunégonde share. Candide’s banishment sparks the story’s narrative arc into play.
She innocently took hold of his hand, and he as innocently kissed hers with a warmth, a sensibility, a grace—all very particular: their lips met; their eyes sparkled; their knees trembled; their hands strayed.
The narrator describes the moment Candide and Cunégonde kiss. Unfortunately, Cunégonde’s brother the baron passes by and witnesses the tender moment. In response, the baron kicks Candide in the rear and drives him from the castle, an event that initiates the odyssey narrated in the book. Readers may note the clipped clauses in this quote. Such a staccato-like writing style satirizes the romantic romps of the time by packing a sexual encounter into one sentence.
“Good heavens!” cried Candide, “is it you? Is it Miss Cunégonde I see before me, alive? Do I find you again in Portugal? Then you have not been ravished?”
Candide can hardly believe his eyes when the old woman brings out the long-lost Cunégonde. Candide believed Cunégonde was raped and killed, so he feels overjoyed to see her once again. Reunited, he catches up on the facts. He can see that she isn’t dead, so he asks if she was indeed raped, with the hope that she will refute that as well.
I cannot see how you could be more unfortunate than I. Add to this, though born a baroness, and bearing seventy-two quarterings, I have been reduced to a cook-wench.
Cunégonde speaks to the old woman after they escape on horseback. The two women compare their tortured pasts. Cunégonde recounts the gruesome litany of her troubles, and in response, the old woman recounts her own litany, as if competing to see who suffered a worse life. Regardless, both stories portray the absurd unpredictability of human life and the amazing scope of human cruelty.
Please wait while we process your payment