The love between Lady Cunegonde and Candide has always been
forbidden, even if destiny brings them together, somehow it seems like they are
bound to be apart. From the beginning, the Baron was always in the way of their
fairytale and as if it wasn’t enough, the perfect world of Westphalia was
invaded and they were dramatically torn apart. You would think that when they
finally met again they would leap into each other’s arms to find the life they
always dreamed of. It would have been the most logical scene, but Voltaire’s
style is anything but ordinary. Candide was once again forced to leave Lady
Cunegonde.
Forbidden Love has been seen not only in classical literary works such as Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet, where families hate each other, but in modern teenage books such as Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight, where vampires came from being
monsters to romantic figures. Movie directors constantly bombard the audience
with this theme in movies such as A Walk
to Remember and The Notebook. Here
the couples are facing death, incurable diseases, and parents who believe the
person their daughter marries must be rich and successful. In the case of
Candide, poor Lady Cunegonde is taken Hostage and raped, and as if it wasn’t enough
for Voltaire, she ends up choosing the “Captains Fortune” (60), instead of
Candide. So why is this theme constantly used by authors if the readers can more
or less predict the ending? It’s simple, we all love the idea of two people risking
everything to kiss again, to hold each other’s hands one more time, and
finally, if it’s the only way to be together, they are willing to die and unite
in heaven. Forbidden love has always been one of our favorite sceneries, and
even in Voltaire’s time it was a popular theme to write about. It never gets old.
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