Candide's Punishments

Candide's punishments do not fit the crime. Maybe it is because this is a satirical novel and Voltaire is being over dramatic to get his point across, but the "punishments " in this book are severe. Punishments in the story are wild and extreme. They are done carelessly and without much thought. Possibly it is because we now live in a society where these are considered cruel,  unusual and against a person’s civil rights that I feel this way. However, I feel that within the the story there is a lot of unnecessary and unjust tragedy, violence and misfortune.

Rather it be direct punishment from the fictional town’s local government or karma that brought on the hardships of these characters, it has been distributed randomly. I think that the punishments given out are being given to the wrong crimes. Character’s such as the Old Lady and those hanged alongside Pangloss, seem to be facing hardships despite having committing any real crime. So far in the story Candide has killed three people and has not been punished for those crimes. However, he received beatings from the Bulgar army for talking a stroll and exercising his free will. I think that the punishments do not fit the crime because so many things are sliding by dealt with and unprosecuted while trivial things and innocent people are being affected.

I think that this says something about how things are dealt with in real life. While In today’s society we arent resulting to running the gauntlet or hanging people for criticizing religion, there tend to be instances when small things can be blown out of proportion and big ones go by undetected.  People should put more thought into not only the punishments they give out, but rather the crimes deserve the level of punishment given.