Vocab Candide

I found it very funny when Pangloss gives his explanation of why syphilis is a positive thing, “It is indispensable in this best of worlds. It is a necessary ingredient. For if Columbus, when visiting the West Indies, had not caught this disease, which poisons the source of generation, which frequently even hinders generation, and is clearly opposed to the great end of Nature, we should have neither chocolate nor cochineal.” I found it very humorous how Pangloss priorities are very ironic. He doesn’t care about this harsh contagious disease, for it weren’t because if it we wouldn’t have chocolate or cochineal. For Pangloss having the disease spreading around is worth it, because now we have chocolate and cochineal. As a saying goes, you don’t miss what you have never had. Pangloss loses and eye and an ear due to syphilis, yet he still believes the disease is important. Can he say anything more ironic?


VOCAB
“She was disemboweled by Burglar soldiers after being ravished as much as a poor woman could bear.”
Disemboweled: remove the entrails of



Ravished: to seize and carry away by force


“This sovereign of hearts and quintessence of our souls.”
Quintessence: the pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing




“They produced these hellish torments by which you see me devoured.”
Hellish: highly unpleasant



“Who was indebted for it to a marchioness.”
Marchioness: A noblewoman ranking above a countess and below a duchess. Also called marquise




“Clearly opposed to the great end of Nature, we should have neither chocolate nor cochineal.”
Cochineal: vivid red




“The sailor rushed straight into the midst of the debris and risked his life searching for money.”
Debris: the scattered remains of something broken or destroyed; rubble or wreckage