Candide, Chapter 22 summary

What happens

1. Candide sells precious stones in Bordeaux, leaves his sheep with the academy, and decides to visit Paris with Martin.
2. His illness attracts doctors and religious visitors; treatment worsens his condition, and Martin forcibly removes a demanding priest.
3. The Abbé from Perigord introduces theatrical criticism and takes the travelers to the Marchioness of Parolignac’s gambling supper.
4. Candide loses fifty thousand francs, hears arguments about literature and suffering, and gives the Marchioness two diamonds after their intimate encounter.
5. A letter supposedly from Cunegonde draws Candide to an impostor’s bedside, where an officer arrests him and Martin.
6. Candide bribes the officer, reaches Dieppe under his protection, and pays more diamonds for passage toward Portsmouth.

In this chapter

What to notice

Martin directly rejects the optimistic teaching Candide repeats. Their disagreement connects the supper conversation to Candide’s repeated encounters with exploitation.

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