Is Candide Innocent?

Is candide really as naive as we thought? Some of his actions have made me question his innocence.  He has already killed 3 people through out the story. “I have already killed three men, an two of them were priests!”(pg.67) And after every bad action he automatically regrets it and starts acting all innocent again. “O God! What have I done! I have killed my old master, my friend, and my brother-in-law!” (pg.67)This is a little hypocrite to me. Why would he kill him if he is going to "regret" it in a second?

 Maybe Voltaire wants to express the idea that because someone seems harmless, it does not mean they truly are. For example, there have been plenty of scandals in the news about children who commit homicide. The fact that they are just “naive” children, somehow justifies their actions. But in my opinion, they are just as bad as a grown up criminal.  When an honorable and “good” person does something wrong, people don’t judge them as much. They just assume something happened to them in that ocation. But the fact that they were good people before, somehow softens the situation.  But if a really bad person does something bad, then people get mad and want justice. I think this behavior is what Voltaire is targeting.

Candide is not innocent at all. Yet through out the book we forget about all the bad stuff he does and just see him as the unimpeachable candide. Even after he has made several mistakes, Voltaire still portrays him as an innocent character. But once you ignore candide’s personality and analyze his actions, you will realize his "innocence" fooled us. Candide is anything but innocent.