Trends

It is breath taking how two books from different time periods can relate to each other. In Candide, I was able to discern clear trends of the classical book, Don Quixote. More specifically, the way the two novels are able to vividly describe a person, enabling the reader to create a perfect image of them. It is said that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, however, due to the technique both of these eloquent writers use, one may dispute against it. In the case of Don Quixote, one sees this happening every time a description of a woman is being assembled. The author illustrates all women as goddesses. In the novel, Cervantes has the ability of describing a horrific woman and transforming her into the most beautiful of all mankind. He achieves this by converting the ordinary features the woman has and making them glamorous. Voltaire, will repeat this technique 100 years later in his novel, Candide.  A perfect example of the two authors using these techniques is when Cervantes describes Dulcinea in Don Quixote and Voltaire illustrates Lady Conegonde, in Candide. Another example of Voltaire’s superb character description is when he portrays the Old Lady in Candide. “ … My breast began to take its right form, and such a breast! White, firm, and formed like that of the Venus de’ Medici; my eyebrows were as black as jet, as for my eyes, they darted flames and eclipsed the luster of the stars, as I was told by the poets of our part of the world. My maids, when they dressed and undressed me, used to fall into an ecstasy in viewing me…” (pg. 49). It is remarkable to see that some trends of writing are as current today as they were many centuries ago, allowing modern literature to contain classical techniques.