Chapter 14 of Voltaire’s Candide, I believe, employs satirical targeting against traitors. The egotistic drive that so easily convinces them of disloyalty is also targeted. Cacambo, Candide’s newly acquired servant, condenses the purpose for treason: “When you don’t get what you expect on one side, you find it on the other” (62). Benedict Arnold is known for his greed-driven treachery. In the same way, Cacambo describes infidels’ motives.
What Voltaire describes as deceit lacks the moral implications. He hints that traitors ignore or lack a strong code of ethics that would otherwise impede their selfish choice from taking place. In this way, Voltaire mocks traitors as attributing ignorance to their list of defects. He condemns turncoats as being unaware of, or willing to accept/ignore the negative effects of their choices. By doing so, he not only gives us a reason to pity deserters, but also stresses that their amount of egotism is enough to bypass the “rational system” of the brain, responsible for logical thinking and planning, according to Radiolab’s “Choice”.
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