Zadig

“Grief brought him to the very edge of the grave and he suffered a long illness. But in the end, reason triumphed over his affliction, and the cruelty which he had experienced even served to console him.”

At the beginning of his story, Zadig values reason over emotion and believes that reason can alleviate emotional distress. However, time after time, Zadig’s attempts to insulate himself from life’s vicissitudes backfire, resulting in misfortune that throws him into despair he cannot think away. It is ironic that for someone who prides himself on being clear-eyed, Zadig has a distorted view of himself and his capabilities. Throughout the novella, Zadig’s experiences, especially those regarding Astarte, erode his conviction in the power of reason as he slowly realizes that just as he cannot use his mind to control his emotions at will, as he apparently does in this passage, he cannot use his mind to control his fate, which depends on external forces.

“‘There is no greater happiness,’ said he, ‘than that which a philosopher enjoys in reading the great book which God has set before our eyes. The truths he there discovers become his own. He feasts his spirit with lofty thoughts. He lives a life of tranquillity [sic], in which no man gives him cause for fear and no loving wife comes to cut off his nose.’”

As he begins suffering misfortune, Zadig runs through a string of refuges he thinks will insulate him, including philosophy. His joke that as a philosopher he will not have to worry about his wife cutting off his nose, as Azora attempted, belies a feeling of betrayal motivating his retreat from people. His chance encounter with the crown’s men and subsequent imprisonment disabuse him of the idea that it is possible to remove oneself from the world of human events.