Themes
“Crush the Infamous”
“Crush the loathsome thing” was Voltaire’s Enlightenment motto for overturning the clergy and royalty in Europe with their persecution, intolerance, and superstition. As a firebrand rationalist opposed to abuse of power and decadent thinking, Zadig is Voltaire’s avatar in the ancient world. Zadig confronts many clear abuses of power: from unjust punishment under Babylonian law and crimes fabricated by vindictive priests to the self-righteousness of Hermes in disproving Zadig’s recovery. However, the essence of the cry to “crush the loathsome thing” is a call to self-examination. The forces at play in the story work through people: Setoc hesitates to condemn the Pyre of Widowhood despite thinking it is cruel because he fears questioning tradition, and the conscientious Egyptians who treat Zadig’s wound and take the time to verify his story suddenly become cruel when they begin following the law, condemning him to slavery for self-defense. Zadig’s journey is primarily about his inner transformation as he wrestles with and finally abandons the “loathsome things” within himself.
The only gap in Zadig’s rationalism is his belief that there is a system of divine reward and punishment responsible for all fortune and misfortune. A sharp observer of the natural world capable of discerning things unnoticed by others, Zadig remains oblivious to the evidence that people, not God, are to blame for his misfortune. He longs to understand the divine plan, and yet when Jesrad appears to enlighten him, Zadig leaves with no details about God’s plan other than the fact of its existence. Zadig’s acceptance of the angel’s “reasoning” for his cruel behavior shows the power these fallacies have over even the most rational people. On the other hand, Zadig’s rejection of the angel’s explanations reveals their absurdity.
Zadig’s exaggerated groveling at Jesrad’s feet recalls his sarcastic address to the corrupt judges who demanded a fortune of 500 ounces of gold just for lying: “Luminaries of Justice! Unfathomable Depths of Knowledge! Mirrors of Truth, who possess the weight of lead, the strength of iron, the brilliance of diamonds, and a close resemblance to gold!” (52). That Zadig says they only “closely resemble” gold indicates his sarcasm: Just as fool’s gold only looks like gold, the judges have only the trappings of justice. The irony of Zadig’s address mirrors the first thing he says to the hermit after his transformation into Jesrad: “Now I see that you have descended from the Empyrean to teach a weak mortal to submit to the eternal edicts!” (183). These “eternal edicts” first appear profound to Zadig because of their incomprehensibility. However, Zadig’s questioning of the angel indicates he remains unconvinced such edicts are ethical.
The final description of his rule as King of Babylon confirms this interpretation. Instead of following the angel’s practice of preemptive justice, Zadig exercises mercy, forgiving those who have wronged him. It is only once he has rejected divine reward and punishment and realized his agency in the web of fate that Zadig becomes happy, spreading his happiness to all of Babylon.
People as Agents of Fate
The second theme—that people are the primary agents of fate—parallels Zadig’s initial belief that God is the primary agent of human fate. This parallel highlights Zadig’s mistaken belief, driving the action and building tension as Zadig struggles to match his beliefs to reality and the reader anticipates his moment of illumination. Evidence of the human role in fate abounds and yet until his encounter with Jesrad dispels his superstitions, Zadig remains oblivious to it.
Zadig’s stint in Egypt offers particularly illustrative examples of his obliviousness to his role in altering others’ fates and the double standard he uses to criticize others’ actions while ignoring his own. His decision to intervene and save Missouf from her violent lover is not principled—as he likes to think—but arbitrary: “Zadig took the one to be jealous and the other unfaithful; but when he regarded the lady, who was strikingly beautiful and even bore some resemblance to the unfortunate Astarte, he felt moved by compassion for her” (112).
Missouf’s beauty and chance resemblance to Astarte, not a commitment to being a good Samaritan, spur Zadig’s intervention. That in this situation Missouf’s life depends on Zadig’s arbitrary choice reveals that his misfortune does not have a divine origin but rather stems from being subject to people’s unpredictable behavior, just as Missouf is subject to his.
Furthermore, Voltaire illustrates how people use superstition to conceal their role in others’ misfortunes. In remaining passive while the Babylonians abduct Missouf, Zadig enacts revenge for her drawing him into getting wounded in a fight defending her. Zadig’s refusal to intervene a second time reveals he has the power and willingness to mete out justice as he sees fit. Critically, he exempts himself from responsibility, declaring “It’s other people’s turn” to help” (98). By doing so he rejects his role, surrendering Missouf to “fate,” which is four men on horseback, not a divine plan.
Nowhere is the human role in fate more apparent than in Moabdar’s downfall, the event that eventually enables Astarte and Zadig to return to Babylon. Moabdar initiates his downfall by succumbing to his jealousy and attempting to assassinate Astarte and Zadig. Then he marries Missouf and allows her to indulge her cruel whims, further undermining his integrity. Finally, Astarte deals a symbolic blow: Hidden inside a statue to which Moabdar is praying in the Temple of Ormuzd, she curses her husband: “The Gods reject the vows of a King turned tyrant, who has plotted the death of a sensible wife to marry a madcap!” (166). Moabdar interprets his wife’s words as those of the gods, driving him mad. His superstitious interpretation lives on in the people of Babylon, who see his madness as divine punishment. Superstitions originate in this way, spreading through the population like a virus.
Astarte can hide inside the statue and play the role of the god it represents because the statue is hollow—the divine is nothing but beliefs people construct. Just as Astarte speaks through the statue, people ventriloquize God or the gods for their own ends. That Moabdar hears a divine condemnation rather than his wife speaking to him exemplifies the theme that people see what they are primed to see. This conclusion is what Zadig interprets in Jesrad’s words “Men judge everything [...] without understanding anything” (183). There is no hidden structure of divine reason animating the world; rather, the world is rife with superstitions that obscure reality.
Morality’s Role in Determining Happiness
Zadig’s tribulations test his belief that being moral will beget happiness. As he suffers a string of misfortunes, he complains that his good deeds have brought him no reward. For example, after being forced to flee Babylon, Zadig declares, “All the good I have done has brought curses upon me [...] If I had been wicked, as so many others are, I should have been happy like them” (51). In the end, however, Zadig’s fortunes turn, and he becomes happy. While this would seem to confirm Zadig’s belief, Voltaire complicates the picture.
While Zadig clearly expresses feeling cheated of his reward for doing good numerous times, he also sometimes does the right thing when there is no chance of (earthly) reward, and there is a risk of persecution. For example, he campaigns against the Pyre of Widowhood even though it is an entrenched tradition supported by priests. Zadig embodies the belief that you should do good regardless of reward, contradicting his lamentations of misfortune. Zadig shows that the person who opposes harmful traditions is often persecuted by conservatives. This path is lonely and full of “misfortune,” i.e., full of people trying to harm you. Rather than undermine his character, the contradictory beliefs Zadig holds regarding morality and reward reflect the complexity of the mind.
Voltaire further complicates Zadig’s character by provoking questions about his morality, hinting that, under his criterion, he may not be as deserving of happiness as he thinks. Contrary to his characteristic virtuousness, Zadig acted spitefully in refusing to help Missouf a second time. An offhand comment in Argobad’s monologue about his history hints that Zadig may have ordered a murder. Argobad mentions that under Moabdar’s orders, the grand vizier of Babylon sent assassins to kill him. Warned of their plans, Argobad killed four of them and recruited the head assassin. Before he fled Babylon, Zadig was grand vizier under Moabdar. Voltaire leaves it unclear whether he was the grand vizier who ordered the assassination.
Zadig does not change his good opinion of Moabdar after (possibly) discovering he ordered a murder despite his strong opposition to killing throughout the book. Given his opposition to unjustified killing, it would be uncharacteristic for Zadig if this discovery would not alter his opinion of Moabdar, and yet it does not. This fact indicates that he was the grand vizier who ordered the murder but that he considered it justified, just as he had no scruples about killing Missouf’s lover.
Whether Zadig’s good deeds eventually pay off remains unanswered, as Jesrad does not enlighten Zadig as to whether his idea of good matches God’s. In the end, Zadig is happy because his coronation and successful rule insulate him from harm. He is also happy because he and Astarte reunite. In exile—deprived of his home, his reputation, and his love—Zadig condensed the sum of his misfortunes into a monolith of divine punishment. By doing so, he centered the narrative on himself and ignored the role he and other parties played in his misfortune, focusing only on the divine reason that remained hidden. The anti-enlightenment the angel provides brings Zadig to the realization that whether or not there is a divine plan, humans are the primary agents of fate, justice, and morality. Zadig was mostly moral in his misfortune and was unhappy; he is moral in good fortune and he is happy. Whether he becomes happy from his good turn of fate or from being moral remains in question.
Unlock all 50 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Voltaire
