Zadig

The king appoints Zadig to the vacant post of chief minister, making his courtiers and Green Eyes jealous. Zadig thanks the king’s parrot, remarking that while other animals brought him suffering, the parrot saved his life. Noting the randomness of fate, Zadig questions whether his good fortune will soon turn, to which the parrot replies “yes.” This answer surprises Zadig, but as a rational man he soon disregards the idea that a parrot could prophesize.

As chief minister, Zadig renews the law’s sacred authority without attaching his ego to the project. He believes the law serves equally to protect citizens as it does to deter them from crime. Accordingly, he errs on the side of acquitting a criminal over convicting an innocent person (76). Where the law is clear, he judges according to it, and where it is not he judges as fairly as Zoroaster would have.

Zadig also shows an unconventional talent for coaxing the truth out of people trying to conceal it from the court. For example, to determine which of a dead merchant’s sons will inherit his fortune according to his wish that it go to the son who loves him most, Zadig employs a ruse. He summons both sons and informs them their father is alive. The first is happy but laments the money he spent on his father’s tomb, the construction of which convinced everyone of his unmatched devotion. The second rejoices and promises to return his father’s estate, hoping that his father will allow him to accept the money he gave to his sister’s dowry. Zadig awards the estate to the second son.

In another instance, Zadig uses his wisdom to help a woman determine which of her suitors will better father her newborn son according to her criterion of who will be the better educator. After questioning each, Zadig declares that whether or not the second suitor is the boy’s father, he will marry the woman because he promised to teach him justness and character, whereas the other offered to teach him only technical theories.

Almost all of Babylon comes to love Zadig. He is praised for solving an ancient dispute over which foot to enter a temple with by jumping into it with both feet. However, Green Eyes and his wife disparage the speech Zadig gives at the Festival of the Sacred Flame after his temple entrance: “His manner is dry and unimaginative [...] With him you cannot see the ocean put to flight, the stars fall, or the sun melt like wax. He does not command a good Oriental style” (81-82). Zadig contents himself with a simple style that people accept not because it is sensible but because it is the style of someone in power.

By skillfully managing his professional duties, Zadig frees time to produce updated versions of old plays. They are successful and revive Babylon’s culture. In his free time, Zadig entertains many ladies who are enamored of the young, handsome, and popular statesman. One of his visitors is Madam Green Eyes, who confides her hatred of her husband’s cruel, jealous behavior. She indicates that the gods have punished him by making him sterile. As she leaves, Zadig retrieves a garter she drops but does not replace it on her leg.

Zadig has sex with another lady who visits him, the queen’s maid of honor. As they have sex, Zadig blurts out the queen’s name—Astarte—two times, but the enamored maid interprets him as meaning she is more beautiful than the queen. The maid relays her experience to her close friend Madam Green Eyes, who is offended that Zadig did not reciprocate her flirtations by replacing her garter. Madam Green Eyes discovers that she wears the same garters as the queen, setting her scheming. She leaves to find her husband.

Meanwhile, Zadig has a prophetic dream: “[H]e seemed to be lying on a bed of dry grass, some of which pricked him and made him uncomfortable; then he was lying softly on a bed of roses, from which a serpent issued and stung him to the heart with its sharp and venomous fang” (86-87). In the change from the prickly to the soft bed, he interprets his recent change of fortune, but he does not know who the serpent will be.

Astarte falls in love with Zadig for his charm and youth, but she confuses her love with the admiration everyone feels for him. Thus, she does not notice her flirtations and loving looks as such.

Zadig becomes enamored of the queen, seeing in her a beauty and openness that Azora and Semira lacked. Having unsuccessfully suppressed his feelings with philosophy, he resorts to distancing himself from her to avoid scandal. When he does meet her eyes, he sees in them the truth of their situation: “We adore each other, and are afraid of our love; we are the slaves of a passion of which we disapprove” (90).

Zadig confides his feelings to his friend Cador, who already knew of them from observing him and the queen. Cador warns Zadig that the king’s one fault is extreme jealousy. Since he (Cador) noticed the signs, the king most likely will too. Cador recommends a tryst, arguing it will jolt the queen out of her confused innocence and alert her that she has something to hide.

The king grows suspicious after he notices that some of his wife’s clothes match Zadig’s. Green Eyes and his wife confirm his suspicion by sending her garter, which looks like the queen’s. The king plans to have his wife poisoned and Zadig strangled. A mute servant who likes the queen and Zadig overhears the king’s plan and paints a picture to warn the queen. After deciphering its meaning, she sends a message to Zadig urging him to flee without her, knowing that she will likely be executed. Cador advises Zadig against trying to save her, arguing it will only hasten her death. Cador outfits Zadig to escape to Egypt.

Outside the city, Zadig looks back and faints, then cries and wishes he were dead. He wonders what good virtue is if his good deeds merely brought him to this, thinking it would have been easier to be happy if he had been immoral. He laments the unfairness of Azora and Semira’s betrayals and Astarte’s imminent death.