Candide's original wrongdoing with Cunegund is nothing more than a natural act. They both live within the confines of the castle, and all that they know is imparted to them by their teacher, Pangloss, who apparently enjoys sexytime as much as the next guy. In my opinion, even the initial, direct punishment of exile from the castle was excessively cruel to Candide, as it was the equivalent of tossing an uninitiated lamb into a pack of wolves. The indirect punishment that Candide has to endure after being cast out is enough to bring a man to his knees.
In my mind, the worst thing that he has to come to terms with is the senseless murder of Pangloss at the hands of the Inquisition. When someone shapes your very conception of yourself and your surroundings, the last thing that you want to see is them dying. I can imagine that Candide was struck with a sense of disorientation, as Pangloss and his philosophy were his anchor to a more pleasing reality; one where greed, misfortune and death did not reign supreme. The death of Pangloss shook the foundations of his moral and physical philosophy, and such heart-wrenching trauma is worthy of sympathy.
Another thoroughly undeserved aspect of Candide's punishment lies in his killing of fellow men. I feel that the inevitability of murder that Candide is faced with is a cruel and unusual punishment, because the world that he existed in before his exile did not prepare him to take lives. However, the book does not portray him as being too deeply affected by the acts that he commits. It seems like he always kills very matter-of-factly, as though it is basically the only way to act in the particular situation. The Jew, the Inquisitor and the Commandant all die at Candide's hand in the blink of a literary eye, presumably because he feels that he has no other choice but to kill them. It is that transition from a blissful life of choice to a harsh reality that dictates his actions (despite copious moral concerns) that is so painful to watch.
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