Beautiful Women Turn Lives Of Men Upside Down Essay, Research Paper

Kim Holz

ENG 202 Sec. C

Dr. Stokes

Beautiful women turn the lives of men upside down

From the beginning of romance, man has been fascinated by women to the point where their beauty eclipses all rational thought. Lust and desire replace his normal routine and his new love becomes the world and stars. This moonstruck trace has been the source of several humorous essays and few have done it as cleverly as Voltaire in Candide. Throughout the novel, Candide s warped perception of true love leads him to believe that marriage to Cunegund could be more perfect than heaven itself. Modern day Rock groups, specifically the Crash Test Dummies, have adopted Voltaire s dry wit and continue to expose man s weakness for women by singing lyrics about how men behave once they find a gorgeous woman.

Men have been fascinated with the beauty of women for quite some time. Candide and the men portrayed in the songs of the Crash Test Dummies are so wrapped up in the women they are with that reality almost seems strange and unimportant to them. Often thoughts of this nature come to mind, “When I m sampling from your bosom sometimes I suffer from distractions like why does God cause things like tornadoes and train wrecks (Crash Test Dummies, “Swimming in your ocean”)?” Men focus their entire life on finding and being with gorgeous women they have chosen. Candide is willing to give up all his wealth to acquire a beautiful woman and it does not seem to matter if he “lost a hundred

Kim Holz

Page 2

sheep,” since he is “now going to fly to the arms of [his] charming Miss Cunegund (Voltaire, Candide p.73).” Candide is powerless when it concerns his mistress Cunegund. He is “with the greatest submission, prepared to obey the commands of his fair mistress; and though he [is] still filled with amazement, though his voice was low and tremulous, though his back pained him, yet he gave her a most ingenuous account of everything that had befallen him (Voltaire, Candide p.33).” Candide is in a state where he is prepared to gives up everything for the woman of his choice. He leaves paradise on earth, El Dorado, and says to his friend Cacambo, “I own, my friend, once more, that the castle where I was born in a mere nothing in comparison to the place where we now are; but still Miss Cunegund is not here, and you yourself have doubtless some fair one in Europe for whom you sigh (Voltaire, Candide p.52).” His life, in other words, does not mean anything to him if she is not in it. Even paradise, the ultimate place to be, is not to his satisfaction.

The novel Candide and several songs of the Crash Test Dummies do not only show the vulnerability of men for beautiful women but also the punishment they receive for only looking at the physical side of women. In the novel and the songs, men are looking forward to being with the gorgeous women for whom they have fallen. But at the end, they receive something other than that for which they had hoped. Candide wants the beautiful Cunegund but instead gets an ugly Cunegund at the end. In the Crash Test Dummie s song “Two Knights and Maidens,” the maidens “had other plans for the two

Kim Holz

Page 3

knights. They d give them potions and make them see dreams and lights.” The Knights “laughed at their visions but outside the garden tigers smelled them together The knights only laughed at the tigers (Crash Test Dummies, Two knights and Maidens).” The Maidens ended up tricking the Knights into having sexual involvement with the tigers. In both instances the men did not get what they expected. Candide does not even want to marry Cunegund any longer.

Voltaire and The Crash Test Dummies definitely have two aspects of male behavior in common. Men are vulnerable to the beauty of woman and men receive punishment for their fantasies of wanting to be with only attractive women. To emphasize the period of time in which the lyrics of the songs took place, The Crash Test Dummies have created a cover page for their CD in which the band member s heads replace the heads of other characters in an 18th Century painting. In addition the band members are individually introduced in single 18th Century paintings also replacing the heads of the original paintings with their own. The CD cover of the Crash Test Dummies tells the band wants to be associated with that period of time in which Voltaire wrote Candide and makes it easier for us to see, that this band has the intention to take over Voltaire s wit.

Kim Holz

ENG 202 Sec. C

Dr. Stokes

Beautiful women turn the lives of men upside down

From the beginning of romance, man has been fascinated by women to the point where their beauty eclipses all rational thought. Lust and desire replace his normal routine and his new love becomes the world and stars. This moonstruck trace has been the source of several humorous essays and few have done it as cleverly as Voltaire in Candide. Throughout the novel, Candide s warped perception of true love leads him to believe that marriage to Cunegund could be more perfect than heaven itself. Modern day Rock groups, specifically the Crash Test Dummies, have adopted Voltaire s dry wit and continue to expose man s weakness for women by singing lyrics about how men behave once they find a gorgeous woman.

Men have been fascinated with the beauty of women for quite some time. Candide and the men portrayed in the songs of the Crash Test Dummies are so wrapped up in the women they are with that reality almost seems strange and unimportant to them. Often thoughts of this nature come to mind, “When I m sampling from your bosom sometimes I suffer from distractions like why does God cause things like tornadoes and train wrecks (Crash Test Dummies, “Swimming in your ocean”)?” Men focus their entire life on finding and being with gorgeous women they have chosen. Candide is willing to give up all his wealth to acquire a beautiful woman and it does not seem to matter if he “lost a hundred

Kim Holz

Page 2

sheep,” since he is “now going to fly to the arms of [his] charming Miss Cunegund (Voltaire, Candide p.73).” Candide is powerless when it concerns his mistress Cunegund. He is “with the greatest submission, prepared to obey the commands of his fair mistress; and though he [is] still filled with amazement, though his voice was low and tremulous, though his back pained him, yet he gave her a most ingenuous account of everything that had befallen him (Voltaire, Candide p.33).” Candide is in a state where he is prepared to gives up everything for the woman of his choice. He leaves paradise on earth, El Dorado, and says to his friend Cacambo, “I own, my friend, once more, that the castle where I was born in a mere nothing in comparison to the place where we now are; but still Miss Cunegund is not here, and you yourself have doubtless some fair one in Europe for whom you sigh (Voltaire, Candide p.52).” His life, in other words, does not mean anything to him if she is not in it. Even paradise, the ultimate place to be, is not to his satisfaction.

The novel Candide and several songs of the Crash Test Dummies do not only show the vulnerability of men for beautiful women but also the punishment they receive for only looking at the physical side of women. In the novel and the songs, men are looking forward to being with the gorgeous women for whom they have fallen. But at the end, they receive something other than that for which they had hoped. Candide wants the beautiful Cunegund but instead gets an ugly Cunegund at the end. In the Crash Test Dummie s song “Two Knights and Maidens,” the maidens “had other plans for the two

Kim Holz

Page 3

knights. They d give them potions and make them see dreams and lights.” The Knights “laughed at their visions but outside the garden tigers smelled them together The knights only laughed at the tigers (Crash Test Dummies, Two knights and Maidens).” The Maidens ended up tricking the Knights into having sexual involvement with the tigers. In both instances the men did not get what they expected. Candide does not even want to marry Cunegund any longer.

Voltaire and The Crash Test Dummies definitely have two aspects of male behavior in common. Men are vulnerable to the beauty of woman and men receive punishment for their fantasies of wanting to be with only attractive women. To emphasize the period of time in which the lyrics of the songs took place, The Crash Test Dummies have created a cover page for their CD in which the band member s heads replace the heads of other characters in an 18th Century painting. In addition the band members are individually introduced in single 18th Century paintings also replacing the heads of the original paintings with their own. The CD cover of the Crash Test Dummies tells the band wants to be associated with that period of time in which Voltaire wrote Candide and makes it easier for us to see, that this band has the intention to take over Voltaire s wit.