Category: Cyrano De Bergerac

Rostand’s classic, Cyrano De Bergerac, resonates with audiences of all eras and cultures essentially because it reflects on a universal theme. It is conflict, and specifically the internal conflicts of a hero struggling with ambitions of the material with his innermost, spiritual and intellectual self. All of this is within the desire Cyrano feels for Roxane, which guides his behavior. This love, however, does not destroy him. Instead, Cyrano creates his own destruction because he cannot reconcile the conflicting forces within him. Rostand then offers a message to the world as he embodies the contrasting needs of human beings within the hero. Tensions are inevitable as people deal with what they most desire and what they know to be most fundamentally meaningful. However, and as the following explores, Cyrano’s tragic and self-inflicted death exists to emphasize that the spiritual is the only enduring and worthwhile ambition. This is true because even our efforts to enjoy worldly advantages are ultimately directed to this much greater end.

To understand Rostand’s main statement, it is necessary to see how he develops this through presenting the broader tensions between the material and the spiritual. The play’s beginning offers a strong representation of this, and how moving between the two worlds is an endless conflict or pain for Cyrano. He values art and honor, and his actions in the theater reinforce this. At the same time, Cyrano is unable to accept or live with what he sees as his deformity. His nose is completely symbolic of the obstacle to human happiness, or how human beings believe love and spiritual happiness may be gained. Cyrano makes this clear to Le Bret, in terms of the torture he feels in knowing that what he wants most in the world cannot be his: “Thought soars to ecstasy. O sudden fall!/ The shadow of my profile on the wall!”. Early, Rostand is exposing an obsession, and the hero’s actual relying on it to deny himself happiness. Intelligent, humane, and artistic, Cyrano is revealed as trapped by his own misguided beliefs. Equally importantly, he already confuses the spiritual with the worldly because he refuses to consider that his being and soul could be more meaningful to Roxane than his face.

Then, in interacting with Christian, Cyrano completely confuses his own ambitions and loses himself in trying to maneuver a compromise between love and the demands of the world as he understands them. At this moment, in fact, when he conceives of his plan, he sets his own destruction in motion. The key here is that he refuses to consider that Roxane has depth. Cyrano’s self-disgust is so enormous, it does not occur to him that she may be as spiritual as himself, so he creates his partnership with Christian: “Will you complete me, and let me complete you?”. In this, Rostand is expressing how tragically we act based on a foundation that is false. There is the initial thinking, it is wrong or misguided, but we build upon it because we believe we have no other hope of gaining happiness. The playwright’s deeper message is then a kind of plea to the audience. He is strongly urging it to see what Cyrano cannot see, and that any denial of the real self can never do anything but perpetuate unhappiness. Put another way, Cyrano wrongly turns to the material, or Christian’s worldly beauty, instead of depending on the greater value of who he is. In this, the greater deception is of himself, and not Roxane.

Lastly, Rostand exposes Cyrano’s tragic mistake in the conclusion, when the hero finally understands that he has confused the material or obvious for what most matters. In a sense, he must die because his error is so enormous, it kills his soul. This occurs because, even here, he cannot truly accept that his insistence on his scheme, based on his mind as needing to compensate for his deeper desires, is wrong. To some extent, he understands the reality as Roxane reveals her feelings to him. Even so, he is not able to set aside the role he believes he has had no choice but to play: “Look you, it was my life/ To be the prompter everyone forgets!”. The greatest mistake Cyrano makes, ironically, is believing that the superficial can somehow substitute for the real or enduring. Of course, self-loathing is largely responsible for all of this. Nonetheless, the loses everything because he believed he could have a part of everything. The nose itself gains in power as a material curse because Cyrano allows this, and real tragedy is reinforced because, as the audience knows, the character is more enlightened than this.

Rostand’s play is a romantic tragedy, but it also makes a wider statement. The devices of Cyrano’s nose and his arrangement with Christian represent how people will decide on disastrous courses when they confuse external realities with real meaning. More exactly, Cyrano is doomed because he cannot conceive of being loved by Roxane, and this flaw exists because he foolishly views her as a material gain beyond his own value. Spiritual, his selfdisgust blinds him to her own spirituality, and he essentially destroys himself in every way. In the final analysis, then, Cyrano’s tragic and self-inflicted end reinforces that the spiritual, or real love, is the only enduring and worthwhile goal. This is Rostand’s primary message because even Cyrano’s efforts to enjoy some worldly satisfaction is based on this much greater end, and that is the playwright’s warning to his audiences.

What is love? Since the beginning of time, love has been one of the most spoken and written about topics in everyday life. Some people may say that love is the best feeling on earth and is a necessity to live. That without love, people would have no motivation, purpose or happiness in their lives. However that same love can cause the ultimate pain and sadness when it is not returned. Love can be attained through many different types of relationships; such as family, friends, romantic partners and more. While it can take different forms for individual people, it is a basic human need and a motivation for living. Most adults seek the expression of love through romantic relationships. Sometimes this love may be built on a strong foundation, but other times it can just be based on good looks and charm. In the case of Roxane, she discovers that outer and inner beauty are two very different things, and that love truly is blind.

One major theme portrayed by Edmond Rostand in the play Cyrano de Bergerac is the difference between the hidden beauty of Cyrano and the outward beauty of Christian. This theme allows us to see how attributes worthy of love come in different forms. Cyrano embodies inner beauty through his courage, poetry and belief in good ideals and values. We see that Cyrano does not possess the qualities of charm and good looks because of his large nose. This quote emphasizes his exterior rather than his interior traits and emphasized during Cyranos’ first entrance in the play.

On the other hand, Christian represents his outer beauty rather than his inner beauty because of his good looks, charm, creativity and eloquence.In his quote, we see Cyrano and Christian talk about winning Roxane’s love. They realize that they both have different attributes, Cyranos poetry and Christians good looks. But together they believe they can win her love. This quote highlights Christians good looks and charm which tends to overshadow Cyranos shyness and creativity. When Cyrano states “romantic hero” he means that using both of their charms they can win Roxane’s love.

Cyrano is constantly composing love letters wether it in a duel or reciting them in the dark. The letters he writes are not just words on paper, but instead are comprised of a deeper meaning This quote gives the reader an idea on how poetry has such a soft spot in Roxanne’s heart. It connects her with her deeper emotions while being blinded to focus on what she loves rather then whom she thinks she loves.

In spite of using the combined qualities of Cyrano and Christian, Roxane is blinded and fooled into thinking that she loves Christian. This quote is a good example of blind love. Roxane describes the man she loves to Cyrano as handsome and believes she is in love with Christian. Her feelings of love are based in part because of his outer beauty, but mostly because of his fictitious poetry. What impressed Roxane and turned out to be the most vital attribute to win her love was the ability to craft words which is due to Cyrano and not Christian.

This quotation shows us that Roxane has derailed Christian and Cyrano’s plan. As Christian goes off to battle, Roxane informs him that she loves him for his soul alone rather than his outer appearance. This troubles and depresses Christian since he borrowed his “soul” from Cyrano. This shows us that Roxane is truly blinded, she loves Cyrano rather than Christian for his inner beauty without knowing it. This is an ironic moment in the play because of her statement of her lasting love for Christian is based upon a character trait he does not possess.

Roxane begins to realize that Cyrano wrote all these letters. As he reads Christian’s final letter out loud, she is amazed by his ability to read so well. As Cyrano is reciting the letters tears begin to drop down her cheek. She realized that together Cyrano and Christian represented the “Romantic Hero” that Roxane loves. As Roxane accuses him of speaking on Christian’s behalf Cyrano denies it. Roxane refuses to believe him and tells him she has been in love with one man, a courageous poetic musician, Cyrano. His thoughts began to outshine his face but her eyes are open and she no longer sees his outer appearance.

What is love? Although there are many different examples and ways to explain what love is. The best way to describe love in Cyrano de Bergerac is the with the term “love is blind”. This is based on the idea that when you truly love another, than you do not see your lovers flaws. Because of this blindness Roxane was able to see past Cyrano’s insecurities and big nose towards the end of the play and accept him despite his flaws. While Christian cannot express his thoughts and his actual personality in words, Cyrano cannot express himself in action. However in using Christian to change his thoughts into actions, Cryano was able to win Roxane’s heart through his words and personality. The letters that he had composed become inseparable from Cyrano’s inner beauty, and it was this inner beauty which had been a part of Roxane’s love all along.

Tragedies are often emotionally draining, whether they are classic or contemporary. The word itself implies heartbreak; a soldier lost at war or a ship wrecked at sea would be described as tragic. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand is entertaining story. It differs from the works of Macbeth and Oedipus because it is not strikingly sad, yet the protagonist of Cyrano de Bergerac dies a sad death after a sad life. Everyone has flaws, and maybe those flaws take too much away from our lives, but the character of Cyrano has a striking flaw, his immense fear of rejection and general insecurity. Cyrano lets this flaw invade every relationship he has, all the decisions he makes. Cyrano de Bergerac is a flawed man in a contemporary tragedy.

Cyrano de Bergerac values many things, including literature and theater. One of the first appearances that he makes is in defense of his beloved theater, to get an actor he hates of the stage. Cyrano hates this actor personally, Montfleury. It isn’t explained why Cyrano is not concerned that other people may disagree with him, for hating on Montfleury or for ruining a show. As a reader, it’s obvious that this could not make Cyrano a popular man. However, it is later explained that Cyrano enjoys making enemies (or says he does). Cyrano says, “I love when others hate me,”. Although he seems to want people to decide they don’t like him, it is apparent that he is using this as a method of self-defense, because he is so insecure that he is trying to justify the amount of people that hate him. If you want people to hate you, when they do aren’t they just doing you a favor? No matter what, Cyrano is putting himself in a situation where he is the winner, but this is out of insecurity. He makes people hate him because he hates himself.

Cyrano spends the entire story secretly in love with Roxane. Roxane values him as a friend, and by the end relies on him every day. During the time in between, she falls in love with his writing to her. Even after Roxane’s lover, and the man he was pretending to write as, is dead, Cyrano doesn’t tell her how he feels or that he was the one she fell in love with. Cyrano spends fifteen years trying to stay close to Roxane even after he stops writing the letters. If Cyrano had ended up with Roxane, he wouldn’t have become the unhappy, lonely man that he died as. Cyrano’s downfall was because he held in this secret. He let himself be alone by not going for the woman he loved, and he let his loneliness make him even more cynical, and that ate him away. This was entirely because he was too insecure and afraid of rejection. When his best friend, Le Bret, suggests that he tell the women, for whom he has such passion, the truth, he rejects it. Cyrano says, “My old friend—look at me, and tell me how much hope remains for me with this protuberance!”. He specially blames his reasoning for keeping his love a secret on his insecurity of his nose, his tragic flaw.

Cyrano’s literal death is due to an “accident” that De Guiche alludes to in a conversation with Le Bret. De Guiche says, The other day at Court, such a one said to me: “This man Cyrano may die—accidentally,”. Cyrano has already made it apparent that many people hate him, and apparently enough to lead to his death. Cyrano is already an impoverished, miserable man at this point because of combination of his choices with Roxane and with other people. Once again, this is because Cyrano is so insecure that he destroys his relationships with other people. Had it not been for his insecurities, his tragic flaw, he would not have had this eventual downfall and this sad death. He was killed because of the way he interacts with people, making them enemies, which he does out of insecurity.

Cyrano is a likable character that teaches a lesson of self love and bravery. It’s difficult to read such a tragic story and not believe that he is a tragic character, having lead a lonely life and having died a miserable death. Cyrano de Bergerac is a story about a man who is too insecure to make the right decisions and this leads to his downfall. This tragedy inspires self-reflection in the same way that tragedies like Macbeth strengthen morals and real tragic events inspire unity.

Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is a well-known comedic love story behind the walls of humor and satire. It revolves around Cyrano de Bergerac’s failed pursuit of the love of a maiden named Roxanne because of his many personal flaws. Ironically, these are the exact flaws that prompt many to regard Cyrano as a tragic hero. Although he did not strictly follow the characteristics of the mainstream Greek example of heroes, Cyrano in Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac is defined as a tragic hero. His opportunity to find true happiness with his forever love was constantly compromised by his own flaws which eventually led to his tragic demise.

Cyrano was an acclaimed man, armored with his quick wit and eloquence as a member of the Cadets of Gascony. He was able to gain the emotional pity of the audience by missing his chance of finding true happiness with his true love. Much like any hero, he was equipped with a fatal flaw that eventually led to his own destruction. Cyrano possessed an enlightened mind but an unattractive appearance with a large nose that caused him to become vigilant. In that, he feared that his eloquence would simply be overshadowed by his rather unattractive appearance.

People in the past, including his own mother, mocked him and showed almost no affection towards him because of his large nose. This resulted in his vigilance toward his own ideals and sentiments. In the excerpt: Valvert: Your nose is . . . very big. Cyrano: Yes, very. (30)Cyrano’s first entrance involved a slight confrontation between him and Valvert, one of de Guiche’s men, who teased Cyrano for his nose. Cyrano’s past experiences have prompted him to become protective of himself by teaching himself how to fight any man who attempts to mock or criticize him. His vigilance is evident in the text as Cyrano humiliated Valvert by belittling his lack of creativity for simply mentioning the obvious size of his nose. His fatal flaw of vigilance contributes to his heroism as he was willing to fight one hundred men by himself to protect his friend, Ragueneau.

At the same time, this trait leads to his prolonged downfall, as he is unable to tell Roxanne his true feelings even when Christian was already dead. He was too afraid to let his guard down and show his vulnerability to a woman because of his fear that Roxanne will simply humiliate him for his looks, just like other people. This eventually stops him from having the chance to find happiness with his true love, gaining pity from the audience as his happily ever after was instead a tragic downfall. Cyrano’s vigilance allows him to earn the emotional pity of his audience which contributes to his embodiment as a tragic hero, as it also pushes him to go to extensive lengths for those around him at all costs despite his own welfare and desires. However, it also feeds into his downfall as a hero as his fear of vulnerability prevents him from telling Roxanne the truth after Christian’s death. Other than his vigilance, Cyrano is also endowed with other admirable traits that connect his heroism despite his flaws. He took the most pride as he strived to maintain his moral integrity throughout the play. It was evident that Cyrano was a man who did not mind having enemies and, to some extent, even enjoyed infuriating others. In the book, Cyrano stated that “Each new enemy is a pleat that constrains me still more, yet adds to my splendor” (93). By this, it was evident that he was completely aware that more enemies meant a more difficult life. However, he also states that “hatred is both a yoke and a halo of glory” (93). Although he knew that success could have been extremely simple for him because of his incredible skills, he chose to protect his moral integrity, sacrificing his great desires in love. Instead of taking the easy route to his own greatness, he opted to choose the kind of life that he wanted to be known for.

Cyrano’s heroic moral integrity, however, is also a dual flaw, as his personal code prohibits him from pursuing his love for Roxanne. Cyrano was a man of his word and he simply could not go against his moral code and somewhat betray Christianity by exposing the truth about the letters and his own feelings. Yet again, this fuels Cyrano’s self-destruction as even though he could have chosen to tell Roxanne the truth and possibly have the opportunity to be with his true life, he instead opted to keep the truth from Roxanne until he was dying in her arms. Cyrano’s moral integrity was one of the defining features of his heroic character, but it also prevented him from having the courage to provide Roxanne with the truth after Christian died in the war. Many well-known heroes experience a fatal downfall during one specific instance or at the end of their story. However, Cyrano is a one-of-a-kind hero who does not strictly follow the mainstream Greek archetype of characters.

Cyrano’s greatest downfall begins when Christian dies until the time of his own death with his failure of telling Roxanne his genuine feeling as his inner conflict. Ever since the moment that Christian died, Cyrano had all the chances and opportunities in the world to tell Roxanne the entire truth, to some extent, false love with Christian and how he was really the man behind the love letters that she loved the most. However, it was Cyrano’s selflessness, another one of his commendable traits, that prevented him from doing so. It is not explicitly evident in the book, but it could be speculated that Cyrano might have treasured the bond that he has formed with Roxanne and the freedom of seeing her more frequently so much that he did not want to risk losing her. There was a possibility of Roxanne rejecting him again despite her knowing the truth, and it is inferred that Cyrano did not want to experience her rejection for the second time as well. During his last moments, Cyrano says that: “When Beauty said, “I love you” to the best that was a fairy prince, his ugliness Changed and dissolved, like magic… But you see[He is] still the same” (192). As a man who took pride in his great work, a shift in Cyrano’s characterization is also evident during Cyrano’s last moments as he reflects on his personal failures and undesirable appearance that is permanent but no one really had the guts to ever mention or criticize him for. He stressed to Roxanne that no matter what happens, even if he dies, he will still be the man with a large nose that was never loved by anyone. This shift in Cyrano’s morale and character supports Cyrano’s heroic aspect as many heroes in other works of literature experience a major shift or change internally or externally prior to their downfall. For Cyrano, this change is more internal as, throughout the whole book, he is constantly dealing with the inner conflict of telling Roxanne how he feels and eventually the truth about Christian’s letters.

Cyrano’s inability to tell Roxanne about his genuine feelings and emotions for her is Cyrano’s tragic fall as a hero because his characterization shifts in the end as he evolves from a person who is so eloquent and honored into a dying man who was pitied by everyone including his love, Roxanne. Although it was heroic and admirable for him to curb his own emotions for Roxanne to be happy with her own love, it also influenced his fatal fall as he did not have the courage to tell Roxanne the truth about his love until he was on his deathbed. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand is a romantic comedy that revolves around a hopelessly romantic man and his failure of pursuing his love for Roxanne. Rostand eloquently develops Cyrano’s character to possess the main aspects of a hero yet connect these exact traits to his flaws that lead to his own self-destruction. Cyrano’s greatest downfall of not telling Roxanne the truth even after Christian’s death and waiting for his own death was caused solely by his own doings. His combination of fatal flaws eventually led to his tragic fall of shifting from a highly decorated member of the Cadets of Gascony who was also an eloquent poet that was admired by most to a dying man in Roxanne’s arms who was pitied by everyone. Much like other heroes in other well-known works of literature, Cyrano was heroic as he possessed many admirable traits that often jeopardized his true happiness. However, he was also the one person that generated most if not all of the reasons for his own tragic destruction, which prevented him from having the true happiness of being with the love of his life: Roxanne.