Cyrano de Bergerac

The five act drama Cyrano De Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, is the story of the swashbuckling swordsman soldier and romantic poet Cyrano De Bergerac. Set in 17th century France, Cyrano De Bergerac is actually a romantic tale of a love triangle of the oddest sort. Cyrano has many characteristics that are admirable, from being a brave and effective soldier to crafting some of the finest love poems of his time. However, he is brought down by his insecurities over his appearance, as he has an extraordinarily large nose. Because of this, he believes no woman will ever view him with love in her eyes.

Cyrano's great love is Roxanne, but Roxanne is in love with one of his good-looking soldiers, Christian. Christian is dull and witless compared to Cyrano but Cyrano convinces him to woo Roxanne through the use of his love letters and poems. Roxanne falls for Christian but Christian realizes Roxanne has actually fallen in love with Cyrano's sentiments and qualities. After Christian dies in battle, Cyrano eventually confesses his true identity to Roxanne. Once Roxanne realizes it has been Cyrano she loves, the poet-lover dies a contented man which is his triumph as well as his tragedy.

Cyrano De Bergerac might be considered a Renaissance man. He is a brave and courageous swordsman and soldier, able to take on 100 foes single-handedly and emerge victorious. He is charming, witty, chivalrous and creative. He judges performances of actors as p

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is "child," it is obvious just how much Cyrano loves the object of his desire, "And so I do�And yet he lives�I find�as you shall find�This newborn babe�an infant�Hercules" (Rostand, p. 105). Cyrano's Herculean love for Roxanne is something he can only express through Christian, because he believes that he would need to possess Christian's looks to have his words find their target in the love of Roxanne. Despite the superficial judgment and desires of others in the play, Cyrano is not materialistic. He takes only a small portion when offered food by a refreshment girl. He places little value on money or material objects. He is contented by the flowers in his garden and the words of his romantic letters and poetry. As Bugliani (p. 57) says of this characteristic of Cyrano, "When Cyrano later speaks of his own writing efforts he tells us that he writes only what comes out of himself. He is satisfied with the flowers from his own garden. And if he should happen to gain some small success, he is not obliged to render anything unto Caesar. This scriptural reference is significant, because it refers to a hierarchy of values in which Caesar only has a claim of money, that is, what is of lesser worth." In other words, Cyrano's val

Category: Literature - C