The 17th century introduced a new social and philosophical movement to France practiced by its upper-class citizens, known as préciosité. This movement radicalized the way both men and women treated each other, bringing in both more freedoms and manners into the French society. In Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac, the protagonist, Cyrano, upholds this idea of préciosité throughout the play; and, often times he attempts to impress his true love, Roxane. In fact, Cyrano spends almost the entire play stressing over his love for Roxanne and how to tell her, but he lets his insecurities and doubt get in the way of revealing his true love. It is not until both his friend and he himself is dying, that Cyrano realizes that romantic love and …show more content…
being boastful is not everything to life. In fact, both Christian and Cyrano’s death scene help to illuminate the idea that treating other with kindness and affirmation is more important than worrying about your own insecurities or keeping up a prideful facade. In Christian de Neuvillette’s death scene, Cyrano comes to the realization that bringing joy to his friend and being nice supersedes his burning love for Roxanne, his insecurities, and his intense Gascon pride. Throughout the play, Cyrano acts as Christian’s voice in order to communicate his love for Roxanne. Christian does not know, but Cyrano also loves Roxane, yet struggle throughout to tell her his true emotions. After Christian is hit with a bullet during a battle, lying on the ground, Cyrano struggles internally between telling Roxane his feelings for her, verses letting her love die with Christian. Instead of actually telling Roxane the truth of Cyrano’s involvement with the two, he lies to Christian, recounting “I told her everything, it’s still you she loves” (Barnes and Noble Classics 4.10). While this may not seem like much, Cyrano exhibits an example of a grand gesture, bigger and more significant than others. He could have stolen the love from Christian, however, he chose to be kind and let Christian enjoy his last moments of his life, truly believing that Roxane love him. This specific scene helps to shed light on life, as Rostand tries to convey that life is better spent showing kindness and love to others rather than worrying about one’s own love life. Cyrano sets aside his common practice of préciosité in order to provide an example of how all people should treat those around them with the respect they deserve. This includes knowingly crossing the point of no return in terms of being with Roxanne, as he knows he will never be able to tell her what truly went on. Even in his sadness and despair, Cyrano tries to comfort Roxane while she deals with the death of her “love,” Christian. After Roxane continually questions Cyrano about how great Christian was, he continues to answer, “Yes Roxane” (4.10). While this may seem little, Cyrano continues to keep his ruse up even in Christian’s death, as he wants Roxane to feel comforted and safe within her grief. She continues to say how he was a great writer, poet and overall great person, where Cyrano simply replies with “yes roxane.” In addition to his death scene, Cyrano proves that sympathy and being nice outlasts pride and self-gain. Instead of revealing it all to Roxane, Cyrano’s determination to stick to his unconditional kindness sheds light on human experience, revealing that how love is not as important being true to one’s close friends. This is due to the fact that friends and family give a person joy and happiness in life, and instead of dwelling on your own insecurities or love, dwelling on one’s friends and family is what is important. In both the death of Christian and Roxane’s grief, Cyrano displays his self-sacrifice, and how that helps to provide a deeper significance to humans in general, kindness towards those you love is more important than a romantic love for yourself. In addition to Christian's death scene, Cyrano’s own death scene helps to reveal that being kindhearted and caring towards others triumphs over one’s own self consciousness and pride.
During the last act of the play, Cyrano is purposely hit with a log while riding to Roxane’s covnet, leaving him at the brink of death. Knowing that he will die soon, Cyrano makes a very noticeable change in the way he converses with all of his friends around him, showing more love and kindness than ever before. Cyrano’s kindred spirit reveals how all humans should treat each other as he questions Ragueneau, “Tell me brother poet, what are you doing these days?” (5.6). Even as Cyrano is dying, he inquires about something as little as how his recent life has been going, rather than worrying of his own pride. The love shown by Cyrano’s friends reveals how paternal and familial love is just as important as romantic love. Friends are with a person forever, yet love can come and go, and it is not until the end of the play that Cyrano realizes he should not have just focused on Roxanne, he should also have focused on the kindness he shows to people around him. This is because friends and family will love you unconditionally, regardless of your features or bad ways of your personality. However, someone trying to be with a person may not love another unconditionally, it may fluctuate and change. In fact, the love and kindness Cyrano and his friends show each other makes Cyrano himself forget everything he once focused on so much, his massive nose. As Cyrano realizes he is close to death, he stands up to face his death like a prideful Gascon. He names off all of his internal adversaries, yet he leaves out his biggest one, self-consciousness, due to the love that is spread in his dying moments, claiming, “I know you now, old enemies of mine! Falsehood! (He strikes in the air with his sword.) Have at you! Ha! and Compromise! Prejudice, Treachery!...Surrender, I? Parley? No, never!” (5.6). Any
reader of the play would know Cyrano’s biggest adversary would have to be his self-consciousness, as it does not allow his to confess his true feelings to Roxanne. Yet, kindness and respect between each other allows Cyrano to move past his insecurity, almost as if it was never there. This helps to provide a deeper significance to human experience in general, in that when warmth is given to one, they move past the barriers holding them back. As a result, they are able to open up and express themselves, free from the judgement and persecution of others. In this case, Cyrano’s biggest fear was denial, yet his uncertainty to tell Roxane did more damage than actually revealing his true feelings and being denied. Also, the facade put up by Cyrano was able to be revealed, as the interactions with the people he cares for made him put down his pride to simply talk. People are able to truly be themselves, as Cyrano does, just from his friends considerate and kind conversation, as one does not feel the need to try and cover up his own inhibition. Préciosité helped the 17th century French radicalize the way high-class citizens treat each other and philosophy in general. This was displayed with Cyrano de Bergerac, with Cyrano often times elegantly speaking with his acquaintances, showing great respect. The death scenes of Cyrano and Christian help she light about human interactions in general, in that the respect and kindness give one the confidence to be themselves. Without the stress of insecurity, a person is able to act the way they wish to act, not relying on false facades of pride to interact with others. In fact, humans in general should try to accept others for who they are, being nothing but respectful and kind. It is when we are respectful and kind that people are able to connect and grow to be their full potential in life.
Superficial passion revolves around outward beauty, but true love is always found in the heart. In Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand conveys this truth beautifully. This play follows Cyrano in his quest for love from Roxanne, believing she could not love him due to his oversized nose. Little do they know that she does not truly love the handsome Christian, but rather Cyrano, the master of words.
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” (Confucius) Cyrano’s insecurity of his nose effects his relationship with Roxane. In Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano De Bergerac, Cyrano’s insecure and eloquent self-perception results in Cyrano’s companionship & loving in his relationship with both Christian & Roxane. Cyrano’s level of eloquence helps him combat the insults of his nose. Cyrano is a poetic, witty, & eloquent man who is insecure & has trouble showing his true feelings for Roxane .Cyrano and Christian work together to win Roxane’s heart, and at the end Cyrano allows love to kill him, even after Roxane discovers & reciprocates his feelings.
First and foremost is the appeal to emotions. All of the other facets of romanticism can be related to the emotional appeal in Cyrano de Bergerac. Because strong emotional appeal is perhaps the most important method used by the author to create identity with the reader, especially in romantic works, the actions which elicit the emotional responses must, then, show a great deal about the character. The character's motives and philosophies can be determined through his actions. Because Cyrano de Bergerac was written in the romantic style, certain intellectual and emotional principles exist throughout the play, which will now be observed in depth.
Society tends to misjudge people base on their appearances instead of their personality. This can be seen in the play Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. In which Roxane represents that vile aspect of society. Roxane is attracted to Christian based on his looks, and under minds Cyrano because of his appearance. Society misjudgment of people cause oppression on an individual and it is from oppression and misjudgment f character that causes self consciousness to be born. Cyrano exhibits this self consciousness by helping Christian. Such oppression or self conscious aids to form magnificent characteristics attributes such as the ones portrayed by Cyrano throughout the novel. After all of its societies misjudgment that causes Cyrano to be the character that he is.
Few words can be more humorous, or more upsetting, than a well thought out and witty phrase. The only skill that matches Cyrano’s skill with a sword, is his skill with his tongue. With a wit unmatched by any poet, Cyrano made enemies wherever he went, simply by out-smarting all who came against him. In the first act of the play, Cyrano crashes a performance of the well-known actor Montfluery. After many insults, Cyrano heaps upon them by saying, “I would never venture out in public with a soiled conscience, a tarnished honor, or scruples grimy and dull. I do not adorn myself with gems and ribbons, like you. Instead, I decorate myself with truth, independence, and a clean soul.”
This is one aspect of romanticism which Cyrano most definitely embodies with his characteristics of a tragic hero. He is a man controlled by fate, which is a favorite theme of Rostand. With this theme, Smith emphasizes that Cyrano is a pawn of his fate. Smith then proves this notion by explaining how romantic heros are pawns of “fate and events” (374). This shows how Cyrano, despite his positive qualities, is bound for failure due to the nature of the play. It could be argued that Cyrano is not a failure in the fact that his love for Roxanne does not go unanswered. It is devastating that Cyrano spent so much time trying to obtain this happiness and realises all along that “he could have won Roxanne’s love for himself” (“Debating Deception,” n.p.).
Cyrano has created a mental stage where women are kept on the outside and men are free to go within. Because he lacks confidence around women, he has no choice but to express his feelings by writing letters and does not have any kind of physical contact with women. When Cyrano is complaining to Le bret that he can never have Roxane he says, “With this nose of mine that marches on… Whom should i love? Why-of course-it must be the most beautiful woman in the world”(48). If a man does not have any confidence in himself, then any attemp...
One of Cyrano’s most significant traits as a friend was his loyalty. He would always look out for friends in their time of need, which makes the audience feel sympathetic towards him. Because Cyrano is such a loyal friend, the audience feels angry with Roxane for manipulating him, and taking advantage of his loyalty. An example of Cyrano’s loyalty was when Ragueneau’s wife was having an affair with a musketeer, Cyrano confronted her, “Make sure you do./I like your husband, and I don’t intend/To see him made a fool of./Is that clear?”(II.iv.115-118). He stood up for his dear friend, and did not want him be made a joke of. I believe this is important because it shows that he is not only loyal to his friend, but also caring and has strong moral principles. What Lise was doing was wrong, and the author put this part in to emphasize the reader’s sympathy for Cyrano. Later when Ragueneau’s wife left him, Cyrano did not hesitate to support Ragueneau by talking him out of killing himself and providing him with a proper job. Furthermore, as everyone must be aware of, Cyrano was in love with Roxane. But because he was such a trustworthy friend, he agreed to protect Christian...
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds - that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand’s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
The theme of this play is inner beauty and outer beauty. In the beginning of Cyrano de Bergerac, it seems like the theme focuses heavily on outer beauty. As you continue to read on, the play actually puts more emphasis in inner beauty. Symbolism is very important in this play. The letters written by Cyrano symbolizes Cyrano’s inner beauty because what you write comes from your soul which is shaped by your personality. Cyrano’s nose symbolizes his ugliness and his insecurity. Because Cyrano knows Roxane would never consider him because of his nose, he decides to help Christian since Cyrano believes he can help Christian win Roxane’s heart. “
Love is something that is so beautiful it brings people together, but at the same time it can be the most destructive thing and it can tear people apart. Edmond Rostand's play, Cyrano de Bergerac, is a tale of a love triangle between Cyrano, Christian, and Roxane. In the play, Cyrano helps Christian make a false identity about himself for Roxane to fall in love for. Christian had the looks while Cyrano had the personality, together they could make the perfect man. Throughout the play, you see similarities and differences between Christian and Cyrano’s personality, looks, and who they love.
Cyrano De Bergerac is an inspiring play based on a tragic love. The characters are revealed within unique backgrounds, creating life and depth between our imaginations. There are a variety of important characters throughout the play besides Cyrano De Bergerac. The play consists of more important characters than Christian De Neuvillette, although he is the most admirable. Three admirable qualities that Christian possessed are courtesy, modesty and bravery.
While reading Cyrano de Bergerac, I found myself often wondering whether or not Cyrano had led a happy life. Actually, I never once wondered that, but that is irrelevant, because Cyrano’s happiness is the focus of this essay. Was he happy? Truth be told, I cannot say for sure. If we look upon his life, it would seem that he was a bit of a martyr, always sacrificing his happiness for the sake of others. This is probably the case, but I do not believe that he led his life with his happiness as any sort of goal. That will be a defining case in my argument. What I really believe is that he simply did not care about his happiness. In that sense, he did not so much sacrifice it, as he annexed and divided it when he saw fit. To a further extent, this apathy towards himself probably came from a low self-worth, almost certainly spawned not from his elephantine nose, but the fair maiden Roxanne. Finally, the nose itself, the very icon of de Bergerac, was probably not the problem that Cyrano believed it to be. All of this, however obscure it may seem, is crucial to the question posed of me now.
This is not fate nor coincidence. In complete control of his life, Cyrano is arrogant, deceptive, and hesitant in his actions; this ultimately leads to the great tragedy. As a result, we conclude that Cyrano has technically jeopardized himself. If Cyrano had not been so stubborn when he refused to be under De Guiche’s patronage, had not been so generous to feign the love letters for Christian, and had he not been so hesitatant when he deciding to confess his love to Roxane, the tragedy could become a romantic love story with a sweet ending. Again, Cyrano must hold all the responsibility for his actions and he must recognize that only he is to blame for this tragedy.
“The Necklace”, narrated by Guy de Maupassant in 3rd person omniscient, focuses the story around Mathilde Loisel who is middle class, and her dreams of fame and fortune. The story is set in 19th century France. One day, Mathilde’s husband brings home an invitation to a fancy ball for Mathilde; to his surprise Mathilde throws a fit because she doesn’t have a dress or jewelry to wear to the ball. M. Loisel gets her the beautifully expensive dress she desires and Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from Mme. Forestier, a rich acquaintance of Mathilde. Mathilde goes to the ball and has a night she’s dreamed of, until she gets home from the ball at 4 A.M. to find