Is The Difference Between Cyrano De Bergerac And The Banality Of Heroism

Imagine a single drop of water. All humans need water to survive, yet if a person possess too little water they will surely perish. Possessing too much water however, leads to calamities like floods. Pride itself is much like water; too much of it is an obnoxious behavior yet too little is detrimental to one’s self-esteem. Nowadays, modern-day society views pride as something dreadful yet America as a whole needs to realize justified pride in the right amount is an exemplary trait to have. Modern-day media depicts pride as a sinful trait yet it is also a heroic trait to possess. Pride gives heroes the ability to stick to a moral code and be uncompromising in their ideals. An example of a character who utilizes justified, pride as a tool to

perpetuate the idea of a strict moral code is the character Cyrano from Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac. A real life example of a person who exemplifies justified pride being a valiant quality to possess is Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese man forced to choose between his honorable family pride and the orders from his superiors. Chiune’s pride caused him to make what Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo’s article “The Banality of Heroism” describes it as a gallant choice. In contrast to these two characters, Sophocles’ character Oedipus demonstrates how unwarranted pride is an abominable characteristic.

The contrast between the article “Banality of Heroism” written by Franco and Zimbardo, and Cyrano de Bergerac by Rostand with Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, elucidates the fact that justified pride is a laudable trait.
The discrepancies between Cyrano de Bergerac and “The Banality of Heroism” when compared to “Oedipus the King” explicates the idea of legitimate pride being a noble and praiseworthy trait.

In “Oedipus the King” the protagonist Oedipus proves to be a flawed character because of his excessive pride. Oedipus grew up as a prince and was always prideful in a sense Oedipus never earned his pride but was born it illustrating the issue with unjustified pride. Oedipus is a tragic hero because his tales ends with tragedy with his wife killing herself and himself stabbing his eyes out, as well as his flawed character stemming from his excessive pride. In this sense, his pride created his problems thus proving unjustified pride is a horrible monstrosity. Nothing is wrong with pride but rather where the pride stems from is the issue. Oedipus’ excessive pride was his major personality fault because it originated from being born into royalty. If Oedipus’ pride had occurred from something less superficial, for example being, a good person, then he would have never had gotten an unhappy ending. He would of never had killed his father, the former king of Thebes, married his own mother and then later found out all of his own mistakes thus ruining his and his family’s life. A character that contrasts greatly Oedipus yet still proves that justified pride is wonderful is Rostand’s Cyrano. Cyrano is a prideful character yet he has pride for all the right reasons. Cyrano loves the fact that he

is an honorable man, especially because it makes him a hero. Cyrano’s pride allows him to be heroic verifying pride to be a valorous trait. While Oedipus’ pride caused him to be a flawed character, which led to his own demise, Cyrano’s pride compelled Cyrano to partake in the role of a hero. The main difference in their pride is whether the pride was justified. Pride is not a bad thing if it comes from a justified source much like Cyrano whose pride, originating from his honor, allowed him to take the role of a hero. A real life of example of someone who personifies the notion of being an ethical characteristic is Sugihara from Franko and Zimbardo’s “The Banality of Heroism”. Sugihara took personal pride from his family heritage. Sugihara by taking deep pride in his samurai ancestry was able to find the will to help save Jews going against his commanders orders. Cyrano took pride in his honor, Sugihara took pride in his honorable ancestry while Oedipus took pride in something that did not make him a better person, his biology.