The Genre Debate In Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac

The Genre Debate
Ever since the play, Cyrano de Bergerac, was released to the public, there has been a lot of debate over the classification of the play. The author, Edmond Rostand, classifies the play as a heroic comedy while an overwhelming amount of critics believe it is better described as a romantic tragedy. Based on the classic definitions of tragedy and comedy, it is clear that Cyrano de Bergerac is most accurately described as a comedy. While the play does have a tendency to blur the lines between tragedy and comedy, after studying certain examples within the text, there is overwhelming evidence in support of Rostand’s original comedic claim.
One characteristic of a comedy is that the story treats the characters and situations in

humorous ways and that it ends happily for the protagonist. Throughout the play, Cyrano seems to always just fall short of his goal of having a romantic relationship with Roxane. At the beginning of the play when the duenna reports to Cyrano that Roxane would like to meet with him the next morning to talk, he believes that his feelings are reciprocated. The next morning as they were talking, Roxane mentions that she has interest in someone. Curious, Cyrano asks her about him. At first she describes him as “a big boy who loves me too, and is afraid of me, and keeps away, and never says one word.” (Rostand 63) and that “he is a soldier...in [Cyrano’s] own regiment” (Rostand 63). Cyrano, believing this description is of himself, is becoming increasingly excited. Then however, she continues to describe him as “proud-noble-young-brave-beautiful-” (Rostand 63). At this, Cyrano, sporting an unattractive large nose, realizes this is not him and that Roxane has actually asked him here to speak of someone else she has fallen in love with. Because Rostand revealed to the audience in an earlier exchange between Cyrano and Le Bret that Cyrano is in love with Roxane, the audience experiences dramatic irony, making the experience an example of how the characters are treated in humorous ways.
The second part of the definition clarifies that for the play to be defined as a tragedy, it would have to be a story that ends unhappily for the protagonist, while a comedy is a story that ends happily for the protagonist.

Many critics believe that the play is a tragedy based on the scene in act 4 in which right before Cyrano is going to confess that it was his writing in Christian’s letters and that he was truly in love with her, Christian was shot and killed and Cyrano was too noble to betray Roxane’s view of Christian by telling her the truth. While this scene fits the description of a tragedy in that the story ends unhappily for the protagonist, it is not truly the end of the play. At the end of the play, a time difference of 15 years has passed and Cyrano has visited Roxane at the convent every Saturday all 15 of those years. One day however, a young lackey drops a log on Cyrano, giving him a fatal head trauma. Despite his injury, Cyrano still went to visit Roxane. During this visit he asks Roxane to show him Christian’s goodbye letter. As he reads it aloud to Roxane, she realizes not only does she recognize this voice from an earlier anonymous exchange, but Cyrano could not possibly be reading the letter in the dark- he would have had to have memorized it. At this, she realizes the fallacies she had been believing. Cyrano had been behind the letters all along and it was he who she had loved all along. Confessing this to Cyrano, he was able to die happily knowing she

loved him. This scene much more accurately fits the definition of a comedy because it ends happily for Cyrano, the protagonist. Throughout the story it is his goal to confess his love to Roxane and for her to feel the same way towards him. Although he had to overcome many obstacles, in the end he succeeded in showing Roxane his true love for her and before he died, she admitted to loving him as well, satisfying his goal.
Another definition defines a comedy as a story in which the protagonist succeeds in his or her goal. Cyrano’s goal remained constant throughout the play. As aforementioned, due to his insecurities Cyrano was unable to confess his love to Roxane. He essentially lived his romantic life vicariously through Christian which prevented him from being truly content with himself and his life. He struggled with is romantic self identity due to his crippling insecurities about his physical appearance. While he lacked the courage to admit his true feelings through his actual identity for the majority of the play, in the end Cyrano does succeed in his goal of being able to admit the truth about his and Roxane’s mutual admiration. At the play’s conclusion, Cyrano finally admits his true identity to Roxane and admits that it was he who had written all of Christian’s letters. This therefore enforces Cyrano de Bergerac as a comedy rather than a tragedy in that Cyrano does in fact confess his love and receives Roxane’s love in return, which was his goal he struggles to achieve throughout the play.
Additionally, through the use of scenes of comic relief throughout the play, a comedic atmosphere is created.

Ragueneau, one of Cyrano’s good friends, is a pastry chef and poet. In some aspects, he is essentially a lesser version of Cyrano. For example, while Ragueneau would like to live off his poetry alone, his poetic skill does not compare to Cyrano’s. Ragueneau’s pompous and ostentatious language in addition to his dramatic and outgoing actions provide comedic relief throughout the more serious parts of the play. Ragueneau’s poetry is far more superficial than that of Cyrano. His verses are often about things that are not as important or are even pleasing- for example his poetry about the recipe which he was using. He uses eloquent language, however it does not compare to the depth and meaning of Cyrano’s. Due to the relatability of an attention seeking friend, the audience often finds it amusing when Ragueneau and Cyrano’s problems are compared. At no point, excluding his appearance at the end of Act IV, is Ragueneau brought to attention without mention to food. In many ways, food can be seen as a distraction to more important underlying issues throughout the play. This comic relief throughout the more intense parts of the play takes the audience’s attention away from the tragedies and struggles within the play. Cyrano de Bergerac uses several scenes of comedic relief in order to prevent the play from becoming too serious and too sad. While tragedies as a genre do

utilize scenes of comic relief as well, the extensive uses in Cyrano de Bergerac seem to create a far more humorous atmosphere rather than that of a tragedy.
The classic definitions of a tragedy and a comedy tend to focus mostly on the ending resolution of the play and the protagonist throughout. Cyrano de Bergerac meets all of the aspects of the classical definition of a comedy including the characters being put in humorous situations, a happy ending for the protagonist, and the protagonist succeeding in his or her goal at the end of the story. Cyrano de Bergerac as a comedy, due to its major comedic aspects in spite of its somewhat more minor tragic ones, can be considered accurately classified as a comedy as originally stated by Rostand.