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

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

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