Cyrano de Bergerac a Play Written by Edmond Rostand

Superficially judging one’s character based on appearance alone may overshadow all of an individual’s positive attributes. As a result, fear affects the decisions that one makes throughout his or her life. Within a prestigious work of tragic literature, a character is seen as the epitome of the intricacy that insecurity has as he endeavors to indirectly win his Corazon’s love. Such a theme is portrayed in Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac, which takes place in seventeenth century France, a time of valor and romanticism. The protagonist, Cyrano, is so fixated on his hideous nose that he allows it to upstage his virtuous traits that could enable him to achieve the happiness of love. On account of this, the poet lives in the shadows of insecurity and never has the courage to directly court his extraordinarily beautiful and sophisticated love, Roxane. As time goes on, the Gascon is able to devote his love through a beautiful face, Christian, who is dim-witted, but admired by Roxane. This creates a dilemma for the poet because as he tries to make others happy, he is not able to be content with himself and he lives a life of despair. By possessing the exemplary attributes of pride, bravery, and humor, the grotesque but soulful Cyrano de Bergerac clearly exhibits a potential to live a happy life, but unfortunately, his life ends up unfulfilled as he is unable to selfishly take advantage of his trait’s abilities.

Many people use pride as a way to maintain their reputation and self-confidence in their own endeavors. However, Cyrano is not able to use pride to his benefit when it comes to encountering his love, Roxane because he is so fearful of being made fun of for his appearance. Instead, he expresses it unknowingly to others ...

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...t they must establish it. Even though life is difficult with all of its obstacles, the feeling of overcoming something can make the expedition worthwhile.

Works Cited

Bugliani, Ann. “Man shall not live by bread alone: the biblical subtext in Cyrano de Bergerac.”

Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 56.1 (2003): 55+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.

Moran, Daniel. "An overview of Cyrano de Bergerac." Drama for Students. Detroit: Gale.

Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Wineston, Inc., 1898.

Print.

Williams, Patricia Elliott. "Some Classical Aspects of Cyrano de Bergerac." Nineteenth-Century

French Studies 1.2 (Feb. 1973): 112-124. Rpt. in Drama Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 10. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. Literature Resource Center. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.