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Character analysis where are you going
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Cyrano's Inevitable Destiny
Who should take the blame for this tragedy? In Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano is portrayed as a valiant hero who exhibits humorous intelligence as well as great generosity. However, if we examine the play more carefully, we would find that Cyrano is personally responsible for his downfall; his constant aspiration for perfection and excessive deception eventually leads to his death. Such ornery behavior is exhibited when he adamantly insists on being himself, when he feigns the love letters for Christian, and when he hesitates to tell the truth and confess his love to Roxane. These acts ultimately aid in his defeat, leading us to conclude Cyrano is the only one to blame for his own destruction.
Throughout the play, Cyrano exhibits his obstinate and presumptuous personality. He adamantly believes that his way is the only way and he defies any opposing force that comes against him. He refuses to listen to any sound advice from his friends. The most obvious example is when he refuses De Guiche's offer to be his patron. Instead of accepting the advice from his best friend, Le Bret, he has a rousing “No Thank You” tirade in front of the Cadets where he openly refuses to be under De Guiche’s patronage, proclaiming that living under another man's honor is beneath him.
“Seek for the patronage of some great man,
And like a creeping vine on a tall tree
Crawl upward, where I cannot stand alone?
No thank you!”
(Cyrano, p.75)
However, Cyrano should have realized that with De Guiche’s support he would have a higher status and a more stable economic source. The reason why Cyrano's ingenuity is never publicly recognized is because his poems are never published. Not only does he not have funds to pay for their publication, but his poems are often spontaneous and thus recapturable in their context without the situation to which it applied. A number of his poems are also on the objectionable because of the merciless way he regards others. If he would seize this brilliant opportunity, he would have made more friends and fewer enemies, and he would not have died so young. It was his impudent satire that infuriated his enemies to the point of conspiring his "accidental" death. This somewhat rash action reflects on Act I when he threw a bag of gold to th...
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...rano thinks that Roxane doesn’t have to know the truth since it doesn’t mean anything anymore. It is ironic in Roxane’s discovery that it is Cyrano who has waited his whole life to tell her he loves her. It is hard to understand why Cyrano has waited so long to unfold the truth. If he had confessed his love to Roxane earlier, Roxane would definitely appreciate it and the couple then would have lived happily together. Instead, Cyrano’s ornery behavior has caused Roxane to love only once, but to lose that love twice.
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.
As the play opens, there is much merrymaking and festivity in preparation for the play. The sheer happiness of all of the colorful characters is transferred to the reader almost instantly. The mood is portrayed very well as being light and bubbly, an overall good feeling. The next major shift comes when Cyrano enters and, after riding himself of Montfleury, puts on the spectacle wherein he demonstrates not only his impeccable verbal dexterity, but also his fencing abilities - and both at the same time. This whole scene causes a strong reaction from the audience, and in turn, the re...
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...
Ragueneau, a baker, watches for Cyrano. Cyrano had told Montfleury not to appear onstage for a month, yet Montfleury appeared onstage anyway. Cyrano shows up and interrupts the play. He forces Montfleury to leave the stage and in the process of doing so he insults forty-eight people. Valvert insults Cyrano by making a remark about his nose so they duel. While dueling, Cyrano recites a ballade he created and wins the duel. Everyone was delighted and congratulated him.
Cyrano has many traits that allow him to express his true feelings towards Roxane, but because of his insecurity about his nose he destroys his own chance of experiencing true love. Christian is only loved for his outer beauty, but throughout the play Roxane learns to love his soul proving inner beauty is always more valuable than outer
Many love stories end with happy endings, while others lead to tragedy. A forbidden love story, Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, displays a love triangle established through the main characters. Cyrano faced challenges, which impact how he is able to show his love. He is afraid to confess his feelings to Roxane because he knows she is in love with Christian, and is insecure about his nose. Unfortunately, he is self-consciousness about his nose, mainly due to its unusually massive size, prevents him from sharing these emotions directly to his love. In one case, this is shown in the balcony scene with Roxane, Christian, and Cyrano. For example, the balcony scene presents a situation with an obstacle towards the characters because Cyrano knows Roxane is in love with Christian, but cannot change the results of it since Roxane’s heart will break. He soon learns he has to let Roxane go, which is one of the hardest obstacles he has to face. Sometimes, letting loved ones go is devastating, but it is the right thing to do if it makes them happy.
Opposing Views on Character Fault in Shakespeare’s Othello In Shakespeare’s Othello, the main characters suffer a tragic demise at the end. While it is clear that somebody is to blame for the unfortunate events, the main culprit behind the tragedy remains unclear. Three different authors, the humanists Baldassare Castiglione, Juan Luis Vives, and the Puritan preacher William Whately, would all disagree on which character is to blame.
There are many stories about a guy with the name, Cyrano. Each story is interesting in its own way. One version of the story is the movie, Roxanne. The director of Roxanne is Fred Schepsi. The original play is written by Edmond Rostand in 1897. The two stories shares similarities, but also there are differences. Each version has its pros and cons. They are both about men who are not very good looking, but they are full of “inner beauty.” There is a very pretty woman that they fall in love with, but the woman falls in love with a very handsome guy. The woman has to choose between either “inner beauty” or “outer beauty.” In the beginning the woman chooses physical attractiveness, but later on the woman chooses “inner beauty.”
Cyrano struggles with his appearance, which in turn affects his honesty in his relationship with Roxane. In the beginning, Cyrano describes his definition of honor in response to De Guiche’s offer of patronage from the Cardinal. To get the patronage, the cardinal would want to rewrite some of the lines. Cyrano refuses and haughtily replies, “Seek for the patronage of some great man, and like a creeping wine on a tall tree/crawl upward, where I cannot stand alone” (Rostand 88). Cyrano makes it clear that his description of honor means doing one’s own work. This is why he reacts the way he does. He believes that even if he becomes a successful writer by the cardinal’s patronage, receiving aid from the cardinal would just annul his worthiness of being successful. Honesty and truthfulness to him are all important aspects of an honorable person. He does not want to be a parasite- he wants to be known for his own genuine work or not known at all. Later in the play, when Cyrano is concealed by the darkness, he confesses to Roxane how he truly feels about her. Cyrano feels that despite his other merits, women, namely Roxane, will never love him because of his “grotesque” appearance. When he has the cloak of shadows to conceal his face, his utilizes the opportunity to reveal his true feelings, saying, “Night, making all things dimly beautiful,/one veil over us both-You will only see/The darkness of a long cloak in the gloom, And I the whiteness of a summer gown-You are all light-I am all shadow!”...
In a part much like the balcony scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Cyrano truthfully confesses his love for Roxanne, while pretending to be Christian, which is why some critics deem his efforts to be unsuccessful and proving the play to be tragedy. Although this may seem like a failure on Cyrano’s part, he is still able to successfully express how he feels and professes his love, countering the claim that the play is a tragedy and proving its comic elements. Later in Act III, while attempting to stall De Guiche from ruining Roxanne’s hasty wedding with Christian, Cyrano begins to speak about absurd things to distract the antagonist, introducing a lighter and more humorous feel to the scene. This is another scene debated by many critics, as a contrast of tragic and comic elements are used by Rostand, but the comedic aspects overpower the tragedy. While the love of his life is marrying another man, Cyrano is genuinely happy for their happiness and the success of his love letters in the formation of the pair’s relationship. Despite any unhappiness about their love, he takes a comic spin on protecting them from De Guiche and succeeds in the goal of keeping him out of the house for long enough so that the two could marry peacefully. At the end of the third act, while the cadets are depicted as going off to war, Roxanne asks Cyrano to make Christian write letters to her everyday, which he promises because he can succeed at doing so for the woman he loves, portraying the comic aspects of success in the
Cyrano de Bergerac is part of a group called The Gascon Cadets. He is a man with an Extremely
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.).
...ce, possesses admirable traits and characteristics, and has a tragic downfall. He’s strong and intelligent, however with a weakness over his sense of pride. His nose and how seriously he takes himself, makes him a tragic hero. He cannot believe that anybody is able to see beyond his physical characteristics. Cyrano de Bergerac does what he pleases and most actually says whatever is on his mind. He speaks through prideful actions, always thinking of how to make himself stand out or to look intelligent. He never backs down from a fight or a confrontation, and this is often where his pride will continuously persuade his sense. Cyrano only grows in pride, and his temper grows shorter, through the play so the characters don't even say the word 'nose' anywhere near him. Cyrano was a good tragic hero that the audience loves who sadly has tragic flaws that cause his demise.
Cyrano’s inner beauty stems from his mastery of words, his creativity and his wit. Additionally, he lives by his own moral code, as well as is able to handle any event that comes hi...
In life people are forced to participate in ways to ruin something or someone even if it’s unintentionally. Life has ways of tricking the mind and causing people to do the unthinkable and in every case of destroying what was once well-kept, there are many people to blame. The disarray surrounding the protagonist in William Shakespeare’s play, Othello and his ultimate downfall, leave Emilia’s backstabbing theft, Desdemona’s innocent obsession for Cassio, and Othello himself for being easily mislead are to blame for Iago’s plan carrying out and the deaths that follow.
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the blame for all the tragedies can be put on Claudius. His evil nature created downfall for many of the characters in the play. The murder of the King, the decisions Claudius makes, and how he manipulates Laertes all lead to tragic events occurring. Claudius’s actions directly impacted and contributed to the tragedies. In a tragic event there is always one person that is going to be more liable and it just happens to be Claudius. We can learn to take responsibility for our actions. Whether they end in good of tragic events. One’s actions can lead to tragic consequences.