Hero As A Hero In Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac

In the play Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, Cyrano changes by transitioning from a man with little compassion to a person who shows compassion and kindness. Cyrano’s change is caused by his friendship with Christian. Cyrano’s compassion is shown after his changes through his interactions with Christian as well as his general Demeanor. Cyrano ’s habit of insulting people before his friendship with Christian shows that he lacked compassion.

This love triangle will alter all of them in ways they don’t expect. At the end of the story, he dies without having a true relationship with Roxane; yet, he claims that he still dies with his integrity. I believe that Cyrano did not die with integrity, because he lied to Christian and Roxane even on his deathbed. While Christian and Cyrano were fighting for their lives in battle, Cyrano continued to send letters to Roxane, because he promised to make sure ‘Christian’ would.

(Page 102) Here Roxanne ask Cyrano to protect Christian and not let him get in any duels to keep him safe. Cyrano agrees to do this because of Roxanne’s request of him to do so. He hides his love for her in protecting Christian. He feels that through him protecting Christian it will make her happy.

The book, Cyrano de Bergerac and the movie, Roxanne have many similarities and differences. This includes the plot, characterization, setting, conflict, and irony.

From the play Cyrano de Bergerac, two of the main characters are at odds fighting to win the heart of the same girl. Cyrano and Christian play as competing romantic heroes in their story, both hopeless dreamers of love and lust, both bold in their own aspects as well as incredibly insecure all at once. They also share the quality of great loyalty, and willingness to drop anything to come to the rescue of a friend. Physically, they are opposites; Christian is beautiful, and Cyrano thinks himself an atrocity. Their intellectual capabilities are also at completely different ends of the spectrum; Christian is a bumbling fool, and Cyrano can become a master at whatever task he chooses. In the aspect of poetry and the art of words, Cyrano is a true Shakespeare, and Christian is the equivalent of a second grader at best. These characters seem to be foils and, at the same time, they are wildly alike.

Cyrano sacrifices his life, "Risk your life every morning before breakfast to send a letter,” when sending his letters to Roxane (Rostand 130). Cyrano puts himself in danger multiple times a day just to contact Roxane. He risks his life for Roxane, who isn’t even in love with him. This action portrays Cyrano as a character who is willing to do anything for someone he loves dearly. In another instance, Cyrano sacrifices his life knowingly, so he can see his love, Roxane, one last time by, “[he] has killed himself, Madame, coming here” (190). This action reveals that Cyrano cares more about Roxane than the wellbeing of himself. He wants to make Roxane happy, so he gives up his life for her. This example of selfless sacrifice characterizes Cyrano as being courageous and honorable. Cyrano’s selfless sacrifices demonstrates that he is willing to give up something sacred for something he believes is greater than

This is easily proven with the fact that even with Cyrano’s constant persuasion, Christian eventually feels that he needs to tell the truth about his deception with the love letters to Roxane. This continues until Roxane has to figure it out herself when she realizes, “.... How can you read now? It’s dark. And for fourteen years you played the part of an old friend who came to be amusing!... It was you,” (171-172) In actuality, Christian is a regular, fictional character in love. He’s willing to do anything to impress Roxane, but Cyrano’s deception continues, even after Christian’s death, for his own personal gain. Christian’s character also displays self-esteem issues when it comes to his personality, even if he obviously excels in physical attributes, as shown here, “Then she may be one of those aesthetes… Intellectuals, you call them — How can I talk to a woman in that style? I have no wit. This fine manner of speaking and of writing nowadays — Not for me! I am a soldier — and afraid,” (77-82).

Society tends to misjudge people base on their appearances instead of their personality. This can be seen in the play Cyrano De Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. In which Roxane represents that vile aspect of society. Roxane is attracted to Christian based on his looks, and under minds Cyrano because of his appearance. Society misjudgment of people cause oppression on an individual and it is from oppression and misjudgment f character that causes self consciousness to be born. Cyrano exhibits this self consciousness by helping Christian. Such oppression or self conscious aids to form magnificent characteristics attributes such as the ones portrayed by Cyrano throughout the novel. After all of its societies misjudgment that causes Cyrano to be

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” (Confucius) Cyrano’s insecurity of his nose effects his relationship with Roxane. In Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano De Bergerac, Cyrano’s insecure and eloquent self-perception results in Cyrano’s companionship & loving in his relationship with both Christian & Roxane. Cyrano’s level of eloquence helps him combat the insults of his nose. Cyrano is a poetic, witty, & eloquent man who is insecure & has trouble showing his true feelings for Roxane .Cyrano and Christian work together to win Roxane’s heart, and at the end Cyrano allows love to kill him, even after Roxane discovers & reciprocates his feelings.

As the play progresses, we are shown various incidents in the play which elicit emotional responses from the reader: the longing Cyrano has for Roxane; his belief that he can never have her because of his appearance; a comical intervention as Christian gets a nose up on Cyrano; Cyrano and Christian working together to court Roxane; the author of the letters to Roxane being unknown to her; the passionate speech which Cyrano delivers to Roxane from behind the shrub; the existence of the cadets in such grim conditions; the death of Christian; the final resolution of Cyrano's love for Roxane and his death.

Cyrano helps his best friend Christian, who is also in love with Roxanne, convince Roxanne that she is in love with him. Cyrano writes the letters to Roxanne, but puts Christian’s name on the letters. Even when Christian speaks to Roxanne while she is on the balcony, Cyrano tells Christian that he will “go beneath [the balcony] and prompt your words to you” (Rostand). In addition to Cyrano helping Christian, Cyrano’s pride is a reason for his downfall.

Edmond Rostand 's Cyrano de Bergerac is considered to be a Chivalric Romance but it also contains humor throughout. The play uses comedy throughout all of the acts for a variety of reasons. Cyrano who is the main character of the play is also the largest comic influence. With Cyrano, we see him develop through comedy and learn more about his character with it, and it is not only used by Cyrano but also many other characters. Comedy is used in a variety of ways throughout Cyrano de Bergerac such as wordplay and sarcasm. The comedy is all used for different reasons, nevertheless, the humor in Cyrano plays an important role in the play.

Both Romeo and Cyrano are good in sword fighting. Both their love for Roxane and Juliet was selfless. Cyrano proved that his love for Roxane was selfless when he said "Very well, I'll protect your little baron" (act II, pg 79) when Roxane asked him to protect Christian from their enemy. Romeo and Cyrano are also courageous and fearless. "Will all who wish to die, please raise their hands" Cyrano does not fear to duel anyone who opposes his actions against Montfleury.

Over the past month, we read the Story of the Grail by Chretien de Troyes. This poem details the progression of the knight Perceval. In the beginning, Perceval is not called by his name, instead he is referred to as “the youth”. This is an important detail to stress, because the poem is a coming of age story. As the poem progresses, the reader is able to see definitive changes in Perceval’s character. For example, in the beginning of the poem Perceval uses the limited knowledge that was bestowed upon him by his mother in order to complete his “knightly” duties. To make it worse, Perceval feels the need to tell everyone he meets that his mother is the one that taught him everything he knows. Eventually, Perceval outgrows this behavior and becomes a suitable knight. Throughout the poem, Perceval goes through many trials and tribulations, but for the purpose of this essay I will unravel the allegorical meaning of Perceval’s fight with the Red Knight using all four levels of interpretation.

Swiftly, almost knocking himself over in his inebriated stupor, Sebastien whips around, and ire overcomes him when he is met with emptiness once again. “Stop playing these games, Corinthian!” He shouts in exasperation. “I just- I need to get this over with.” He convinces himself of this, although somewhere in the deepest pits of his mind, he knows it is not true. He knows that this is not the panacea for his melancholy or the reliever for his peers, but he does not care. He continues