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The Importance Of Minor Characters In Cyrano De Bergerac

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In Edmond Rosten’s Cyrano De Bergerac minor characters are significant in highlighting elements of Cyrano’s character and Romantic conventions existent in the play. Characters such as Le Bret, Ragueneau, and the nuns each serve a specific role in highlighting Cyrano’s chivalry and characteristics, while providing perspective and context of his reputation in his society. Le Bret, Cyrano’s closest confidant, worries about Cyrano and the reckless actions he takes in pursuit of chivalry, loyalty, and courage. He attempts to keep Cyrano grounded, and reminds him of the limitations and rationale that Cyrano often ignores in attempt to embody a morally and intellectually superior man. Ragueneau and the nuns serve contrastingly different roles, …show more content…

He humanizes Cyrano and detaches him from the near mythic qualities and legacy he wishes to attain. Though a static character himself, Le Bret reveals the depth of Cyrano’s character, putting his development as a Romantic hero in perspective of reality. Ragueneau’s character and role are very different from that of Le Bret. Ragueneau, a baker with passion for poetry and an unfaithful wife, idolizes and worships Cyrano for his unmatched poetic skill and courageous, heroic reputation. Rather than ground Cyrano, he aims to please him while feeding his own hunger for attention and poetry. This is clear in his welcoming of Cyrano into his bakery the day after he fought a hundred men, as well as when he accompanies Roxane to the battle field to provide Cyrano and his fellow soldiers with food they were so desperately in need of. Throughout the play, Ragueneau is a source of comedy, as his dramatic character and flamboyance is contrasted by Cyrano’s discipline and seriousness. While a baker, Ragueneau humorously turns all of his recipes into poems, parodying the sophisticated poetry of Cyrano which Ragueneau so greatly admires. He describes his cooking using ornate language such as “Veil, O Muse, thy virgin eyes / From the lewd gleam of these terrestrial fires! / Your rolls lack balance. Here’s the proper form— An equal hemistich on either side.” Ragueneau also encourages Cyrano’s heroism and benefits from

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