Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac

Improved Essays
In Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, the theme of love is constant throughout the whole play. The main love interests consists of Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian, but the three overshadow another love line between Ragueneau and his wife, Lise. Although the two are married, the real love line is between Ragueneau and poetry. Though the two are rather small characters and lack appearances, Ragueneau shows that love does not have to be found in a person and that it is important to find one’s passion and true self even if it costs something in return. Ragueneau is a pastry chef who, like Cyrano, has a deep love for poetry. His wife, Lise, comes to realize this, in Act 2 Scene 1 Line 25, when she uses her husband’s poetry as wrapping paper for his pastries in which he replies, “my precious books, dismembered, torn!” Upset by this, Ragueneau then calls Lise a murderess. After this, Lise realizes that Ragueneau does not love her as much as he loves poetry as she says, “…before they came, you never called me murderess!” (2,1,30). …show more content…
As people of all generations seek for a significant other, they begin to forget that love does not have to be found in just people. Love’s talent in adapting to anything is what makes it beautiful and Ragueneau shows this through his passion of poetry. Being in a relationship does not mean that one has to sacrifice their passions either. Lise leaves Ragueneau because she was not accepting of his passion, and although this did temporarily sadden Ragueneau, his love for poetry helps him recover as he seeks his dream of being an author. If someone is not accepting of another person’s passion then they will not be able to accept the person as a whole. However, when one is able to find their passion and true self, that is enough to fill the void of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Romantic love is one of the most powerful emotions a person can have, so maybe that is why it drives people to use artificial methods to gain it. Many of the characters in Cyrano de Bergerac use synthetic ways to try and achieve lasting love. Cyrano de Bergerac, a play of love and sacrifice, was beautifully written by Edmond Rostand to tell the journey of a man named Cyrano in France during the 1600s. This place showcases Cyrano and his struggle to tell Roxane, his cousin, that he is madly in love with her. In attempt to relieve him of his feelings he accepts Christian’s plea of help and expresses his emotions through him, ultimately creating a love triangle.…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rostand demonstrates the mismatch of tragedy and an optimistic lead through characters such as Cyrano and Roxane. In the second act, Roxane, whom Cyrano is in love with, tells him that she has fallen for someone in his group of cadets. When she reveals the man to be Christian de Neuvillette, Cyrano becomes crestfallen. He turns away, only to have Roxane ask him if Cyrano will, “be [Christian's] friend,” and “never let [Christian] fight a duel” (II. 76). Cyrano agrees to Roxane’s claims, only to have her reply, “We are great friends, are we not?”…

    • 239 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the final scene of the play, Cyrano De Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand, Cyrano comforts the people around him, Roxane and Le Bret, by reassuring them about their worries of his death. Cyrano first comforts Roxane when she accuses herself of being the source of Cyrano’s romantic pain. When Roxane finishes, Cyrano responds, “No Roxane, quite the contrary. Feminine sweetness was unknown to me. My mother made it clear that I wasn’t pleasant to look at. ...…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, is the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, a tragic hero. To be considered a tragic hero, a character must have to evoke pity from the audience, have a downfall, and possess admirable traits. Cyrano accomplishes these elements, making him a tragic hero. Cyrano a Soldier, and a poet is in love with his cousin Roxane, but he is too ashamed to admit it because of his big nose. Cyrano struggles with his desire to be admirable in all things; this includes helping a cadet, named Christian, who fell in love with Roxane.…

    • 1311 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    My main artistic intention for this play will be to deliver Rotand’s underlying message as well as launch the audience into a whirlwind of emotion. Insecurities and lack of self-worth still exists within society today. My production of Cyrano De Bergerac will allow my audience to connect with the characters on a more deeper and more personal level. The intended audience will be for the romantics. People who still believes true love is still out there.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    True love is very strong and can be rare. With the millions of people in the world there is that person that others know is their one true love. While true love appears in life,it can also exist in literature. In the epic “The Odyssey”, Odysseus and Penelope’s love stays true and pure even while he is away for so long. Penelope greatly misses and aches for Odysseus’ return even though she has the chance to marry again to one of the suitors.…

    • 1322 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Cyrano de Bergerac, the revelation of inner and outer beauty from Roxane plays a very important part in the book. The reveal of Roxane’s actual thoughts play such an important part because throughout the whole book it has been a love triangle between Cyrano, Christian, and Roxane. However, if Roxane were to share her true feelings, in which she did, it would change the whole plot or motive of the plan that Cyrano and Christian have been working on. The pivotal point in the entire book is when Roxane reveals that even if Christian were ugly she would still love him for “his letters” and his “ inner self”, this statement alone changes the entire plan for Cyrano and Christian. In the quote, “Your true self has prevailed over your outer appearance.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The sober atmosphere conjured with Fall imagery develops Cyrano’s death with him reaping all that he had sowed the past fifteen years. In an attempt to take Roxane’s “ideal man” to the grave, Cyrano reads aloud “Christian’s” last letter. Only when it gets too dark to see does Roxane finally realize Cyrano was the “soul” she loved all along. The ironic situation amplifies the tragedy of Cyrano De Bergerac - Christian dies with the guilt of lying, Roxane must go through the grief of her lover twice, and Cyrano attempts to die still pinned by his insecurity. Cyrano’s fight with his weaknesses symbolizes his acceptance of death.…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    de Berg. 34) of a nose impedes Cyrano from ever seeing himself as anything other than ugly, and further hinders him in his pursuit of Roxane, the love of his life. Being clever with his words, he always manages to deflect any comments about his appendage with grace, and even waxes about its strength and size in certain parts of the play. This bravado lets him project a confident persona, yet as time passes, revealing comments about his thoughts regarding his nose show how bitter and alone he feels because of it. He believes himself to be utterly incapable of finding a woman that would love him, that it is “forbidden me [Cyrano] to dream of love from e’en the most ill-favored” (Cyr. de Berg. 42), let alone a beautiful woman like Roxane.…

    • 1789 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In comparison to Sir Gawain and the which is a celebration of medieval chivalry knight, Lanval by Marie de France is a critique of the medieval chivalry. Even though at timed Lanval shows acts that should be praised by the chivalry system, most of the story relies on mocking this system. In Lanval we see more of a mockery towards the chivalry system. One of the biggest factors that led me to conclude this was that this poem was written by a woman.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sometimes an individual’s desires cause them to face internal suffering. The poem “For That He Looked Not upon Her” by sixteenth-century English poet George Gascoigne explores this idea through illustrating the reasoning of why a man cannot look into the eyes of the women he once loved anymore. Gascoigne portrays the man in the poem as being hopeless and unable to unhook himself from the passion he has for the women which mesmerized him. Gascoigne depicts his hopelessness, and rather bleak almost cautious outlook on love after coming out of a bad relationship through the use of diction.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marie De France’s uncanny, whimsically lai “Lanval” satirically challenges and reverses the themes of love through stereotypical gender roles, which are unique and romanticized to traditions of the 12th century. Women for eternity have been rendered as beautiful, physical objects, who where inferior to men, and needed nothing more then a body. Marie De France depicted these same stereotypes in her writing but just in a reverse methodology. She criticizes the stereotypes of women with very opposing qualities while still displaying characters with feminism. This poem combines mercy and humility with a physical attraction which indicates the placement of power in the women characters.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Love is surely a treasure everybody longs for. The subject of love is discussed in countless modern day films literature, and poetry. Many times the story ends with the man getting the girl of his dreams, or the woman finding her prince charming. There is no doubt that a fairy tale ending is what most people desire. Relationships are significantly more complicated than this.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Twelfth Night is a story that is written by William Shakespeare. Love is a major topic in the Twelfth Night because many major characters in the story fall in love with each other. In the story, the nature of love does not follow the guidelines of social class. Even though love does not follow these guidelines, the characters in the story still realize what social class they are associated in and it sometimes stops them from seeking out certain characters. There are a few love connections that do defy their social classes.…

    • 1342 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hero And Leander Analysis

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In literature, love has always been a concept of great debate, although, what exactly is love? Pamela C. Regan, from Los Angeles University, explains that “…A person who experiences sexual desire for another individual, along with other emotional or psychological events, may characterize his or her state as one of ‘being in love…’” (Regan 139). However, does this sexual desire always breed emotion? When one thinks of love, thoughts of tenderness, kindness, and romance often arise with it.…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays