Author Edmond Rostand

• Author– Edmond Rostand

– Born 1868 in France while France was under the rule of Napoleon III

– His father wanted him to be a lawyer, but Edmond preferred French literature instead

– He eventually did earn a law degree

– Produced his first play, Le Gant Rouge (The Red Glove) at the age of 20

– Enjoyed early success with the play Les Romanesques

• This play became the inspiration for the more modern play The Fantasticks

• Author Background Cont.– Edmond Rostand

– He volunteered to fight with the French army, but was refused.

– He was very upset about this and consoled himself by writing patriotic poetry.

– During the time that Rostand wrote Cyrano de Bergerac, France was experimenting with scientific research

– The country’s morale was very low. The occult flourished, while naturalism declined, and people were just plain sad.

– Realism was the popular style of the time

– Cyrano emerged as a hopeful character and the people of France were pleased with Rostand for giving them such a different character than the ones that they were used to with the problem plays

• Author– Edmond Rostand

– Great success came with the wildly popular Cyrano de Bergerac

• Cyrano’s character was used as the inspiration for the film version Cyrano de Bergerac starring Gerard Depardieu

• It also served as the inspiration for Steve Martin’s popular film, Roxanne

• Legend has it that the first audience to watch the play applauded a full hour after its conclusion

Background Information

• Background • Theater during Rostand’s day was mostly grim and realistic

• Cyrano was groundbreaking because its hero was anything but realistic and was swashbuckling at its finest

• Its Romantic nature was a breath of fresh air

• Background • The play harkened back to an era in theatre when men were musketeers, women were there to be rescued, and wit was just as important to a hero as how he handled his sword

• Cyrano’s unique blend of honesty, courage, wit and passion brought back to the stage the type of protagonist that had been missing

Literary Focus

• Literary Focus– Date of Publication

– Genre

– Setting (time)

– Setting (place)

– Foils

– Dramatic Irony

• 1897

• Play; heroic comedy and romance

• 1640

• Paris

• Christian and Cyrano are opposites from one another. Both characters possess what the other lacks.

• The audience begins to understand that Roxane has fallen in love with Cyrano and his words. Although the audience recognizes this, Cyrano cannot see the truth past his nose.

• Literary Focus– Symbols

• Cyrano is symbolic of the strength and

importance of inner beauty

• Christian is symbolic of outer (physical) beauty

• The letters Cyrano writes are symbolic of Christian’s failure to express himself adequately and Cyrano’s failure to express himself in action

• Literary Focus– Symbols • Cyrano’s nose is the

most prominent symbol in the play.

– It is representative of society’s inability to look past outer beauty to see beauty within

– It is representative of a barrier to his love Roxane: he doesn’t have the confidence to pursue her and he is reminded of his physical shortcoming every time he opens his eyes

• Literary Focus– Themes and Conflicts

– Inner vs. Outer Beauty

– Moral code and principles

– Honor and Integrity

– Pursuit of Love

– Bravery and Virtue

– Loyalty and Sacrifice

– Friendship

– Search for Self-Confidence and Self-Acceptance

Overview: a love triangle

• Overview • The play centers around a swordsman named Cyrano de Bergerac who is as deadly with his tongue as he is with his sword

• Despite his great skill with words and metal, he is handicapped with a grotesquely large and ugly nose

• Overview • His nose is the main reason for Cyrano’s only real weakness: the lack of confidence he feels when it comes to matters of the heart

• Cyrano is deeply in love with a woman named Roxane, but because he is so ugly he thinks he is beneath her

• Roxane, in turn, tells Cyrano she is in love with one of Cyrano’s cadets, Baron Christian de Neuvillette

• Overview • Cyrano tells Christian of Roxane’s love, but Christian then become distraught because he feels he lacks the poetry and eloquence to woo a woman of Roxane’s caliber

• Cyrano’s bright idea is what spurs on the rest of the action: Cyrano will write letters to Roxane pretending to be Christian.

Main Characters to Know

• Cyrano de Bergerac • The protagonist

• Talented with words and his sword

• Member of the Cadets of Gascyne (royal guards)

• Confident in almost all things except for love because of his ugly, long nose

• Roxane • Beautiful and Intellectual

• Appreciate Cyrano’s vast wit and loves poetry

• Initially falls in love with Christian because of his good looks

• Christian • Falls in love with Roxane

• While he possesses the beauty Cyrano lacks, he does not have any of Cyrano’s inherent wit and charm

• He is an honorable person and wants Roxane to be happy

• Comte de Guiche • The play’s antagonist

• In love with Roxane and strongly dislikes Cyrano

• Tries to have Cyrano killed on several occasions throughout the play