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Cyrano de BergeracLecture Notes
Cyrano de BergeracLecture Notes Literary
Periods/Classification
Characters Historical
Background– Cyrano de
Bergerac– Edmond Rostand
Theme and Irony Literary Terms
Victorian/Neoclassicism
Victorian/Neoclassicism
straight laced
no frills cold drearytradition
society urban
conformist constraint intellect/reason
clear/logical
Medieval/Romanticism
Medieval/Romanticism
brave hero, noble
adventure;exuberance
idealized women & love
chivalry experiment
individual rural imagination mysterious/
super-natural independent spontaneity;wild
;free
CharactersCharacters Cyrano- one
of the best swordsmen in France; courageous, intellectual, talented, noble, enormous nose, loves Roxane
CharactersCharacters Christian- handsome soldier,
honest, inarticulate, loves Roxane Comte de Guiche- villain, wants
Roxane as mistress, powerful, arrogant
Ragueneau- tavern keeper; pastry cook loves gallant gestures, the bravado of the soldier, sensitivity of poet, “utility character”
Le Bret- close friend of Cyrano’s
CharactersCharacters The Cadets and Carbon- friends and
fellow soldiers in the Carbon de Castel-Jaloux (Gascony guard) with Cyrano
Ligniere- poet, heavy drinker Vicomte de Valvert- a precieuse who
comments on Cyrano’s big nose; duels with him in Act I and stabbed
Monfluery- an actor threatened by Cyrano; one of Roxane’s suitors
Bellerose and Jodelet- manager and comedian in the theater
CharactersCharactersCuigy and Brissaille- friends of Cyrano
Meddler- says Cyrano’s nose is “miniscule” when he gets in trouble
Musketeer- flirts with Lise and ends up running off with her
Cut-purse- a pick pocket who is caught by Christian and tells him about the plot against Ligniere
CharactersCharacters Capuchin- delivers the letter from
Comte de Guiche to Roxane and marries Roxane and Christian (monk or priest)
Roxane- a beautiful girl, cousin to Cyrano , orphan, in love with Christian’s beauty and Cyrano’s mind, a precieuse (attitude prevalent in 17th century, what a person appeared to be was more important than what they really were)
Cyrano, Christian, & RoxaneCyrano, Christian, & RoxaneCyrano, Christian, & RoxaneCyrano, Christian, & Roxane
CharactersCharacters Duenna - nurse or servant to
Roxane Lise- wife of Ragueneau, she has
more business sense and less love of poetry than her husband
The Orange Girl- sells refreshments in the play
Mother Margerite, Sister Martha,& Sister Claire- Mother Superior and the nuns where Roxane goes to live
Historical BackgroundHistorical
Background CYRANO DE BERGERAC (Savinien de Bergerac: 1619-1655)
REAL PERSON– French soldier– dramatist; poet
novelist
BORN IN PERIGORD OR PARIS
EDUCATED– by country
priest as youth– College
Beauvias until 19
History continued...
History continued... MILITARY
– joined royal guards commanded by Carbon de Castel-Jalous
– wounded 1639 at Mouzon, recovered
– joined Prince de Conti’s regiment
– wounded at Arras– gave up military to study literature and philosophy
History continued...
History continued... NOSE
– large, ugly– so sensitive about it, challenged anyone looked
– killed at least 10 men in duels
– nose became even more disfigured by cuts
History continued...
History continued...WROTE
– Le Pendant Joue (The Tricked Pendant): satire•influenced Moliere’s play TheTricks of Scarpin
•Moliere stole two scenes–The Death Of Agrippa influenced playwright Corneille
–The Comic History of the Stars & Empires of the Moon
•fantastic fictions (seminal science fiction)
•influenced Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
Cyrano Side ViewCyrano Side View Cyrano Side ViewCyrano Side View
History continued...
History continued...
Real friend Le Bret wrote he was unselfish, chaste, sober
A Renaissance man: dashing, courageous, gallant, and intellectual
An ultimate idealist: true to himself merely for the sake of being true to himself; he never loses sight of reality or expects his quixotic behavior to be rewarded in any worldly way
History continued...
History continued... EDMOND ROSTAND (1868-1918)
– Born in Marseilles, France– Education in law - interest in poetry– At 22, married poet Rosemond Gerard
and presented his first book - a volume of poems - to her.
– 1894 - First play Les Romanesques (about two young lovers)
– 1895 - La Princesse Lointaine written for famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt- most critics didn’t like it because a minor character was Christ
History continued...
History continued...– 1859 Cyrano de Bergerac -set late 1640’s, 50’s
Theme - “the making of a style out of despair” conflict between what appears to be and what is
– L’Arglon about Napoleon’s heir - too French for foreign audiences because foreigners did not revere Napoleon as much as the French
– Rostand moved to country for ten years to write
– Chantecler - received some acclaim
– Rostand elected to French Academy at 33 - youngest member
– Rostand was never robust - died Dec. 2, 1918
History continued...
History continued... THEME and IRONY
–closely tied together since play deals with the conflict between appearance and truth: APPEARANCE IS NOT ALWAYS TRUTH, AND TRUTH IS NOT ALWAYS CLOTHED IN APPROPRIATE APPEARANCES - universal, eternal theme
–despair present, but handled lightly
History continued...
History continued...– STYLE
– PANACHE literally: white plume
symbolically:– swashbuckling– superiority– courage– pride– swagger
=enemies– one’s very soul
– VIRTUOSO written to exploit the talents of a particular actor (Constant Coquelin in Cyrano)
– ROMANTIC treatment of theme which may be sentimental, idealistic rather than realistic.
Free exuberance is a characteristic.
TTHHE E EENNDDTTHHE E EENNDD