Tag Archives: Work in Translation

Cyrano de Bergerac – Thoughts

  • Cyrano takes pride in the fact that he is a man with morals and principles and does not require outer beauty to be respected and honoured.
  • Yet is open about the fact that Roxanne will never love him because of the way he looks.
  • He even shames those that only have “the looks” and not the “brains” or “the elegance within” which is hypocritical as he indirectly uses Christian to get closer to Roxanne.
  • Christian might be argued to be a placement character, who only serves to enhance characteristics of Roxanne and Cyrano, yet the ‘friendship’ formed between him and Cyrano help to show that he is a character who is vital in shaping both Roxanne and Cyrano.
  • Although at first it seems that Cyrano has no alternate motive to help Christian, other than being a ‘good friend,’ we can soon see how Cyrano benefits from this alliance.
  • We know that Christian does not have the same mind as Cyrano but he is used as the face of Cyrano’s words, yet when Roxanne is so in love from what she hears from Christian, she realises that looks do not matter.
  • This at first might seem to be beneficial for Cyrano, as he simply has what Roxanne wants, but it is much more complicated than that.
  • Through the system that existed between the three characters, Cyrano was able to love Roxanne from afar, without all the complications. By keeping this secret, he wasn’t “making a sacrifice”, he was being selfish. Without the alliance, he would not have a reason to express all these emotions to her, and by telling her the truth of his love at the beginning, he would risk the friendship they had.
  • Although at the beginning, we are made to place our sympathies with Cyrano, especially in the scene where Christian climbs up to Roxanne’s balcony and kisses her, we soon learn that Cyrano is satisfied with just the fact that his words are consuming Roxanne to all its extent.
  • Just like De Guiche uses his exterior to improve his social status, Cyrano uses the fact that he does not care about such superficial things as a facade to cover the truth that he is a vulnerable, incredibly sensitive man who is insecure about his looks, and also uses others for his benefit.
  • Although De Guiche is a character that is not liked until the end of the play, his honesty makes it easier to understand him, whilst Cyrano plays the role of a complicated man.
  • When Christian dies, I initially thought that Cyrano would disclose the truth, but instead he carried on for years, visiting Roxanne with it hidden.
  • His sudden death is what caused him to reveal the truth, but there was no real satisfaction in doing so.