Cyrano De Bergerac

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In the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand portrayed different views of love as shown through Roxane, Cyrano, and Christian. The play was about Cyrano who had a deep love of Roxane, yet Christian also holds this love for Roxane. Cyrano agreed to help Christian win Roxane's love. Cyrano's dream was to see Roxane happy even if her happiness is a result of the love of another man than he. Roxane and Christian's views, views that can be maintained in today's culture, of love changed from the beginning of the play to the conclusion of the play while Cyrano's magnificent view of love remained constant throughout.

Christian also faced a radical change from his enjoyment of love given to him because of his handsome physique to his desire of love given to him because of his own soul. At the beginning of the play Christian said that he "cannot live unless she loves me-now, this moment"(Page 103).

Christian is saying that his life depends on her love. This is implying that her beauty is so great that she has to be his or he will not be complete as a man. This feeling of being complete changed slowly because by the end of the play and his death, Christian realized that the love that he was receiving from Roxane was not due to anything that he had done but had everything to do with the soul created by Cyrano. With every letter scribbled Cyrano created an artificial soul that he connected to Christian as he signed the name of Christian. Christian eventually responded to this artificial soul that Cyrano had created by saying, " I want her [Roxane's] love for the poor fool I am or not at all" (Page 165). Christian learned that the love given to him was a love of Roxane's view on love changed from the meager concept of "puppy love" at the beginning to the glorious concept of "true love" at the end. Roxane's fascination with Christian was only skin deep. This is shown, after Cyrano asks if they have had partaken in a conversation, when she says, "only our eyes"¦" (Page 64). This states that they like each other's looks but know nothing of each other's souls. This is typical of puppy love: people have a physical attraction yet know inner connection. By the end of the play she maintains a different viewpoint on love as shown when Roxane says, " Lovable-/-Less charming "“ugly even- I should love you still"(Page 162). She now grasps the concept of true love. True love is not only based on superficial appearance but true love is also based on interior beauty. Roxane realizes this now for the first time. This first revelation is affirmed when she says, " How frivolous I was; and to be loved for the mere costume, the poor casual body"¦"(Page 161). Roxane comes to a grand apprehension of her past superficial-puppy love and regrets that she lost her time to such a dim-witted fascination. Roxane changed drastically from one who judged based on the body of a person to one who judges on the interior of the soul of a person.

Cyrano on the other hand was the only main character to remain constant throughout the piece; he maintained a constant sense of "heroic love." Heroic love is such a deep one-way crush that the person on the giving end wishes with all his heart and actions that the person on the receiving end be happy. Cyrano was a perfect heroic lover when he says that "come, shall we win her both together"¦ and breathe it [Cyrano's soul] into you? So-there's my heart under your velvet, now!"(Page 85). Cyrano is willing to set aside his love for Roxane so that she may be happy, even if Roxane's happiness is with Christian. This desire, expressed by Cyrano, for Roxane to be happy at his own expense was clearly implied after Christian asks if he would make Roxane happy, than it would mean a lot to him: "Christian ~ `Does it mean so much to you?' Cyrano (beside himself) ~ "˜it means-' (recovers, changes tone)"¦ "(Page 86). The falter that Cyrano shows and the emotion, of deep value, that is expressed through that falter lead us to believe that Cyrano places great value in the happiness of Roxane. If he had no value in the happiness of Roxane, he would have not had to stop and regain his composer before he could make up a story to explain his waver. By the end of the piece Cyrano maintains his heroic love towards others: "'every single day"¦' Christian (violently) ~ "˜And that wrought you up into such a flame that you faced death-''' (Page 159). Cyrano would risk life and limb so that Roxane may have had one more day of pleasure that was delivered through the mail. Cyrano did not really care about what he was risking to make her happy because his sole love was found in her pleasure. Cyrano loved with all of his heart what he was doing for Roxane and Christian because his sole goal in the entire piece was to please Roxane.

Today in modern culture we deal with the same problems that Roxane, Cyrano and Christian went through. There are in every aspect of life forces that make us think that superficial beauty is dominant as apposed to inner beauty. The exact opposite is true. As Roxane and Christian found out, in Cyrano de Bergerac, those with sight of the soul can only see true love. Cyrano, on the other hand, found out that heroic love that does not need changing. We can learn that the only love worth pursuing in life is "true love" because all types of love once one starts along their path he inevitably realizes that he will eventually have to switch trails and follow the path of "true love" wherever it might lead.

Works Cited: Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac. Bantam books: New York, 1923.