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