Edmond Rostand was a French author best known for his romantic play Cyrano de Bergerac, first performed in 1897. The play is based on the actual 17th century French poet and duelist Cyrano de Bergerac and tells the story of Cyrano's unrequited love for Roxane due to his large nose, which causes him to believe she could never love him. While Cyrano loves Roxane, she falls for Christian, so Cyrano helps Christian woo her by writing her love letters for him. The play explores themes of love, deception, and honor through its use of literary elements such as symbolism, irony, and allusion.

1. Cyrano de Bergerac
By Edmond Rostand

2. Edmond Rostand
(1868-1918)
• Background
• Born in Marseille, France
• Family was wealthy and father was an economist and poet
(very educated)
• Rostand studied at the College Stanislaus in Paris.
• His father wanted him to be a lawyer and he eventually
passed the bar exam but he wanted to be a writer instead.
• Writing Career
• French author
• Wrote mostly romantic plays
• First drama was called Les Romanesque (The Romantics)
which was produced in Paris in 1894.
• “Cyrano de Bergerac”
• First performed in Paris 1897
• Based on the life of an actual person
• All the other kids hated him because of his nose, this is
where his bad temper came from.
• French satirist and duelist
• Actually fought at Ares (setting from play)
• Suffered a similar fate to Cyrano of the play
• Was also a writer
• First production of the play, December 28, 1897.
• Has been performed by Gerard Depardieu

3. Tragedy vs. Comedy
Tragedy: literature in which the Comedy: literature which deals
hero is destroyed by some tragic with life in a light, humorous
flaw within his/her character way, often poking fun at people’s
mistakes

4. Literary Elements
• Literary elements
are most
frequently used to
aid discussion on a
work or better
understand a work
of literature.

5. SUSPENSE

6. • DESCREPENCY BETWEEN
IRONY WHAT IS SAID AND WHAT
Verbal Irony: IS MEANT
Situational Irony:
Dramatic Irony: Audience knows from 1st act that Roxane was attracted to Christian.
Cyrano, however, does not know this and makes assumptions about why Roxane wants
to meet with him.

7. • Ex: 2 persons in play wore a mask
Imagery • Roxane when visiting Cyrano at Ragueneau’s
pastry shop (Act II) and DeGuiche when he
comes to pick up Roxane for the convent (Act
Use of details to create a mental image
III). . . Each are wearing them so they will not
Not only visual but sensational
be seen, however they too are blinded by the
mask at seeing how the person feels right in
front of them.
• Ex: dueling imagery – physical, yes but also
mixed with language of a duel with images of
pursuit, retreat, victory and defeat
• Ex: pg 30
• Ex: pg 36 – “Ah, do you love the little birds?”

8. • Food & Drink – Poetic Puff-Pastry
IMAGERY CONTINUED • Mask (Act II) – Roxanne cannot see
that Cyrano loves her (she shows up
at Rageneau’s wearing a mask)

9. Characterization
MAJOR CHARACTERS
• PROTAGONIST: The main • Major characters are almost
character in the story. always round or three-
dimensional characters who have
• ANTAGONIST: The character good and bad qualities. Their
or force that opposes the goals, ambitions, and values
protagonist. change. A round character
• FOIL: A character who changes as a result of what
provides a contrast (often happens to him/her. A character
through highlighting who changes inside as a result of
comparisons) to what happens to him referred to
in literature as a DYNAMIC
the protagonist in order character. A dynamic character
highlight protaganist’s grows or progresses to a higher
characteristics. (AKA level of understanding in the
Sidekick) course of the story.

10. Metaphor
• By definition a • Cyrano personifies his
metaphor is an image sword (Act I when he
or thing used to “takes his sword by the
represent an intangible nape and draw out it’s
or idea form”@ the Hotel
Burgoine
• Hyperbole is type of
metaphor, ex. Pg 37,
“When you light your
pipe . . . “

11. HYPERBOLE
Page 37
•
When you light your pipe . .
Neighbors think it is a
chimney.

12. PLOT:
the series of events that take
place in a play.
Exposition or Initial incident- the event that “gets the story
going” - Introduction of main characters - is the “who,
when, where and what” part of the play.
Rising action: a series of events following the initial incident and leading up to the
dramatic climax. Introduction of conflict occurs here.
Climax: the turning point or high point of a story, when events can go either way
Falling action: the series of events following the climax – loose ends tied up.
Denouement or Conclusion : another term for the ending-it is the French word for
“unraveling”).
NOTE: Narrative structure of Cyrano with 5 Acts to the play.

13. Picture of Plot Structure

14. Conflict
(5 Universal categories)
• 1) Man against Man
• 2) Man against Society
• 3) Man against Himself
• 4) Man against Nature
• 5) Person against Fate (God)

15. Man against Society
• A character has a conflict or problem with
society – the school, the law, the tradition

16. Man against Himself
• A character struggles inside and has trouble
deciding what to do

17. Man against nature
• A character has a problem with some element
of nature: a snowstorm avalanche, etc.

18. Person against Fate (God)
• A character has to battle what seems to be an
uncontrollable problem.
• http://video.aol.com/aolvideo/moviefone/clas
h-of-the-titans-trailer-no-2/60458686001

19. Symbolism
In writing, symbolism is the use of a
word, phrase or description, which
represents a deeper meaning than
the words themselves.
• Cyrano’s nose
– His nose is the barrier between him and
love.
– This is the barrier that keeps him from
telling Roxane he loves her

20. • The Moon
–Ex: Act III – moon is the happy fantasy
of Cyrano as he pretends to be a
drunken madman that believes he has
fallen from the sky.
–Ex: Act V – it is his desired destination
after death . . . He can chill with other
awesome dead guys like Socrates and
Galileo

21. • The White Plume
– Ex: Act IV: The plume is a mark of military
rank and a target for enemy guns. The fact
that de Guiche threw his away in the heat
of battle means he is a coward. The fact
that Cyrano picks it up is symbolic of his
courage, loyalty, commitment to the
Gascoyne Guards and honor. He speaks of
this plume shortly before he dies in the
final act.

22. • Tears and Blood – Act V Roxanne reads Christian’s
dying letter and it is stained with blood from
Christian and Cyrano’s tears. Cyrano represents
the emotional half of the man that Roxane has
fallen in love with, while Christian represents the
physical. At the end of the play, Roxane declares
that the tears were Cyrano’s and he counters with
a reminder that the blood was Christian’s. i.e.
both men were pivotal in winning the love of
Roxane

23. • Letters – symbol of deception and love –
Cyrano is able to hide his identity while at the
same time expressing his true feelings.

24. Allusion
• a brief reference, explicit or indirect, to a
person, place or event, or to another literary
work or passage
• Example: Act I - Cuigy wittingly claims that Cyrano’s
name is d’Artagnan (a hero of Alexandre Dumas’s novel
written 200 years after the time in which Cyrano de
Bergerac is set) . . . Later LeBret admonishes Cyrano to
stop trying to be three musketeers in one.

25. • 1. Samson/jawbone
– But when he is brought to them
the spirit of the Lord come upon
him; he bursts his bonds and slays
a thousand Philistines with the
jawbone of an ass.A, he is revived
by a spring of water which the Lord
causes to flow from the jawbone.
Later while Samson come upon
him; he bursts his bonds and slays
a thousand Philistines with the
jawbone of an ass. Being thirsty
after this exploit, he is revived by a
spring of water which the Lord
causes to flow from the jawbone.
Later while Samson

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Organizati
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Action/poi
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Backgroun
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Good erro
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Poor deve
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Discuss this rubric
Tragedy vs.. Comedy (Genre)
• At times, it’s easy to see that Cyrano is a comedy;
it’s outlandish, hilarious, features clever verbal
sparring and over–the-top wit. At other times, it
seems dark; there is death, thwarted love,
revenge, etc. The thing to remember is that this
dark stuff isn’t so much tragic. Just look at
Roxane’s depiction of getting through the enemy
Spanish lines, or Cyrano’s absurdly grandiose
speeches on his deathbed. These moments
aren’t supposed to be tragic, but rather comic in
their exaggerations.

27. Theme
– The fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work. The underlying
meaning of the story, a.k.a moral.

28. • Values & Virtue
• Inner & Outer Beauty
• The Danger in Deception
• Love