2. Author Edmond Rostand Born 1868
Produced his first play at the age of 20
Enjoyed early success with the play Les Romanesques
This play became the inspiration for the more modern play The Fantasticks

3. Author
Edmond Rostand
Great success came with the wildly successful Cyrano de Bergerac
Cyrano’s character was used as the inspiration for the film version Cyrano de Bergerac starring Gerard Depardieu
It also served as the inspiration for Steve Martin’s popular film, Roxanne
Legend has it that the first audience to watch the play applauded a full hour after its conclusion

4. Background Theater during Rostand’s day was mostly grim and realistic
Cyrano was groundbreaking because its hero was anything but realistic, and the play featured swashbuckling at its finest
Its Romantic nature was a breath of fresh air
Background

5. The play harkened back to an era in theatre when men were musketeer, women were there to be rescued and wit was just as important to a hero as a how the hero handled his sword
Cyrano’s unique blend of honesty, courage, wit and passion brought back to the stage the type of protagonist it had been missing
Background

6. Play; heroic comedy and romance
1897
Play; heroic comedy and romance
1640
Paris
Christian and Cyrano are opposites from one another. Both possess what the other lacks.
The audience begins to understand that Roxane has fallen in love with Cyrano and his words. Although the audience recognizes this Cyrano can not see past his nose at the truth
Literary Focus
Date of Publication
Genre
Setting (time)
Setting (place)
Foil
Dramatic Irony

7. Cyrano is symbolic of the strength and importance of inner beauty
Christian is symbolic of outer beauty
The letters Cyrano writes are symbolic of Christian’s failure to express himself adequately and Cyrano’s failure to express himself in action
Literary Focus
Symbols

8. Cyrano’s nose is the most prominent symbol in the play. Literary Focus
It is representative of society’s inability to look past out beauty to see beauty within
It is representative of a barrier to his love Roxane: he doesn’t have the confidence to pursue her and he is reminded of his physical shortcoming every time he opens his eyes
Literary Focus
Symbols

9. Literary Focus Themes and Conflicts Inner vs. Outer Beauty
Moral code and principles
Honor and Integrity
Pursuit of Love
Bravery and Virtue
Loyalty and Sacrifice
Friendship
Search for Self-Confidence and Self-Acceptance

10. Overview

11. The play centers around a swordsman named Cyrano de Bergerac who is as deadly with his tongue as he is with his sword
Despite his great skill with words and metal, he is handicapped with a grotesquely large and ugly nose
Overview

12. His nose is the main reason for Cyrano’s only real weakness: the lack of confidence he feels when it comes to matters of the heart
Cyrano is deeply in love with a woman named Roxanne, but because he is so ugly he thinks he is beneath her
Roxanne, in turn, tells Cyrano she is in love with one of Cyrano’s cadets, Baron Christian de Neuvillette
Overview

13. Overview
Cyrano tells Christian of Roxanne’s love, but Christian then become distraught because he feels he lacks the poetry and eloquence to woo a woman of Roxanne’s caliber
Cyrano’s bright idea is what spurs on the rest of the action: Cyrano will write Roxanne pretending to be Christian.

14. Cyrano de Bergerac
The protagonist
Talented with words and steel
Member of the Cadets of Gascyne (royal guards)
Confident in almost all things except for love because of his ugly, long nose

15. Roxane
Beautiful and Intellectual
Appreciate Cyrano’s vast wit and loves poetry
Initially falls in love with Christian because of his good looks

16. Christian
Falls in love with Roxane
While he possesses the beauty Cyrano lacks, he does not have any of his inherent wit and charm
He is an honorable person and wants Roxane to be happy

17. Comte de Guiche
The play’s antagonist
In love with Roxane and has a dislike of Cyrano
Tries to have Cyrano killed on several occasions throughout the play