15
May
Cyrano de Bergerac is easily one of the best characters ever in the history of the world. I have never loved and respected a character as much as I do him. He’s wonderfully intelligent, witty, sarcastic, mocking, arrogant, and, most of all, hopelessly devoted to Roxane. His entire life revolves around her and his love for her. And you know what? Cyrano could’ve had her from the start if it hadn’t been for one little (very big) thing: his nose. His nose is the cause of all his grief. Just think of how horrible that would be. The only thing seperating you from confessing your love to the person who absolutely adore is your nose. It’s part of the reason I love him so much. He has a flaw, something he’s insecure about, something very petty that society judges him based upon. That’s why he strives to be so intelligent and witty and such a skilled swordsman. To make up for what his nose deprives him of: social acceptance. Even though he absolutely abhors Christian in the beginning, simply because Roxane says she loves him (Christian), he protects him from the cadets and his own stupidity. He writes these beautiful, heartwrenching letters to Roxane in Christian’s name, finally finding a way to tell her how he feels without being self-conscious or doubtful. The balcony scene is so beautiful because Cyrano finally, finally is able to tell Roxane how much he loves her, but only under the guise of Christian, and in the end, Christian is the one who gets to climb onto the balcony and kiss Roxane, even though it was Cyrano’s words that made her fall in love with Christian as deeply as she did. And in his ending monologue (oh my god, my heart) he talks about how even though all his life he was overshadowed by those better looking than him and how even when it was he who did the work, they always reaped the rewards, and then he goes on to say that even death cannot strip him of the one thing he has left. The small strip of Cyrano that will never be given for someone else to take credit: his panache. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I love Cyrano de Bergerac.
