Cyrano De Bergerac Pride Analysis

Pride and Honor in Cyrano de Bergerac

Writing Prompt: How does Rostand reveal the significance of pride and honor in 17th century France?

Have you ever orchestrated a lucrative fundraiser designed to eradicate famine in a desolate region, liberated a stray kitten from a lifetime of forlorn wandering, or bestowed clothing to the indigent and destitute: actions that you take much pride in? Pride and honor is an integral constituent of the 19th-century tragic play, Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, and it inherently fashions the events, actions, and characters embedded in the play. In the play, Rostand reveals the patent rampancy of the concepts of pride and honor in 17th century France, through the titular character: Cyrano de Bergerac’s

To demonstrate, in the genesis of the siege of Arras, Cyrano communicates to his fellow officers his sentiment pertaining death: “I hope that when death comes to me it will find me fighting for a good cause and making a clever remark! I want to be struck down by the only noble weapon, the sword, wielded by an adversary worthy of me, and to die not in a sickbed but on the field of glory, with sharp steel in my heart and a flash of wit on my lips” (Cyrano. IV. 2. 148). The personification of “death coming to Cyrano” serves the purpose of illustrating how tranquil and facile, Cyrano perceives death to be. In essence, he does not dread death as long as his death is honorable and brimming with pride. The personification further reveals how blase and audacious, Cyrano is. Furthermore, the visual image of “field of glory” symbolizes the battlefield, which Cyrano discerns as the sole suitable and honorable venue for a swashbuckler, like Cyrano, to perish upon. In addition, “sword” is a phallus symbol that symbolizes chivalry, pride, and honor. Thus, the fact that Cyrano perceives the sword as the only “noble weapon” discloses the fact that Cyrano regards chivalry, pride, and honor as salient. Moreover, the visual image of “sharp steel” being plunged into the heart of Cyrano, and the auditory image of “a flash of wit” upon the lips of Cyrano, portrays the manner in which Cyrano craves to die. By describing this ghastly scene through the images of “flash of wit” and “sharp steel”, he inherently romanticizes his “glorious death”. The excerpt reveals the fact that it was commonplace, in 17th century France, for citizens to desire to die with honor, pride, and