Role Of Hero In Edmond Rostand's Cyrano De Bergerac

Cyrano: Hero or Not? Many people know Cyrano as the daring, clever hero in Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano De Bergerac”. Yes, his actions may have seemed heroic, but there are many pieces of evidence pointing towards the fact that he was, in fact, very selfish indeed. Not only was he self-centered and prideful, he also fought others arbitrarily and deceived both Christian and Roxanne. Even with his enormous nose, Cyrano manages to maintain a prideful air, and he boasted about his nose without shame. “‘Tis an appendage I am proud to bear, because a large nose is the unfailing sign of a good man and kindly, generous, courteous, full of courage and of wit;” (Rostand, 32) Also, he was self-centered in that he never thought about the consequences of

For one thing, he was never honest with his feelings for Roxanne. If he had told her the truth, he might never have gotten Christian and himself killed in the battle. He caused himself and his friends unnecessary grief. As he pretends to be Christian in the letters that he sends, he is yet again deceiving the one he loves. By speaking for Christian, he isn’t helping him woo Roxanne at all. She isn’t falling in love with either of them. She is in love with a collaboration, a pure fantasy. If she had married Christian, how could she live with him, knowing that he could never be the one that she had loved before? While Cyrano has many faults, it must be said that he did have his honorable moments. When Christian was dying, Cyrano lied to both him and Roxanne in an attempt to help them through it. He put Christian at ease by saying that he had told Roxanne that she still loved him, and he died peacefully. He also helped Roxanne by keeping her idea of Christian unchanged. It is better to have loving memories of something that wasn’t real, than to have tainted memories of the truth. These acts of Cyrano may have been noble, but they weren’t enough to completely clear his