Roxane Character Analysis

Roxane in the beginning of the play only cares about the way Christian looks. She has never talked to him but claims that she loves him. Cyrano was criticizing Christian and Roxane was talking about how great he was even though she didn’t really know him. She says, “Oh he’s so handsome! And such a brilliant mind! I can’t tell you how much I love him” (Rostand 108)! All that Roxane seems to care about is how good Christian looks. Cyrano truly loves her and exemplifies a lot of great characteristics, but she only sees the beauty in Christian. Roxane bases everything she knows about Christian off of the letters that are sent to her from him. She believes Christian is great because of his way with words in his letters. She thinks that he means

Roxane is so wrapped up in his words and believes Christian truly loves her. Christian tries to tell Roxane he loves her at the balcony and struggles. He sounds foolish because he is going on and on and can’t tell her why he loves her. This displeases Roxane. She says, “And it displeases me! As it would displease me if you became ugly” (Rostand 121). She sounds extremely shallow because it sounds like she only likes him for his looks. This is when Cyrano really shows his feelings for Roxane. He gives Christian instructions on what to say to Roxane. Cyrano reveals his agony when he whispers, “My cruel love has never ceased to grow in my tormented soul since the day it was born there” (Rostand 125). Cyrano shows that he has always loved Roxane, and that his love has continued to grow. Even though these are Cyrano’s words, Christian is saying them. Therefore, Roxane believes they are Christian’s feelings. Roxane doesn’t know how much Cyrano loves her and overlooks him for Christians beauty and what she believes are his

Cyrano is a brave, independent, clever, and smart person, and Roxane is beginning to show that she also has those qualities. While the men are off fighting, she sneaks out behind enemy lines to bring them food. This was a very brave thing to do considering she had to sneak behind the enemy lines. When asked how she did it, she explained, “I simply rolled along in my carriage. Whenever a Spanish officer gave me a suspicious look, I smiled at him sweetly from the window, and since, with all due reference to the French, Spaniards are the most gallant men in the world, I was always allowed to continue on my way” (Rostand 169). Roxane also said that she told the guards she was going to see her “lover”. This implies that she is going to do “things” with her man. She says, “I always answered, I’m going to see my lover. No matter how fierce he (the guard) had looked before, the Spanish officer would solemnly close the door of my carriage, and with a gesture that any king would have envied, wave away the muskets that had already been aimed at me…” (Rostand 169). She is very clever and sneaky in doing this because it suggests they haven’t been together long and she wants to allow her man to enjoy himself one last time. This appeals to the military officers because they are men and understand what this means. At the same time, this move is very risky