Historically, endings to stories are expected to be happy, concise, and without loose ends. However, in literature there are many stories with endings that don’t necessarily wrap everything up happily or resolve things in uncomfortable fashion. An ending like the one of the play Cyrano De Bergerac, written by Edmund Rostand, is less than happy and kind of heart-wrenching to read. While feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy motivated Cyrano to keep a secret and lock up his feelings, Cyrano’s choice to withhold his true feelings of love for Roxane leads to a death and 2 lives wasted. In Cyrano De Bergerac, Cyrano is the protagonist, a man with extraordinary talents with words and swords, but an abnormally large nose that makes him self conscience …show more content…
After Cyrano is attacked with the wooden log, he is finally able to tell Roxane of his feelings. To some readers, Cyrano simply telling Roxane his true feelings, having a last-minute hallucinatory fight with emotions, and then dying, is an unsatisfactory ending. Truthfully, that is a fitting end to the play. The conflict in the play was not between Roxane and Cyrano, so just confessing his love to her would not have been a deserved ending. The true conflict in Cyrano De Bergerac was with Cyrano and his inner demons that plagued his psyche, such as cowardice and falsehood. Cyrano ended with a final conflict against the things he was never able to truly face throughout his life. He triumphantly exclaims “I know them now, my ancient enemies—(He lunges at empty air.) Falsehood!... There! There! Prejudice—Compromise—Cowardice— (Thrusting) What’s that? No! Surrender? No! Never!—never!...” (V.377-382). This is Cyrano finally facing off against his biggest enemy throughout Cyrano De Bergerac, himself. Although Cyrano loses his battle with death, he is able to maintain his dignity in the form of his white plume which signifies his honor and moral code. In his final moments, he exclaims “One thing without stain, unspotted from the world, in spite of doom mine own! And that is…my white plume…” (V.374-384). Cyrano was a great dynamic character, who can be an example of how withholding information can be