ROXANE
You shall not die! I love you!CYRANO No--
That is not in the story! You remember
When Beauty said "I love you" to the Beast
That was a fairy prince, his ugliness
Changed and dissolved, like magic.... But you see
I am still the same. -- Edmund Rostand Cyrano de Bergerac
This page is dedicated to my favorite play, Cyrano de Bergerac, a Beauty and the Beast story in which the characters do not live happily ever after. If you are unfamiliar with the play (and have never seen the movie Roxane with Steve Martin), it's about a French soldier and poet who had a very large nose, and was very sensitive about that fact. Should any man insult Cyrano's honor, he will be forced to give Cyrano satisfaction in a duel -- a dangerous undertaking, as during the course of the play our hero defeats one hundred armed men by himself.
To the world, Cyrano is very proud, hot-tempered, even arrogant. He will not bow to the whims of a patron, and so never gets his verses published. Away from the crowd, however, we see his vulnerable side, the man who fears being laughed at, the man who loves beauty more than anything and so is wretched in his own ugliness, a man who declares that he never cries because the "grotesque" spectacle of tears sliding down his huge nose would "profane the dignity of sorrow."
Such a lover of beauty is naturally in love with the most beautiful
woman in Paris. His cousin Roxane is beautiful, intelligent, witty,
and in love with another man. And naturally, the other man is handsome.
Christian de Neuvillette is another Adonis, but unfortunately, he
lacks the wit to speak intelligently to women. And though she "loves"
him, he can never fully win her if he cannot meet her expectations of
poetry and wit.
Out of his desire to express in some real way his own love for Roxane, Cyrano decides to help Christian woo her by providing him with the words. It is a bittersweet romance; Cyrano has the pleasure of winning Roxane's heart only to see the rewards of the victory go to Christian. And Christian suffers as well; he's torn between his love for Roxane and his desire that she know the truth and love him for himself.
I can't explain the obsession; must be my romantic streak coming out. All I can say is read it read it read it for yourself. I recommend the English translation by Brian Hooker, available as a Bantam classic. The poetry is wonderful. It makes me wish I knew French so that I could read the original.
If you too, are lovelorn, and need assistance in wooing the one you love, I recommend the Cyrano Server. It's a silly way to let someone know you're thinking of them.
A few of my favorite lines from Brian Hooker's translation:
CYRANO: I carry my adornments on my soul.
I do not dress up like a popinjay
CYRANO: When I have made a line that sings itself
So that I love the sound of it -- I pay
Myself a hundred times.
DE GUICHE: You are proud, my friend.
CYRANO: You have observed that?
CYRANO: ..."My soul, be satisfied with flowers,
With fruit, with weeds even; but gather them
In the one garden you may call your own."
CYRANO: Have you not seen great gaudy hothouse flowers,
Barren, without fragrance? -- Souls are like that:
Forced to show all, they soon become all show --
The means to Nature's end ends meaningless!
ROXANE: But...Poetry?
CYRANO: Love hates that game of words!
It is a crime to fence with life -- I tell you,
There comes one moment, once -- and God help those
Who pass that moment by! -- when Beauty stands
Looking into the soul with grave, sweet eyes
That sicken at pretty words!
CYRANO: And what is a kiss, when all is done?...
-- a rosy dot over the i of Loving --
ROXANE: At last
I came. Anyone would! Do you suppose
The prim Penelope had stayed at home
Embroidering, -- if Ulysses wrote like you?
She would have fallen like another Helen --
Tucked up those linen petticoats of hers
And followed him to Troy!
ROXANE: [she speaks of his letters]
Every page of them
Was like a petal fallen from your soul --
CYRANO: Yes -- they know how to die. A little way
From the branch to the earth, a little fear
Of mingling with the common dust -- and yet
They go down gracefully -- a fall that seems
Like flying!
CYRANO: I had never known
Womanhood and its sweetness but for you.
...Across my life, one whispering silken gown!...
CYRANO: But a man does not fight merely to win!
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