cyrano de bergerac lecture notes l literary periods/classification l characters l historical...
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Cyrano de BergeracLecture Notes
Cyrano de BergeracLecture Notes Literary
Periods/Classification
Characters Historical
Background– Cyrano de
Bergerac– Edmond Rostand
Theme and Irony Literary Terms
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Victorian/Neoclassicism
Victorian/Neoclassicism
straight laced
no frills cold drearytradition
society urban
conformist constraint intellect/reason
clear/logical
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Medieval/Romanticism
Medieval/Romanticism
brave hero, noble
adventure;exuberance
idealized women & love
chivalry experiment
individual rural imagination mysterious/
super-natural independent spontaneity;wild
;free
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CharactersCharacters Cyrano- one
of the best swordsmen in France; courageous, intellectual, talented, noble, enormous nose, loves Roxane
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CharactersCharacters Christian- handsome soldier,
honest, inarticulate, loves Roxane Comte de Guiche- villain, wants
Roxane as mistress, powerful, arrogant
Ragueneau- tavern keeper; pastry cook loves gallant gestures, the bravado of the soldier, sensitivity of poet, “utility character”
Le Bret- close friend of Cyrano’s
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CharactersCharacters The Cadets and Carbon- friends and
fellow soldiers in the Carbon de Castel-Jaloux (Gascony guard) with Cyrano
Ligniere- poet, heavy drinker Vicomte de Valvert- a precieuse who
comments on Cyrano’s big nose; duels with him in Act I and stabbed
Monfluery- an actor threatened by Cyrano; one of Roxane’s suitors
Bellerose and Jodelet- manager and comedian in the theater
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CharactersCharactersCuigy and Brissaille- friends of Cyrano
Meddler- says Cyrano’s nose is “miniscule” when he gets in trouble
Musketeer- flirts with Lise and ends up running off with her
Cut-purse- a pick pocket who is caught by Christian and tells him about the plot against Ligniere
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CharactersCharacters Capuchin- delivers the letter from
Comte de Guiche to Roxane and marries Roxane and Christian (monk or priest)
Roxane- a beautiful girl, cousin to Cyrano , orphan, in love with Christian’s beauty and Cyrano’s mind, a precieuse (attitude prevalent in 17th century, what a person appeared to be was more important than what they really were)
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Cyrano, Christian, & RoxaneCyrano, Christian, & RoxaneCyrano, Christian, & RoxaneCyrano, Christian, & Roxane
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CharactersCharacters Duenna - nurse or servant to
Roxane Lise- wife of Ragueneau, she has
more business sense and less love of poetry than her husband
The Orange Girl- sells refreshments in the play
Mother Margerite, Sister Martha,& Sister Claire- Mother Superior and the nuns where Roxane goes to live
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Historical BackgroundHistorical
Background CYRANO DE BERGERAC (Savinien de Bergerac: 1619-1655)
REAL PERSON– French soldier– dramatist; poet
novelist
BORN IN PERIGORD OR PARIS
EDUCATED– by country
priest as youth– College
Beauvias until 19
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History continued...
History continued... MILITARY
– joined royal guards commanded by Carbon de Castel-Jalous
– wounded 1639 at Mouzon, recovered
– joined Prince de Conti’s regiment
– wounded at Arras– gave up military to study literature and philosophy
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History continued...
History continued... NOSE
– large, ugly– so sensitive about it, challenged anyone looked
– killed at least 10 men in duels
– nose became even more disfigured by cuts
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History continued...
History continued...WROTE
– Le Pendant Joue (The Tricked Pendant): satire•influenced Moliere’s play TheTricks of Scarpin
•Moliere stole two scenes–The Death Of Agrippa influenced playwright Corneille
–The Comic History of the Stars & Empires of the Moon
•fantastic fictions (seminal science fiction)
•influenced Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
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Cyrano Side ViewCyrano Side View Cyrano Side ViewCyrano Side View
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History continued...
History continued...
Real friend Le Bret wrote he was unselfish, chaste, sober
A Renaissance man: dashing, courageous, gallant, and intellectual
An ultimate idealist: true to himself merely for the sake of being true to himself; he never loses sight of reality or expects his quixotic behavior to be rewarded in any worldly way
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History continued...
History continued... EDMOND ROSTAND (1868-1918)
– Born in Marseilles, France– Education in law - interest in poetry– At 22, married poet Rosemond Gerard
and presented his first book - a volume of poems - to her.
– 1894 - First play Les Romanesques (about two young lovers)
– 1895 - La Princesse Lointaine written for famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt- most critics didn’t like it because a minor character was Christ
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History continued...
History continued...– 1859 Cyrano de Bergerac -set late 1640’s, 50’s
Theme - “the making of a style out of despair” conflict between what appears to be and what is
– L’Arglon about Napoleon’s heir - too French for foreign audiences because foreigners did not revere Napoleon as much as the French
– Rostand moved to country for ten years to write
– Chantecler - received some acclaim
– Rostand elected to French Academy at 33 - youngest member
– Rostand was never robust - died Dec. 2, 1918
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History continued...
History continued... THEME and IRONY
–closely tied together since play deals with the conflict between appearance and truth: APPEARANCE IS NOT ALWAYS TRUTH, AND TRUTH IS NOT ALWAYS CLOTHED IN APPROPRIATE APPEARANCES - universal, eternal theme
–despair present, but handled lightly
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History continued...
History continued...– STYLE
– PANACHE literally: white plume
symbolically:– swashbuckling– superiority– courage– pride– swagger
=enemies– one’s very soul
– VIRTUOSO written to exploit the talents of a particular actor (Constant Coquelin in Cyrano)
– ROMANTIC treatment of theme which may be sentimental, idealistic rather than realistic.
Free exuberance is a characteristic.
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TTHHE E EENNDDTTHHE E EENNDD