– Love Essay, Research Paper
Cyrano the Bergerac
Love
When we think about the force that holds the world together and what makes humans different from animals, one answer comes to our minds – that humans can love. Love is a state of mind that cannot be defined easily but can be experienced by everyone. Love is very complicated. In fact it is so complicated that a person in love may be misunderstood to be acting in an extremely foolish manner by other people. The complexity of love is displayed in Rostand s masterpiece drama Cyrano de Bergerac. This is accomplished by two characters that love the same woman and in the course neither one achieves love in utter perfection.
First of all the question rises what is love. Love is having a sense of security in someone. When we love someone we usually mean that we can turn to that person comfortably if all other doors of the world are shut to us. This is the one person that we trust and like to be in company with. In the novel Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano loves Roxane more than anyone else but he is shy to tell her so. When he finds out of her feelings towards another character Christian, who she likes because of his looks, Cyrano finds a way to express his love to Roxane. He decides that he would write to her in the name of Christian who comparatively is a poor writer and “wishes to make Christian his interpreter”(II,85).
Both Christian and Cyrano love Roxane but Roxane loves only the person that has been writing to her. It was actually Cyrano, who was writing to her but she thinks it was Christian. Cyrano had said, “..And we two make one hero of romance.” (II,85) Since Cyrano was suffering with an inferiority complex, as he had a gigantic nose, he was shy to ask Roxane whether she wanted him or not. He had assumed that she would not like him because of his deformity. He one said , “..I adore Beatrice Have I / The look of Dante?” (I,42) What he had not considered was that Roxane loved him for what he was from the inside, not outside. Once she had told Christian that , “If you were less charming – ugly even – I should love you still.” (IV,162) None of the characters in the whole play actually achieved love. Christian, who was one of the main characters who was loved by Roxane, did not find love. “She does not love me any more.” (IV,163) He died in the middle of the story. His death lead Roxane s decision to turn to a solitary life and she did not marry again. Although Cyrano knew Roxane loved him, he did not ask her to marry him. He was afraid of being turned down. People sometimes fear failure and thus never take a risk. This is not a good thing because even if the chances of failure seem huge there might still be hope in matters of love. Cyrano kept visiting Roxane on a regular basis when she lived with the nuns. He loved her for all his life. This is known by the fact that he did not marry. Despite of the fact that all characters loved someone or the other, they did not achieve love as their destiny.
Love is so complicated that even the people who love do not know all complexities involved. Cyrano and Roxane s love is an exquisite example of this. Cyrano loved Roxane more than his life. He went to meet her with an injured head, even though he knew that he was going to die when he did that. He still went because he loved her with all his heart and did not consider the consequences. Cyrano acted just like a normal person in love would act, with satisfaction for himself but what seems foolish to other people like le Bret or even the audience. Ovidio has rightly said “A lover fears all that he believes.”