Jiang 1
Robert Jiang
Ms. Bonanno
Freshman Honors English
07 February 2017
Reality and the Delusions Within It
Dreams, illusions, delusions and mirages eventually all disappear and one can never
escape the cage built by Fate called reality. In Cyrano de Bergerac, Edward Rostand’s play of
chivalry, love and trickery, a swordsman, Cyrano de Bergerac, finds himself in love with his
second cousin, Roxane, however, she is instead in love with a handsome cadet, Christian. In an
attempt to at least express his feelings, he connives with Christian and writes love letters to
Roxane. Many illusions and deceptions occur within the play and allow many of the characters,
specifically Roxane and Cyrano, to be deceived or mislead and in return cause neither Roxane or
Cyrano to have any desire to face reality at all.
First, in order to truly prove or disprove whether or not Roxane and Cyrano are deceived
and lack desire to face reality, the reader must interpret and comprehend what reality is in the
play. As seen throughout the play, Cyrano de Bergerac is a gifted poet and a fine swordsman
even to the point of constructing a ballade during a duel with Vicomte de Valvert, “CYRANO:
So while we fence, I’ll make you a Ballade Extempore”(039, Rostand). However, when it comes
to attractive physical features, many may suggest that he is lacking a few. Therefore, in order to
chase his lust and love for Roxane, he conspires with Christian, Roxane’s lover, to eventually
swindle her love for him to himself. In the end, Cyrano did succeed, “ROXANE: I never loved
but one man in my life, And I have lost him- twice….”(224), but the reality is that Roxane never
Jiang 2
truly loved Christian because he never truly showed love with his words. Ultimately, Cyrano was
the writer of the letters and Roxane was in love with Cyano.
Until the end, Roxane could never actually face the reality that she loves Cyrano yet she
still drops hints of loving him. In the Third Act: Roxane’s Kiss and the Fourth Act: The Cadets
of Gascoyne, it is revealed that Roxane loves poetry and sophisticated writing and would even
love a wordsmith if he were ugly. “ROXANE: I ask for cream You give me milk and water. Tell
me first A little, how you love me...ROXANE: Gather your dreams together into words!”(118,
119). It is evident that Roxane is in love with Cyrano however, she doesn’t realize or find out
“the true identity” of Christian until page 219 or the end of the Fifth Act: Cyrano’s Gazette,
“ROXANE: How can you read Now? It is dark…. He has been the old friend, who came to me
To be amusing.” Therefore, within the whole play, Roxane always thought it was Christian who
was writing the breathtaking love letters instead of Cyrano which concludes that Roxane never
desired to face reality because she thought her illusion was her reality,
“CYRANO: 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 ...
