Cyrano de Bergerac

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Cyrano de Bergerac is a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand. There was a real Cyrano de Bergerac, and the play is a fictionalisation following the broad outlines of his life.

The entire play is written in verse, in rhyming couplets of twelve syllables per line. The plot sees Hercule Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, a cadet (nobleman serving as a soldier) in the French Army, as a brash, strong-willed man of many talents. In addition to being a remarkable duelist, he is a gifted, joyful poet and is also a musical artist. However, he has an obnoxiously large nose, which causes him to doubt himself. This doubt prevents him from expressing his love for his distant cousin, the beautiful and intellectual Roxane, as he believes that his ugliness would prevent him the “dream of being loved by even an ugly woman.”