Cyrano De Bergerac

331 Words2 Pages
In Cyrano de Bergerac by Rostand, and Roxanne by Steve Martin there is one universal theme, inner beauty versus outer beauty. In Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano represents inner beauty, Christian represents outer beauty and Roxane is the judge of the values. The movie Roxanne is the same with a few exception such as setting and the names of characters. In both Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne inner beauty is more important and wins in the end but it is not always seen as more important as outer beauty throughout the play and this is where the conflict begins. In Cyrano de Bergerac outer beauty is seen as a priority in the beginning of the play, Cyrano has the need to push his not appealing appearance to the world and defends himself with his quick wit when he is offended. Even though Cyrano has an exquisite inner beauty he seems to only care about his exterior . Christian on the other hand is beautiful but does not have a personality nor the ability to express his feelings. Cyrano and Christian battle for Roxane's love throughout the play and Roxane decides inner beauty is greater than outer beauty although she felt outer beauty was more important in the beginning. In Roxanne C.D. and Chris fight for Roxanne similar to in Cyrano de Bergerac . Chris wins Roxanne with his good looks but can only keep her with C.D.'s heartfelt letters. Roxanne even declares that she would even love Chris if he were hideous. Once Chris runs off to Vegas and Roxanne is told C.D. wrote the letters Roxanne does not even care that C.D. is ugly. This shows that inner beauty always conquers outer beauty in the end. In both plays Roxanne and Cyrano de Bergerac outer beauty triumphs only in the shallow beginning but character and inner beauty always receives the victory in the end. That is the universal theme throughout both Cyrano de Bergerac and
Open Document