Fall of a hero...

After a month of dragging myself through NaNo with loose-leaf, pen, and computer, I needed a medium change. So I dragged out a yellow legal pad and a pencil and did some free-association writing, which ended up turning into a fairly formal essay. I present the results for your entertainment.

Disclaimer: I actually love Cyrano immensely. But I’ve noticed that, as I grow older, I am able to temper my love for literary characters with recognition of their faults. Same thing with fan-preferred couples and whatnot. Ex. I used to be a die-hard Zutara fan, but now I am willing to let Maiko be as it is (though, I am a bit of a Toph-Zuko shipper). (Avatar the Last Airbender, for any who don't speak the lingo.) I’m not a frantically desperate fangirl who is anxious to ignore all faults of my favorites.

Except when it comes to Batman. Nothing can deflect or mitigate my love for the Bat.

Batman = Pure essence of awesome.

(Yeah, I was playing Lego Batman for hours today and just plain geeking out about everything in it. I want a Lego Batman set for Christmas, just to get the little Lego figure of the Dark Knight himself.)

Anyway…

Cyrano De Bergerac

I watched the French version again recently after having read the original play a few months back. So incredibly beautiful and tragic. It was strange, because I remembered Cyrano’s speech about reaching the moon before reading the actual play, but it wasn’t in the French version. I think I recalled that and the scene of Cyrano’s dinner at the theatre from the black and white English version I saw a long time ago.

Watching the play with the benefit of my community college Psychology 200 class, it was a little easier to put a label on why it was all so tragic. Of the two male leads, Christian was actually the more honest and maybe pitiable for it. Cyrano, being the main, obviously garners the most sympathy, but when examined, he is not quite the paragon of poetic and manly virtue he would have you believe.

Projecting and Deception – Cyrano

Cyrano is known for attacking the hypocrisy of the rich and he prides himself on his stubborn principles. And yet, perhaps he has more in common with the fops he defies than he would like. He shuns and mocks the frills of the nobles’ clothing and manner, yet he hides behind the frills of his wit. Rather than honestly state his affection for Roxane, he uses deception to win her heart through Christain.

Perhaps the real reason he did not want Christian to expose their ruse to Roxane was because he was disgusted with himself, and not just with his appearance. He knew what he had done, that he had been resorting to deception, perhaps with the unspoken, mostly unformed hope that it would draw Roxane to himself. But when he realizes that he has succeeded so perfectly in his goal of making her love Christian, he hates himself for having stooped so low and so denying his love for her is his way of punishing himself and keeping her from discovering his baseness. He wants his beloved to be happy, but more importantly, he wants himself to be unhappy.

The Honest Brute – Christian

When first compared to Cyrano, Christian seems to be a carnal buffoon, with a military mind and a distinct male gaze for Roxane. Cyrano sees Roxane as an immaculate angel, while Christian sees her as a beautiful woman. It makes him seem far more estimable than the adoring and un-touching Cyrano.

Yet it is not as if Christian is just a base animal with only one thing on his mind. He is a clever man, as evidenced by his taunting Cyrano. Roxane’s affection does matter to him. He is just far more honesty about Roxane to himself than Cyrano. When he realizes that Cyrano has made Roxane fall in love with a lie, he immediately wants to destroy the lie, no matter how painful the truth might be to anyone involved. He is perfectly honest in his sentiments that he still wants Roxane, but he wants her to love him for himself, rather than Cyrano’s mask.

While Cyrano attacks deception and appearances and Christian seems willing to exploit a ruse, it is ultimately Cyrano who perpetuated the ruse and Christian who wished to destroy it.

Yeah... That's the kind of thing I have been writing the past few days (I have, like, four other essay thingies like this on that legal pad.) It's refreshing.