"Cyrano de Bergerac," by Edmond Rostand is the story of Cyrano de Bergerac, an excellent poet and swordsman who tries to garner the love of his cousin, Roxane. Throughout the novel, Cyrano is displayed as loyal, brave, and honorable, all common traits seen in a hero. His heroic traits are most clearly seen through Rostand's use of irony and character dialogue. Because "Cyrano de Bergerac" is a play, all of my text evidence will be character dialogue. Cyrano's heroism is present for most of Rostand's "Cyrano de Bergerac", although, there are sections of the play where he is faulty and acts arrogant towards other characters, supporting the alternate idea that he is not a hero. In fact, this is particularly seen when Rostand first introduces Cyrano in the theatre, and he is provoked by Montfleury's performance, forcing him to retaliate: "My nose is enormous, you snub-nosed, flat-faced wretch! I carry it with pride, because a big nose is a sign of affability, kindness, courtesy, wit, generosity, and courage. I have all those qualities, but you can never hope to have any of them, since the ignoble face that my hand is about to meet above your collar has no more nose, in short, than the face that my boot is about to meet below your waist!" (Act I. Scene IV). Here, Cyrano interrupts Montfleury during his lines, whom he banned for a month from the stage, and then proclaims to the audience how bad of an actor Montfleury is as he flees. Cyrano is then confronted by the Meddler, whom he victimizes, as Cyrano kicks him for staring at his nose. Traits of boastfulness & arrogance are shown during this scene, and across the whole play, Cyrano makes ill-advised decisions & remarks that simply create more enemies for himself to deal with, although these turn out to build him up, in fact, as all his enemies only make him more of a hero. .
First, one way Rostand exhibits Cyrano's heroism is in battle, especially in his encounter with the ambush of one hundred men, which is learned later to have been set up by de Guiche.
