Who should take the blame for this tragedy? In Edmond Rostands Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano is portrayed as a valiant hero who exhibits humorous intelligence as well as great generosity. However, if we examine the play more carefully, we would find that Cyrano is personally responsible for his downfall; his constant aspiration for perfection and excessive deception eventually leads to his death. Such ornery behavior is exhibited when he adamantly insists on being himself, when he feigns the love letters for Christian, and when he hesitates to tell the truth and confess his love to Roxane. These acts ultimately aid in his defeat, leading us to conclude Cyrano is the only one to blame for his own destruction. Throughout the play, Cyrano exhibits his obstinate and presumptuous personality. He adamantly believes that his way is the only way and he defies any opposing force that comes against him. He refuses to listen to any sound advice from his friends. The most obvious example is when he refuses De Guiche's offer to be his patron. Instead of accepting the advice from his best friend, Le Bret, he has a rousing No Thank You tirade in front of the Cadets where he openly refuses to be under De Guiches patronage, proclaiming that living under another man's honor is beneath him. Seek for the patronage of some great man, And like a creeping vine on a tall tree Crawl upward, where I cannot stand alone? No thank you! (Cyrano, p.75) However, Cyrano should have realized that with De Guiches support he would have a higher status and a more stable economic source. The reason why Cyrano's ingenuity is never publicly recognized is because his poems are never published. Not only does he not have funds to pay for their publication, but his poems are often spontaneous and thus recapturable in their context without the situation to which it applied. A number of his poems are also on the objectionable because of the merciless way he regards others. If he wou...
