Hypocrisy In The Play Cyrano By Edmond Rostand

In the play, Cyrano, Edmond Rostand uses evident hypocrisy in an effort to help guide the main characters (Cyrano and Christian) to make the correct decision in dealing with their relationship with Roxane. It is a very unfortunate situation that the two put themselves in and they are blinded to their wrongdoings. The author uses Cyrano’s words against him to help the two men realize their mistake. Cyrano was the initial person to come up with the idea that Christian and Cyrano should team up in order to make the perfect man in order to win Roxane’s love and affection. He believes that if their personalities were “blended together, [they’ll] make one romantic hero”(61). It is important to note that this whole “game” was created by Cyrano as he will be the one to find himself in the midst of hypocrisy later on. In his profession of love to Roxane, while pretending to Christian, Cyrano states that “It is hateful to turn honest loving into a game”, but at the same time he is nose deep in the most horrible type of game: toying with Roxane’s love and emotions(77). The author put this line in the conversation in order to provide a detail that adds a flaw to the almost completely flawless personality of Cyrano.

He took complete advantage of Cyrano’s undying love for Roxane even when Christian was supposedly unaware of it. During the Balcony Scene, even though Cyrano was doing everything he could to get to Christian back in Roxane’s good graces, Christian interrupted him in a greedy manner so that he could get Cyrano to “win for [him] a kiss”(79). Toying with Roxane’s heart and stomping on Cyrano’s, this action is directly applicable to the type of hateful game that Cyrano was referring