Yes, there are
times where I (for lack of a better word) “fangirl”, although the
objects of said fangirling tend to be old and the authors tend to be
dead. (For some reason the word “fanboy” which certain friends
of mine have tried to convince me to use, sounds simply odd and
faintly creepy.)
The edition of the movie that I own. |
You may be
familiar with the play. If not, go read it now.
Because after
rereading it, it placed Number Four on my list of greatest stories in
the history of ever.
Let me explain.
(The following and rather lengthy dissertation does contain some
spoilers for the play. I'll try not to spoil major plot points, but
for those who have not read the play, read on at your own risk.)
The reason why the
play is so incredible is mostly because of the development of the
main character, Cyrano de Bergerac, who has the curse of a
proverbially large nose.
While the play
starts out very slowly—the entire first scene is basically random
actors running about in a theater and has little to nothing to do
with the rest of the play except to introduce the setting and some of
the characters—it gets interesting once the main character happens
upon the theater.
The first time
we're introduced to him, we get the feel for his character right
away: first, that he's extremely brash and somewhat arrogant, and
second, that he's extremely witty.
As the play goes
on, however, we see more and more that this arrogance is an
expression, not of conceit, but of his fierce independence. And if
that independence makes others angry, then so much the better. As he
says in the play,
“I pass, still
unsaluted, joyfully,
And cry,—What,
ho! another enemy?”
And, in reference
to another publishing his play with the condition that it must be
changed,
“Impossible! My
blood congeals to think
That other hand
should change a comma's dot.”
The other
expression of his character is when he speaks to the woman he loves,
Roxane. She confides in him that she loves another, which is a blow
to him. Furthermore, she asks him to protect the man that he loves,
to take the fellow under his wing, so to speak.
This is one of the
strongest parts of the play: because he accepts. The nature of his
love is unselfish, to where he puts her happiness above his. And
when Roxane comments on a recent battle Cyrano fought, he replies
that he had “fought better since” - the battle within himself to
uphold her happiness at the cost of his.
This theme is
reiterated again and again throughout the play, until the bitter end.
But I won't spoil anything for you. It's hard and beautiful and
moving. The poetry is brilliant and vivid and passionate.
Read it yourself
and find out, people. The beginning is slow, but it's worth it.
(Return in a
couple days for part two of this post. The combination of these two
posts was too long for me to post all at once, so I put all of my
favorite quotes in the second one rather than have one massive post
for you to deal with.)
4 comments:
Cyrano is one of my favorites, too. The characters, the dialogue, the themes, the bloodshed, the ending... gah! I'm also fangirling! Can't wait for the next post!
O.o well if Sir Jake of Sadaar deems this read a worthy one then I must see to it! (good thing it's free on Amazon!!) >:D
Cyrano was amazing. Funny in parts, but with wonderful deep themes. I came close to tears at the end.
CYRANO DE BERGERAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That is all. ;-)
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