Cyrano de Bergerac Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

Cyrano’s nose is the barrier that keeps him from telling Roxane he loves her. It reminds us that not only is a person judged by others for his appearance, but that a person assimilates these...

Letters are a symbol of deception, but also of love. For Cyrano, letters are an odd opportunity both to hide his identity and openly reveal his emotions. Notice that the difficulties and complicati...

When Roxane reads what she believes to be Christian’s dying letter, it is stained with both blood and tears. As the audience knows, the tears are from Cyrano and the blood from Christian. In...

In Act III, the moon is the happy fantasy of Cyrano as he pretends to be a drunken madman that believes he has fallen from the sky. In Act V, it is his desired destination after death, since it is...

On the battlefield, the white plume is a mark of military rank, a target for enemy guns. The fact that de Guiche threw his away in the heat of battle means he’s a huge ninny, as if we didn...

Food and drink imagery end up as an allegory of the developing levels of frivolity and seriousness throughout the play. Huh? Let’s try that again. In the first two acts, food and wine play th...

Two characters wear masks in this play, Roxane when visiting Cyrano at Ragueneau’s pastry shop and de Guiche when coming to take Roxane away to the convent. Both wear them for the specific pu...

We’re not just talking about swordfights here – we’re talking about verbal sparring and wooing. This connection is established at the beginning of the play when a guardsman’...