Cyrano 2 Essay, Research Paper
Cyrano s excessive honor is his tragic flaw that leads to his inevitable death.
Throughout his life time, Cyrano is obsessed with keeping his honor and pride intact
which causes him to endure pain.
Cyrano s life without Roxane demonstrates excessive honor as a tragic flaw. The
pain he feels without her eats at his soul. Cyrano cannot have her love because he feels he
must be true to his word. Because Cyrano has promised Roxane that he will help her fall
in love with Christian, he cannot admit to her his true feelings. This is the costly price that
Cyrano must pay for his prestige. Roxane finally comes to the realization that she is in love
with Christian for his mind and not his looks. Cyrano is overjoyed for he knows the
Roxane is in actuality in love with him, but he cannot tell her because of his dignity. When
Christian dies, Roxane says, He is dead now… and Cyrano says, Why, so am I-/For I
am dead, and my love mourns for me/And does not know… Cyrano inflicts the pain on
himself because of his obsession with honor.
Cyrano s pride is excessive in the grand gestures he performs. This is shown when
Cyrano forbids Montfleury to act in the play. Montfleury decides he wants to act anyway,
provoking Cyrano to arrive steaming mad and throw him out. The crowd becomes upset
because now they will not be able to see the play. To compensate for this Cyrano throws
out his purse and says, I will not wound the mantle of the Muse/Here, catch! He gives
all the money he has for a month to the crowd in order to keep his honor intact. Also,
when Cyrano is offered food from the orange girl, he declines. Cyrano and the people
around him know that he is hungry and realize that he has just thrown out all the money he
has to live on. The fact that he has the choice to have food and did not take it exhibits the
importance he places on his prestige and pride and goes hungry as a result. Cyrano s pride
that resulted in grand gestures caused him to go through pain.
Lastly, Cyrano s death displays his extreme honor. His honor and pride link in two
ways to his death. Cyrano s great amount of pride deterred him from getting a patron.
Without a patron, Cyrano had no protectio thus, allowing a log to fall on his head. Also,
Cyrano s honor towards Roxane links to his death. He is suffering from a severe head
injury and is told that he will die unless he stays in bed. But, he is so fixated with dying
with esteem that he goes to see Roxane at the convent as he has been doing for years,
even knowing that it will probably kill him. In this case, Cyrano s pride and honor result
in his tragic death.
Cyrano cannot neglect the need he has to keep his honor and pride intact. In the
end, this tragic flaw is the cause of his inevitable death.