3 Themes in Cyrano De Bergerac

Generosity without thought of payment.
- Cyrano loves Roxane, and even when she tells him she is in love with another man, he still acts as the close friend he always has been. He goes out of his way numerous times to protect the man Roxane loves.
- At first when Cyrano writes the love letters for Christian to give to Roxane, there is absolutly no credit or payment for him, even though he is the true author of the poetry. He risks his life many times a day to deliver these letters that are supposedly from Christian during the war.
- Cyrano puts himself in harms way to fight off the 100 men that are waiting to attack Ligniere, because Cyrano believes he writes witty poetry. Again, he expects nothing of a reward.
- Until the very last scene, Cyrano hides his love for Roxane in memory of Christian, even though he knows it was his own soul that Roxane was really in love with. He could have had Roxane for himself soon after Christian died, but he was too much of a good friend and a gentleman to reveal their scheme.

Loving an idea rather than a person.
- Roxane is unknowingly in love with the idea of this 'perfect man' that Cyrano and Christian have made, and in reality is completly fictional.
- Cyrano loves Roxane, but after he realizes that she loves someone else, he romances with her on his own through letters that she thinks are written by someone else. When he is writing his letters, he probably gets lost in the idea of Roxane loving him. It is fair to say that he is in love with the idea of the romance between himself and Roxane.
- Comte De Guiche also expierances this theme when he himself realizes he is in love with Roxane. Since he is already married, he uses the same approach that Cyrano does - tries to live out his romance through another person. In this case, De Guiche tries to get Roxane to marry one of his friends (Valvert, I think).

Characters' responses to different situations.
- Cyrano is a very calm and collected man, and is able to think quickly to respond to any difficult times that he might come across. For instance, when he is told that he must immediatly stall De Guiche while Christian and Roxane are getting married, he comes up with a scheme that no one else could have imagined. He is able to think and communicate effectivly on the fly, and this shows he is a very intelligent and creative character.
- After the death of her husband, Christian, Roxane feels that she can no longer love another man. She moves into a nunnery, and continues her life without much excitement for the following 15 years. Roxane is not necessarily strong in times of hardship, and feels she does not have to courage to move forward with her life.
- Even though Christian is not very smart, he proves that he can respond honeslty when faced with a tough decision. When he learns that Roxane loves the poetry more that Christians good looks, he feels obliged to tell her the truth even though it would mean the end of his romance with Roxane.