Cyrano de Bergerac…What could have been?

1) What if Cyrano was confident in his physical appearance?

Perhaps if Cyrano had embraced his large nose he may have had the confidence to tell Roxanne how he felt earlier, possibly before she saw Christian. But even if he had told Roxanne his true feelings would they have been reciprocated by Roxanne? Roxanne always said that she always looked up to Cyrano as an older brother, a source for advice for her. The only reason that she fell in love with him in the play was because of the love letters that he wrote her under Christian’s name. Without those love letters Roxanne would probably have continued to view Cyrano as her older brother. With this knowledge of Roxanne’s feelings Cyrano would not have told her that he loved her because he was chivalrous and would not want to offend Roxanne or put her in an awkward situation.


2) What if Christian had both brains and beauty?

If Christian had both brains and beauty would he have been able to attract Roxanne and keep her love with the love letters that he would have been able to write himself? Even if Christian was smart and had caught the eye of Roxanne he would not have been able to write the love letters that Roxanne needed in order to know that she was loved. In order to write these letters that have the ability to move people to tears it takes great skill, a skill that some are born with, and others are not. Cyrano was born with this talent and thus able to help Christian, who was not, make Roxanne fall in love with him. But if Christian was smart would Cyrano have helped him, or even met him? Christian would probably have been enrolled at a university and not the army if he was smart, meaning that Cyrano would never have met him, even if he had caught the eye of Roxanne. Roxanne and Christian were never meant to be together, he was not able to write the love letters that she craved, even if he did have the brains.

3) What if Cyrano had told Roxanne earlier about the letters after Christian’s death?

After Christian’s death Roxanne mourns for fifteen years in a nunnery. Every week Cyrano visits her and tells her the news and current events going on. It took Cyrano fifteen years to tell Roxanne that he was the one who wrote those love letters to her under Christian’s name. If Cyrano had told Roxanne earlier would they have gotten married and lived a long, happy life? After reading the love letters written to her Roxanne fell in love with somebody, for fifteen years she thought that it was Christian, but upon hearing that Cyrano had written the letters her feelings changed. She fell in love with Cyrano. Unfortunately Cyrano died moments later and they were never able to live a happy life together. If, however, Cyrano had told Roxanne that he had in fact written those love letters to her, and had meant every word of them they would have ended up marrying and living happily ever after.

Kelsey Mills