Summary:
An example of the constant battle in society between inner beauty and outer beauty plays itself out in Edmond Rostand's drama "Cyrano de Bergerac." This is shown through the changes in Roxane's attitude toward inner and outer beauty throughout the drama.
Everyday in society, there is a battle that goes on between inner beauty and outer beauty. This battle between inner beauty and outer beauty is presented in the drama Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand. It is presented through Roxane's actions toward Christian and Cyrano and how her actions change throughout the drama.
In the beginning of the drama, Christian and Roxane secretly love each other, even though they have never met before in their lives. The reason that they think they love each other is that they both have an attractive outward appearance. Christian finds that Roxane loves him, but he is unable to express his true feelings for Roxane, because of his lack of intelligence. Cyrano also loves Roxane, so he decides to help Christian woo Roxane by helping Christian with what to say to Roxane. Roxane is blown away by Cyrano's words and begins to fall in love with them, more so than Christian's physical appearance. That is when Roxane begins to understand that inner beauty is more important than outer beauty.
Christian and Cyrano also realize that Roxane has begun to understand this, when she states that if Christian were to become disfigured, she would still love him. Yet, Christian says he wants her love him for his attractiveness. Christian figures out that Roxane really loves Cyrano. Christian encourages Cyrano to tell Roxane the truth because he wants Roxane to know who it is that she really loves. Cyrano does not believe that Roxane would really care more about inner beauty than outer beauty, therefore, he does not tell Roxane the truth until right before he dies. That is when Roxane finds out that it was Cyrano that she really loved the whole time. Unfortunately, the two do not get to be together, as Cyrano passes away.
As can be seen, Roxane's attitude toward inner and outer beauty changed throughout the drama. At first, she thought that inner beauty was more important than outer beauty, but soon she realized that it is exactly the opposite. That is how the theme of inner beauty versus outer beauty is developed throughout the play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmund Rostand.
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