Do Now: Grab your journal– you’ll need it later Look at your post-it for the #1 or #2 then answer the corresponding question on the post it w/ reasoning! 1  Would you rather be beautiful or intelligent? 2  Would you rather marry someone beautiful or intelligent ? Once you’re finished, post it on the board under your answer ***You may remain Anonymous, but remember your answer!!!

How important are physical appearances? Journal How important are physical appearances?

Cyrano De Bergerac By Edmond Rostand

Edmond Rostand He was born in Marseilles, France in 1868 To a Prominent Family as a college student in Paris, he fell in love with French literature and theater. His first play, Le Gant Rouge, was produced when he was only 20 years old But it was largely ignored Each new play proved more successful than the previous one, and Rostand’s name lured prominent actors and actresses to star in his productions.

Edmond Rostand

French Drama in the 1800’s Late 19th century theater Was dominated by grim, realistic stories and unsentimental characters Rostand felt that the French people had forgotten the values and ideals that made them a proud and virtuous people, the qualities and character that made them honorable and specifically French.

Along comes Cyrano… It was released in 1897 when Rostand Was only 29 years old. Cyrano de Bergerac was sensationally popular and Rostand’s greatest triumph Rostand departed from the realist tradition to present a historical romance, set in the 1640s and featuring a swashbuckling hero who is also a poet, using words as effectively as weapons.

The Play Though written in 1897, the play evokes an even older era: France during the age of Louis XIII. In the 19th century, it was popular to recall this seventeenth-century era as France’s golden age—a time when men were musketeers, women were beautiful heiresses, and the wit flashed as brightly as the swordplay. In fact, Alexandre Dumas had published his famous romance, The Three Musketeers, a half- century before Cyrano took to the stage. Cyrano parodied, paid homage to, and proved itself a blatant copy of Dumas’s popular novel.

The Play Nineteenth-century audiences viewed Cyrano’s honesty, courage, wit, passion, and extraordinary willpower as the embodiment of this lost golden age. Audiences loved the play’s passionate love story, comedy, fast-paced action, and tragic ending. Above all, they responded powerfully to the larger-than-life character of Cyrano, the genius hero with a ridiculously long nose. When first performed in Paris on December 28, 1897, the audience applauded for a full hour after the final curtain was drawn. The First Production of the show ran for over 300 Consecutive Nights

The Time Period Acts i-IV take place during the year 1640, A time when the Real Cyrano was Alive. Cardinal Richelieu Rules France as King Louis XIII’s Chief Minister. His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty, and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years' War that engulfed Europe at this time. Cyrano De Bergerac is serving as a Cadet in the French Army.

A Time Shift ACT V-1655 Louis XIV Is Now King He is Called the “The Sun King” and is an Absolute monarch France is Now #1 in art, literature, war, statesmanship Louis XIV built the Decadent Palace at Versailles and Spends money in Excess

NOBLE BUTT-KISSING To win favor in Louis’ court you had to flatter him. 7:30 – 100 of the most privileged nobles at court helped him dress; 4 nobles gave Louis his slippers or held his sleeves in place. A look from him meant success or failure. Louis turned against nobles who did not flatter him. If you were not at the court waiting on Louis or flattering him, he would say of you “I do not know him.”

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN Only 5 feet tall – Louis wore high heels. Nobles lined their coats with ermine fur. Elaborate wigs were popular. Expensive gloves were popular. Ostrich plumes were very expensive and were worn in plumed hats and clothes.

“PANACHE” defined… Literally the tuft or plume of feathers on an old style military helmet Or more Figuratively, a mixture of all kinds of dashing qualities: pride, gallantry, swagger, courage, conceit, and conscious superiority. Genuine not fake Win admiration not resentment Win trust not distrust

the real Cyrano de Bergerac The real Cyrano de Bergerac is a novelist and playwright who lived from 1619 to 1655, around the same time as the fictional Cyrano. The real Cyrano probably inspired the idea for Rostand’s protagonist, but the play’s events, as well as its other characters, are solely the product of Rostand’s imagination.

HIS LIFE! Famous duelist and Bohemian He had problems with authority and discipline; he was an individualist. Wrote early science fiction about traveling to the moon.

HIS NOSE! He had a thin moustache and a large nose. People once put on a monkey play making fun of Cyrano’s nose. Cyrano killed the monkey. In court, he argued he killed the monkey in the play world so it was make believe. He wrote “Ode to Monkey.”