Cyrano de Bergerac vs. Roxanne
Shahaan Farrukh

The play Cyrano de Bergerac and the modernized movie Roxanne draw many parallels with each other, a major one, of which, are the characters. Only four of the main characters are modernized into this movie, Le Bret into Dixie, Christian into Chris, Roxane into Roxanne, and most blatant, Cyrano and C.D. Bailes. These characters have equivalent traits but have differences that actually make some significant changes in the formula of the play.

Although Cyrano and C.D. Bailes have many similarities and have the nose to reflect their exuberant personality, Bailes is not true at heart the Cyrano that we know in the play. Throughout the play it is evident that pride is very important to society especially to Cyrano, but in the movie Bailes tended to basically fight only when provoked. The difference being as Le Bret tells Cyrano in one scene in the play that his confidence, pride, and his own tendency to provoke people brought him lots of enemies. There is no scene in the movie like in the play’s opening where Cyrano was the one who started all the ruckus, beginning with Montfleury and leading to fights both physically and verbally. None of which would happen if he just let the crowd enjoy the play. This makes sense given that the movie is a modernization into a society where that type of pride is less abundant. It would be also much less likely for Cyrano to ask anyone to “fix” his nose, because that pride also would not allow it, and it would have a bad effect on his reputation when knowledge of it reaches the public.

Unlike Cyrano, C.D. Bailes also gave into some jealousy. In the play there is a scene where Cyrano has to aid in the marriage of Roxanne and Christian by distracting de Guiche from entering Roxanne's house. In the movie when he encounters a group of old ladies out for a late night jog. Instead of attempting to distract them, he tricks them into going to Roxanne’s house to interrupt them, and ruin the mood. In the play Cyrano was genuinely concerned with Roxane's wellbeing and happiness, so he helped them with their marriage which is a much bigger commitment than what Chris and Roxanne were up to.

The biggest change in the cast of Roxanne when compared to the characters in the play was the exclusion of a very important character, de Guiche. de Guiche being the comic villain had a prominent role in the play. The movie feels much more lighthearted due to his absence. The movie actually reflects the story of the play if a character like de Guiche never got involved. There was no battle with a hundred men, no jealousy over Roxanne that leads to anything parallel in the play where Roxane forces marriage with Christian who then is separated and sent to war, which is also his death, and ultimately the passing of Cyrano de Bergerac. Nothing close to that degree of malice occurred in the movie.

Christian was more honorable than Chris. Christian would not choose another girl over Roxane, but in the movie Chris chooses Sandy instead of Roxanne. Also unlike Chris, he actually willingly risked the chance of losing Roxane to find out if she actually loved Cyrano. Sadly, he died shortly after, and the truth was never confessed to Roxane until 15 years after, but since this is a modernization, Chris ditching Roxanne for Sandy would seem like a more reasonable way for Roxanne to lose someone than dying in battle.

In conclusion, the characters of the play and movie were identical, but disparate. C.D. Bailes did not have the pure essence of pride that Cyrano had, and has more control over his jealousy. De Guiche’s absence from the movie made it a more happy-go-lucky movie compared to the play. Christian was shown to be more consciences than Chris.