Cyrano de Bergerac

A less famous but prevalent theme in Cyrano de Bergerac is the conflict between artistry and commercialism. Cyrano believes in creating art for art’s sake rather than creating art for money. When rejecting patronage from Guiche, Cyrano says, “When I have made a line that sings itself / So that I love the sound of it—I pay / Myself a hundred times” (85). Producing writing under the direction of someone else, or allowing someone to change his writing, is an impure, or soulless, act in Cyrano’s opinion. Guiche eventually comes to respect Cyrano for this commitment to artistic freedom, saying “I envy him” (207). While Guiche comes to this opinion over time, Cyrano forces his opinion of art for art’s sake on other artists. He refuses to allow the subpar actor Montfleury to perform in the play La Clorise. When the theater complains about him ending the performance before it even begins, Cyrano gives them all his monthly salary.

Ragueneau also illustrates the theme of Artistry Versus Commercialism. He is upset when his wife Lise uses poems by his friends as wrapping paper for pastries. The pastries represent his income and livelihood, but he values the poems more than being able to distribute his wares. He tells customers to “give me back the bag” (61), exchanging it for more pastries and therein taking a monetary loss to keep the poetry. Cyrano notes that Ragueneau’s poet friends are hurting his business—he doesn’t always charge them for what they eat, or he allows them to pay with poems. However, Ragueneau’s own poetry is inspired by his work as a pastry chef. He writes “A Recipe for Making Almond Tarts” (69), a poem that has baking as its subject matter. Finding artistry in his business, or combining artistry and commercialism, sets him apart from Cyrano.

Cyrano’s dedication to artistry is part of his fatal flaws: his pride and vanity. While he does live “His own life, his own way—thought, word, and deed / Free!” (207), he becomes extremely impoverished and emaciated at the end of his life. In addition to not accepting patronage, Cyrano writes satires of people who compromise in ways he is unwilling to, in other words, those who do accept patronage. Because of these satires, his friends who do end up selling out according to Cyrano’s standards, such as Ragueneau, who took an arts-adjacent job as a tech hand at the theater are often embarrassed to tell Cyrano of their fate because they know he will not approve or understand why they choose to prioritize their standard of living over their art. These proud actions cause Cyrano to gain many enemies, and one of them arranges for him to meet with a so-called accident—a lackey allows a log to fall on Cyrano’s head. Yet, Cyrano dies without becoming a commercial artist. He sacrifices not only his comfort while living but also his life itself to be an artist who never creates art for money.