Cyrano de Bergerac

I found Cyrano de Bergerac a bit of a difficult read at first. As the entire opening scene is composed of a cross-section of Parisian society - most with rather long names and rather short character descriptions - streaming into a theater, the action was a bit tough to follow in the text. It seems like one of those scenes that would come together beautifully on stage, but is a pain to read and stage in one's mind. Nonetheless, I kept plowing ahead. Eventually, when Cyrano came in and chased Montfleury off the stage, the play started to pick up. Cyrano initially reminded me a lot of the clown characters Shakespeare often employed, with his actions so overblown and his character so melodramatic his play seemed to be a comedy at first. Though I felt many of Cyrano's problems were caused by his own actions, it was hard not to feel sorry for him with his selfless acts to preserve the image of the man Roxane loved. Even after Christian advises Cyrano to drop the charade and tell her everything so that she may know which man she truly loves, Cyrano cannot bring himself to destroy her image of Christian once he is mortally wounded on the battlefield. For fifteen years after, Cyrano continues to love Roxane from afar, if only to protect her from having her love for Christian tarnished. Thus, when she finally figures out that Cyrano has written all the letters, and he is still unable to confirm this even on his deathbed, I truly felt for him.
Overall, I really enjoyed Cyrano de Bergerac. Though it was a bit difficult to really get into, I greatly enjoyed the ride once I did.