Archetypes and Cyrano de Bergerac

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Archetypes and Cyrano de Bergerac
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Archetypes

• Patterns in Literature

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Definition of Archetype

• An archetype is a pattern from which copies can
  be made.
• Hopefully, you will be able to recognize and
  understand archetypes as you come across them in
  your readings. They help to add depth and
  underlying significance to some of the world's
  best literature.

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Archetypes fall into three major categories

• Characters, Situations, and Symbols
• It is easiest to understand them with the help of
  examples.
• The following are some of the most common
  archetypes in each category.

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CHARACTERS
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The Hero

• The courageous figure, the one who's always
  running in and saving the day. Example Dartagnon
  from Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers.

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The Outcast

• The outcast is just that. He or she has been cast
  out of society or has left it on a voluntary
  basis. The outcast figure can oftentimes also be
  considered as a Christ figure.
• Example Piggy from William Golding's The Lord of
  the Flies.

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The Scapegoat

• The scapegoat figure is the one who gets blamed
  for everything, regardless of whether he or she
  is actually at fault.
• Example Snowball from George Orwell's Animal
  Farm.

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The Star-Crossed Lovers

• This is the young couple joined by love but
  unexpectedly parted by fate.
• Example Romeo and Juliet from William
  Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

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The Shrew

• This is that nagging, bothersome wife always
  battering her husband with verbal abuse.
• Example Zeena from Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.

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Situations and Symbols
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The Task

• A situation in which a character, or group of
  characters, is driven to complete some duty of
  monstrous proportion.
• Example Frodo's task to keep the ring safe in J.
  R. R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

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The Quest

• Here, the character(s) are searching for
  something, whether consciously or unconsciously.
  Their actions, thoughts, and feelings center
  around the goal for completing this quest.
• Example Santiagos search for his treasure in
  The Alchemist.

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The Loss of Innocence

• This is, as the name implies, a loss of innocence
  through sexual experience, violence, or any other
  means.
• Example Pauls loss of innocence after he joins
  the war in Erich Remarques All Quiet on the
  Western Front.

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The Initiation

• This is the process by which a character is
  brought into another sphere of influence, usually
  (in literature) into adulthood.
• Example Scouts initiation into adulthood in To
  Kill a Mockingbird.

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Water

• Water is a symbol of life, cleansing, and
  rebirth. It is a strong life force, and is often
  depicted as a living, reasoning force.
• Example Huck and Jims journey to freedom in The
  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

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Cyrano de Bergerac

• by Edmund Rostand

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Context France in the 1640s

• Published in 1897
• Set in the 1640s during the Franco-Spanish war
• The Franco-Spanish War was a military conflict
  between France and Spain. It began with French
  intervention into the Thirty Years' War, in which
  Spain was already a participant, in 1635. Warfare
  between the two kingdoms continued until 1659,
  when the Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed.

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Historical Fiction

• The real Cyrano was a novelist and playwright who
  lived from 1619-1655 though the rest of the
  events and characters are purely the product of
  Rostands imagination.
• Virtuoso Play- a play written especially to
  exploit the talents of a particular actor.

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Romantic Literature

• This play was a divergence from the important
  dramatic movements of the age naturalism,
  symbolism, and Isbenism
• More an outgrowth of romance than Romantic Period
• Medieval French literature
• Tales that concern a brave, noble, loyal, and
  steadfast hero (whose word is his bond) who
  avenges any affront by killing the offender.
• Literature that idealized women and love-love is
  respectful, submissive, and almost religious.
• Also romantic according to the English definition
  of the word sentimental, idealistic treatment of
  a theme rather than realistic.

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Irony and Theme

• The main theme of the play concerns the conflict
  between appearance and truth.
• Because of this, irony is evident throughout the
  play.

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Suspension of Disbelief in Cyrano

• The theme, plot, and characters of this play are
  all theatrical, sometimes fantastical.
• However, they are still believable because they
  belong to the world of childhood dreams lack of
  responsibilities, adolescent dream of unrequited
  love, etc.
• In that context, the story becomes believable.