Love resents clever ripostes and nimble repartee

by chuckofish

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day — a day for young people to exchange candy, flowers and declarations of love. For some of us, long familiarity and the numbing effects of lockdown have banished all thoughts of romance. Until yesterday I forgot about Valentine’s Day; I sent no cards or goodies to my sons and bought none for the DH. This post must serve as my Valentine’s message to them.

I love my guys more than I can say — and that’s the problem, isn’t it? How can I express that effectively? “Love is not a big enough word.” There’s no better example of this very human problem than Cyrano de Bergerac, which I highly recommend reading and/or watching. The 1990 film version starring Gerard Depardieu is wonderful; the production values are superb and Depardieu makes the perfect Cyrano.

A swashbuckling hero with a gigantic nose, Cyrano is a poet and doomed romantic. He speaks in verse and takes down his enemies with a pungent insult or saber thrust. A glance from the one he loves sends him into poetic raptures:

“I – I am going to be a storm – a flame –
I need to fight whole armies alone;
I have ten hearts; I have a hundred arms;
I feel too strong to war with mortals –
BRING ME GIANTS!”

Alas, he does not believe that his beloved Roxane could ever return his feelings.

Enter the young, dashing Christian de Neuvillette who has the looks but not the words to woo the beautiful Roxane.

Wanting his love to be happy, Cyrano writes the script for Christian, and Roxane doesn’t suspect a thing. You know the rest…or if you don’t, you should watch the movie! You can’t get much more romantic than Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano.

Beyond the romance, the play has a lot to say about self-determination, art, and wounded souls. Cyrano makes his living as a musketeer and he is famous for his fighting ability, but he is a poet above all. Rather than sell out by writing for a patron, he chooses to remain unencumbered, even if that means he lives in solitude and poverty. For Cyrano, freedom is much more important than either fame or fashion:

“I may not cut a stylish figure,
but I hold my soul erect.
I wear my deeds as ribbons,
my wit is sharper than the finest mustache,
and when I walk among men,
I make truths ring like spurs.”

I leave the deeper aspects of the play for you to explore. We’ve drifted off topic and should return to the problem at hand, the difficulty involved in verbal expressions of love. Remember, you don’t have to be witty and clever, for when feelings are real “… the moment comes, and pity those for whom it never comes, when love resents clever ripostes and nimble repartee, instead of what is deeply felt and nobly told.” In other words, do the best you can and make your “truth ring like spurs”.*

I know what I’m going to watch tonight. Have a Happy Valentine’s Day with those you love! For additional recommendations, see the Melville Minute (the paper is now behind a paywall but you can access it through a private browser. Shush, don’t tell!).

*All quotes from Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Movies stills found on Google image.