Edmond Rostan’s CYRANO DE BERGERAC

“Yes, all our souls are written in our eyes!”

Cyrano in Edmond Rostan’s Cyrano de Bergerac Act 2, Scene VI

Antique writing supplies from my own collection

On this day in 1962, The Beatles released their very first record, "Love Me Do.” You might want to listen to this initial hit of theirs, which launched in me, as with millions of others around the world, a torrid love affair with the boys and their music. Unlike many of their later songs, “Love Me Do” has uncomplicated lyrics asking the beloved to reciprocate in a budding romance. The words might have been very simple, but, oh, that sound!

         Rostan’s classic love tale Cyrano de Bergerac, on the other hand, is a fairly tangled affair in which the lover hides, rather than sings or shouts, his devotion. A prominent swordsman, Cyrano falls in love with his cousin Roxane. Because he has an unusually large nose, he is self-conscious and guarded about his feelings for her.

Content to nourish his unrequited love from afar, he is soon disturbed to find that his beloved is attracted to a handsome newcomer to the Cadets de Gascogne, Christian de Neuvillette. Christian is likewise swept off his feet by Roxane, yet has no ability to communicate his sentiments. Since Cyrano wields a wit as sharp as his rapier, he offers to write love letters on Christian’s behalf. In short, Roxane never knows Cyrano has penned the poetic messages she cherishes. Even after she weds Christian, Cyrano keeps the secret to himself, until his death.

            Think about a time one of your facial or body features caused you to feel inferior. Were you so self-conscious that you hid, really hid, or hid behind a mask, or hid behind another, using your own talent to bolster them? Or did you disregard your big nose, or have surgery on your drooping eyes, or use your frizzy hair to your advantage?

            At one point, Cyrano attempts to warn Roxane that Christian is a shallow fellow, saying, “His mind may be as curly as his hair.”

            Roxane rebuffs him with the line, “Not with such eyes. I read his soul in them.” To which Cyrano replies, “Yes, all our souls are written in our eyes! But — if he be a bungler?” And Roxane says then she would die, so deceived is she by the lovely writings. I’m not sure the words to “Love Me Do” would have had quite the affect that this silvery-tongued message of Christian — through the hand of Cyrano — had on her:

“My life, my love, my jewel, my sweet,
My heart has been yours in every beat!"

            But that was a different time and place — 17th-century Paris to be exact. And now, back to Rostan’s line: “Yes, all our souls are written in our eyes!”

            “I see your soul in your eyes!” livescience.com report that, “As the cheesy pickup line suggests, your eyes may really be the window to your soul. According to a new study by Yale University psychologists, most people intuitively feel as if their ‘self’ — otherwise known as their soul, or ego — exists in or near their eyes.”

            Have you ever contemplated whether or not your soul shows through your eyes? Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of hearing a writer give a reading of her work. She was the wife of a university professor of mine, and they were both good friends with my favorite English teacher, a fiery poet and profound lecturer — one of the best educators I ever had, in and outside the classroom.

            Hearing her speak stirred many memories for me. For my first Freshman English class at the University of Montevallo, I studied with a wonderful instructor. But a friend who lived next door to me in my dorm often detailed exploits with her teacher, Mr. Finlay, and thought, since I really loved literature, that I would enjoy his class. So, she arranged for me to visit one afternoon, and introduced me before the period began.

            As Mr. Finlay explicated the intricacies of a poem I was fond of, I was mesmerized if not astounded. I pondered how a person could dive that deeply into such a short work. And how he could bring it to life and clarity for us. I guess I was staring at him, for suddenly, he stopped lecturing and declared, “Miss Sloan! Don’t look at me with those eyes. I can see your soul!”

            This outburst and personal address from a teacher I had just met both flummoxed me and bound me to him for life. By the way, earlier that fall, the Beatles’ “Hey Jude” hit the number one spot — an unconventional, complicated, and fully developed song, even with its 240 “nahs”!