Line #2 YMMV/CyranoDeBergerac


1	* AluminumChristmasTrees: Ragueneau mentioning Molière plagiarized one of Cyrano's writing in a line of ''The Schemes of Scapin'' ("What the deuce did he want to go in that galley for?") may look like some random BeenThereShapedHistory reference to modern audiences (due to the real Cyrano being now much less famous than Edmond Rostand's character), but it's based on the fact there's really a similar line in a play written by the real Cyrano (''The Pedant Tricked'', 1654).
2	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: At the time this play came out, Realism and Naturalism had been the dominating genre in FrenchLiterature for a while, with things such as over-the-top epic tales of heroism and romantism as glorified in ''Cyrano'' being seen as cheesy, unrealistic and outdated, to the point writers like Creator/EmileZola had written essays about how trying to bring them back today would be laughable. ''Everyone'' reportedly expected the play to fail spectacularly, including Rostand himself, who went as far as to apologize to Cyrano's actor for dragging him into it just before the premiere. As it turned out, people loved it, and it became one of the most famous French plays in History.
3	* AwesomeEgo: Cyrano; except for the nose thing, he thinks really highly of himself, and [[TheAce rightfully so]].
4	* DesignatedVillain: Count de Guiche, to some extent. He ''is'' a JerkAss inclined to scheming and DisproportionateRetribution, but he was initially rather respectful and friendly with Cyrano until the latter refused his offer of patronage and provoked him, the Gascons basically hate him for not adhering to their IdiotHero HonorBeforeReason way when he is shown to be genuinely competent [[GuileHero in his own area]] and faithful to the king during the Siege of Arras, and he [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes genuinely loves Roxane]] only for her to treat his affection with disdain and openly take advantage on his feelings. Given all these factors, it's not hard to feel sympathy for him, especially considering he displays VillainousValor and ends up committing a HeelFaceTurn.
5	* GeniusBonus: There's a scene where Cyrano pretends he just fell from the Moon in order to distract De Guiche, and at one point in his rambling, he mentions he intends to write a book about this experience. The historical Cyrano de Bergerac ''really'' wrote [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comical_History_of_the_States_and_Empires_of_the_Moon such a book]].
6	* JerkassWoobie: Cyrano is a JerkAss, but his FreudianExcuse and his [[MartyrdomCulture upbringing]] make him sympathetic.
7	* SignatureScene:
8	** The WrongInsultOffense scene where Cyrano tells Viscount de Valvert how pathetic his insult to Cyrano's GagNose is and rattling off several better ones.
9	** The balcony scene where Christian attempts to seducing Roxane while Cyrano whispers him his lines.
10	* TearJerker: Let's just say the last scene and have done with it.
11	* ValuesDissonance: Par for the course with KissingCousins and works of olde.
12	* {{Woolseyism}}: Brian Hooker's translation, which finds appropriate equivalent literary references in English for all the French references of the original text. Creator/AnthonyBurgess was inspired by Hooker to use the same approach.
13	** For instance: in the original, Cyrano alludes to Théophile de Viau's play ''Pyrame et Thisbé'' (based on Creator/{{Ovid}}'s [[Literature/TheMetamorphoses Pyramus and Thisbe]]). From an earlier translation: "Behold the nose that mars the harmony of its master's face, blushing its treachery!" [[labelnote:Original line]]"Behold the ''knife'' that marred the beauty of its master's ''breast''..."[[/labelnote]]
14	** In Hooker's translation, he alludes to Creator/ChristopherMarlowe's ''Theatre/DoctorFaustus'': "Was this the nose that launched a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" [[labelnote:Original line]]"Was this the ''face''..."[[/labelnote]]
15	** In Burgess's translation, he alludes to Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'': “Oh, that this too, too solid nose would melt!" [[labelnote:Original line]]"...this too, too solid ''flesh''..."[[/labelnote]]
16	** Cyrano says Valvert's name only has three letters: s-o-t, spelling ''sot'', French for fool. Both the Hooker and Burgess translations manage it with three letters too: a-s-s.

Context YMMV / CyranoDeBergerac