Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac has remained popular for over 100 years. The memorable characters, the smart comedy, and the tragic romance that plagued Cyrano's life allowed the readers to become closer and develop more empathy toward the characters in this comi-tradgity. The continued success of Cyrano de Bergerac is based on the play's unique appeal and application to the readers, and because of these unique qualities, Cyrano de Bergerac will remain popular in times to come. .
Throughout the past hundred years much has changed in the world of the arts. Different painting styles have gone in and out of popularity. Many kinds of music have defined each of the past 10 decades. But the one form of art that has never died is the art of comedy theater. Since the beginning of theater as early as the ancient Greeks, comedy has been a favorite of theater goers. In more recent times, with the advent of film, many new variations of comedy have arisen: action-comedies, dark-comedies, and the romantic comedy. Also, television has created the situation comedy, or sitcom. The reason that this form of entertainment has remained so popular among all people is the fact that people never become board of having fun. Even though Cyrano de Bergerac was written over one-hundred years ago, its base being a romantic comedy, still allows the message to connect with today's audiences. .
Another reason Cyrano has become the success it has, is for the fact that the story itself is so artificial and in some sense ridiculous; but manages to be serious, and at times insightful. An example of this would be the sward fight between Cyrano and the 100 townsman. Never would one man be able to defeat one-hundred men using only a sward. Cyrano de Bergerac relies greatly on "poetic license" to illustrate the characters, but the play itself centers on a very realistic and timelessly pertinent problem: the idea of true love.
