It's hard to decide whether I'd rather be Christian or Cyrano, since one of them was gifted with a better situation and one of them was gifted with a better character. I would probably choose the better character, however, in some respects each one would have it easier than the other.
If I were one of the supporters of the "ignorance is bliss" theory, I would say I would rather have been Christian. His life was short and eventful; he died thinking he got the girl. However, I'm not even so sure that he was as ignorant as he appeared. It must have been awful for Christian to climb up to Roxane's window to "reap the rewards" of Cyrano's poetry. If Christian really was incredibly stupid, then maybe it would have been enough for him, but it was obvious throughout the book that he was becoming increasingly upset by the position he was in, and wanted to be honest with the woman he loved. I don't know if he really saw her affections as much of a reward, since they weren't really directed at him. Therefore I think I would rather have been Cyrano. He knew the defect he was born with would probably keep Roxane from loving him, but he made her love him anyway, knowing that Christian had no way of gaining her affections without him. I imagine it would have given him a lot of personal satisfaction to know that he was probably the only man in the world who she could have fallen in love with, even if he thought his nose was too much of an obstacle for it to ever happen. Christian never got this satisfaction, so I think that in love, Cyrano was the more fortunate of the two. Cyrano knew it was on his own merits Roxane's love was being won, while Christian was constantly afraid the only reason she liked him was because of something he was born with, his good looks, and the fact he had someone at his back, helping him woo her.
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