Unrequited Love A Tale of Two Cities, and Cyrano de Bergerac

The phrase â€Å"you win some, you lose some† can pertain true to many different situations including love. In the novels, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, the respective characters Sydney Carton and Cyrano de Bergerac experience a loss. This loss comes in a form of unrequited love, where they are both unable to be loved by the one they recognize as their true loves. Due to their experiences with unrequited love, both Sydney Carton and Cyrano are led to the discovery of their own inner strengths as well as self-sacrifice. Both Sydney and Cyrano are very smart and talented characters. Despite being smart and talented, they are still able to learn additional things about themselves through their†¦show more content†¦Here, he himself proclaims how he wants to make sure everybody knows of his presence. The confidence is seen; when Sydney is in England, he slogs a grey cloud overhead and most people would never notice if he is there or not, but as he comes to France, that changes and he wants to make sure everyone knows that he is there, just in case they have to prepare themselves. Contrastingly, Cyrano is a confident gentleman from the beginning. He is a character that is given respect by everyone – including his enemies and he is sure that everyone knows not to insult, in particular, his nose. In this excerpt, the warning is being passed along about Cyrano’s nose: â€Å"[First Cadet]: Hark ye, Monsieur de Neuvillette: You are to know [t]here is a certain subject – I would say, [a] certain object – never to be named [a]mong us: utterly unmentionable! [Christian]: And that is? [Third Cadet]: (In an awful voice) Look at me!... (He strikes his nose three times with his finger, mysteriously.) You understand? (Rostand 91) The Cadets are passing along the warning to the newcomer – for they fear his safety because they have experienced his wrath. This expresses the respect for Cyrano and, in addition, the confidence of Cyrano can be seen because he is so confident that he can take on whomever insults him, without even knowing who. But, Cyrano learns that his lover, Roxane, is in love with another man, Christian. As seen in the previous passage, the warning is