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Cyrano's Utopian Satire in The Other World

Cyrano de Bergerac's 'The Other World' is a posthumously published satirical novel that critiques human society through the lens of a fantastical republic of birds. The narrative explores themes of utopian politics and arbitrary power, presenting an ideal government that contrasts sharply with the monarchy of Bergerac's time. By using animal fiction, the text invites readers to reconsider their perceptions of authority and governance, foreshadowing later works in the genre of science fiction.

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7 views5 pages

Cyrano's Utopian Satire in The Other World

Cyrano de Bergerac's 'The Other World' is a posthumously published satirical novel that critiques human society through the lens of a fantastical republic of birds. The narrative explores themes of utopian politics and arbitrary power, presenting an ideal government that contrasts sharply with the monarchy of Bergerac's time. By using animal fiction, the text invites readers to reconsider their perceptions of authority and governance, foreshadowing later works in the genre of science fiction.

Translated by

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Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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Linear Analysis n°2 :

Cyrano de Bergerac, The Other World or


Comic History of States and Empires of the
Moon and Sun

Introduction:
The Other World ...was published in 1662 after his death.
author (posthumously), Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac,
libertines of the baroque period. Their atheism drives them to question
questioning the foundations of the divine right of monarchy
and claimed a new political and social organization.
This initiatory novel is a satire that combines travel
imagination and utopia, it is the ancestor of science fiction. This story
at 1eraa person tells of the discovery of a fantasy world,
here is the republic of birds. In our excerpt, the character of
the magpie, which has taken under its protection, gives a description of the mode
of the government in place in this Republic of Birds
located on the sun.
We will see how the text is an apology for a society.
utopian ideal that actually critiques human society.

Movements of the text:


➢ Line 1 to 4: A mode of fantasy
➢ Lines 4 to 7: The speech of the magpie
➢ Lines 8 to 13: Utopian politics
➢ Lines 14 to 21: The control of arbitrary power
Linear :

Iermovement: A fanciful world

It is the character narrator who tells us his adventure here.


among this society of birds. Indeed, it is a system of
particular government and it's the character of the magpie that has
took the narrator character under her protection and went to explain to him
their mode of government. She just spoke as indicated
the 1ers"she was finishing this". The temporal pronoun "when"
announces a disturbing element which is confirmed by the
verbs in the simple past "we were", the disturbing element:
The arrival of the eagle (line 1). The eagle (just like the lion in La
Fountain) he is the "king" of birds. Humanization of the eagle "he came
sit" instead of the expected verb "perch". Our
character immediately applies the label of the court in the
humans. In lines 2 and 3 he wants to kneel as required.
the law among humans. We are therefore in a register
wonderful to which our human adheres without questioning
question this supernatural universe. The use of the possessive determiner
"my pie" and the picturesque expression "from his paw...plate"
comes to strengthen the humorous tone. However, the participle
The present 'believing' is an opinion verb that allows for introduction.
the critical dimension of the text: the questioning of prejudices
men.

IIèmemovement: The speech of the magpie


The piece begins with a rhetorical question in which we
sent une pointe d’ironiepour semoquer de l’homme. La
The conjunction "therefore" is heavy with implications since this little
word highlights a false reasoning: men put on the
the strongest throne, the magpie knows "that this great eagle was our
sovereign.” On line 5, “It’s an imagination…”: here the magpie the
{"lexique de l’opinion":"lexicon of opinion","croyant":"believer","pensez":"think","imagination":"imagination"}
takes on a more pejorative connotation further reinforced by the adverb
"stupidly." The magpie presents an indictment against the judgment
of men. She denounces their mistakes and their anthropocentrism
"judging everything by yourself" (line 6). Thus the author by the
the bias of this fable offers an outside perspective on humans,
who invites the reader to modify their judgment. It is about reviewing in
question our government: namely, a blind submission
at its peak. It makes an enumeration in gradation: (lines 5 and 6)
to the greatest, to the strongest, and to the cruelest of your
companions.

IIIthmovement: A utopian political model


(Line 9) "But our policy is quite different": This 1heparagraph
begins with a conjunction of opposition. The rest of the speech
the foot is a reasoned presentation as indicated by all
["but","because","and","yet","in order to"]
that." This subordinating conjunction "in order that" which emphasizes
the didactic nature of her discourse, she proposes a model
utopian underscored by an attribute 'well other' which expresses a
break with the narrator's world. It is an inverted world, a
democracy as indicated by the verb 'we do not choose for the
who" used with a restrictive negation and especially followed by a
line 9 of an enumeration "the weakest, the sweetest and the
"peaceful", an enumeration that inverts that of
line 6. The verb "changeons" shows that it is the people who
they collectively elect their king: it is therefore a republic even if the
the text highlights a paradox in the act of electing a king. Furthermore,
the exercise of power is limited in time: 'every six months'
what opposes a hereditary monarchy (for life). "We the
"let's choose gently," she provides a justification of three criteria of
choice of the king, introduced each time by a complement
circumstantial of But "to avoid" and twice a proposition
subordinate clause introduced by 'so that' also shows
the reasoned nature of this system. The physical criterion of the
weakness (line 10 and 11) allowing the reciprocity of power: 'to
avenge him." Psychological criterion: gentleness, "we
"Let’s choose gently" helps to avoid conflicts with its subjects and
especially the tyranny and arbitrariness of power expressed by the
parallelism 'neither hate nor be hated'. Finally, the moral criterion,
parallelism helps to avoid war designated as a
absolute scourge that corresponds to what great nations do
European.

IVèmemovement: The control of arbitrary power


"Every week..." : the 2emeparagraph starts with
temporal markers that specify the modalities of the exercise of
power. An assembly meets (the states) or the whole of
people and consulted and where freedom of expression reigns. In this
The ideal regime sees the king unanimously supported to stay in power.
as indicated by the conditional subordinate clause "If he meets"
three poorly satisfied birds. The expression 'poorly satisfied' means
that nothing can replace it. The last paragraph describes a
surprising ceremony where we do not see justice being served
as if he were exercising justice from his oak. The king here is subject to
summit of a large fir, feet and wings tied (line 18), mix
of the animal and human world, in a humiliating situation and of
total helplessness highlighted by the passive voice 'is mounted'. The
power is conferred to the people as indicated by the determiner
undefined 'all' followed by the expression 'he can throw it in the water' which
corresponds to the expression of dethroning a king but the complainant must
justifier otherwise he is liable to a death sentence.
the burlesque and poetic expression "condemned to a sad death"
refers to our expression 'dying of sorrow'. The rest of the text
will explain what the punishment consists of (listen to songs
of extreme melancholy that makes one consume with grief), this
which will allow the author to make an indirect critique of death
by the author: in this ideal world the physical suffering of the
the death penalty is replaced by moral suffering.
Conclusion :
A text that associates imagination and thought. Cyrano de Bergerac
imagine here a fictional people to make a political satire and
delivered an indictment against the institutions of his time.
Utopia allows for the outlining of an ideal government.
while implicitly challenging the contemporary monarchy of
the author. The use of animal fiction to create a satire of
the human society announces La Fontaine who will publish his fables
a few years later regarding the literary genre of travel
imaginary, it teaches to change the way we see the world and to
decenter (Cyrano de Bergerac seeks to popularize the theories
of Copernicus and Galileo on heliocentrism which replaces the
geocentrism). The Enlightenment philosophers will remember it (cf.
Micromégas by Voltaire.

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