Chantecler

CHANTECLER (French: Chantecler) is the main character of E. Rostand’s play “Chantecler” (1910). The rooster Chantecler appeared in folk songs and sayings of the Romance world in the Middle Ages. Rostand used the image of the dawn singer—cheerful and full-voiced, bringing joy, and sometimes warning of troubling events—for the purpose of literary polemics.
Chantecler
— a Gallic rooster, embodying Gallic courage, humor, and zest for life. “The singer of the dawn,” as the playwright intended, was supposed to evoke associations with Cyrano de Bergerac. Chantecler is a poet who does not recognize the prose of existence; he believes that a song—joyful and victorious—adorns life and drives away the colors of night. The image of Chantecler was conceived in contrast to the poets of Rostand’s contemporaries. In the play, all the birds and animals do not understand Chantecler and make fun of him, but poetry and a clear ringing song cannot help but win. Chantecler does not like gloomy colors and fogs (an allusion to the symbolists), any kind of “arcane meaning” (an allusion to the decadents), and he cannot tolerate reasoning about “food and manure” (a late nod to naturalism). He is the singer of love, valor, and passion—the very soul of poetry and its embodiment.
When Rostand worked on the play, he had in mind the actor Coquelin, who was to play Cyrano, but he never took on the role, so the premiere of the play went without great success. In 1910, the image of a singer praising the sun and light was perceived as a tribute to naïve good-naturedness. Rostand didn’t want to see the tragedy looming over Europe—just as he didn’t want to admit the dramatics of Chantecler’s life. The Gallic humor of the character was assessed by critics much the same way as the Gascon feats of the hero from Dumas père: the character from medieval songs, Chantecler, turned out to be out of time.