Act IV-V

Act four opens up with Le Bret and the rest of the soldiers struggling to find any source of food. Meanwhile, Cyrano is trying to keep good on the promise he made with Roxanne by continuing to send Christians letters to her. As time passes by more and more soldiers start getting homesick, but Cyrano tries to help the situation by performing a song. Later De Guiche arrives and talks to Cyrano about the attack the Spaniards have planned. Act four ends with Roxanne going to visit Christian, but when she arrives they ask her to leave because they are about to battle the Spaniards.

Act five is fifteen years later where Roxanne now is a nun at the Convent of the Ladies of the Cross in Paris. Now Roxanne and De Guiche are having a conversation and some of the topics include Cyrano and her love for Christian. Cyrano than arrives to see Roxanne even though he has a broken skull. As Cyrano is dying he reads the last letter he wrote to Roxanne, an d then Roxanne realizes that it was Cyrano writing the letters the whole time but he denies it. Soon after Cyrano de Bergerac dies in the arms of Roxanne.

Act four and five are vital to the play because Roxanne finds out about Christian and Cyrano dies too. Roxanne finding about a Christian was important because she finally found out that it was Cyrano that had all those emotional feelings towards her. Lastly Act five reveals the tragic death of Cyrano after getting hit in the head and breaking his skull. Cyrano’s death was important because as he is dying Roxanne finally realizes that it was Cyrano she loved the whole time.

One new word I came across was cadets. A cadet is defined as a student in a national service academy or private military school or on a training ship. (dictionary.com). The cadets were preparing to battle the other soldiers.

Act 3 Scenes I-XIII

Act Three opens up with Ragueneau having a conversation with Duenna about his wife Lise running away with a Musketeer. Soon after Duenna calls Roxanne into the room and starts bragging about Christian’s poetic abilities and even rehearses some of Christian’s poems back to Cyrano. De Guiche then enters to tell Roxanne that he is going off to war while Roxanne begs him not to go. When Cyrano finally leaves he goes off to find Christian to help him prepare for his date with Roxanne, but the date goes bad and Roxanne asks Christian to leave. Christian then goes back to ask Cyrano for help. Christian then returns with Cyrano’s guidance and once again Christian was able to knock Roxanne off her feet with his poetry thanks to Cyrano. Minutes later the monk arrives with a letter to Roxanne that reads her and Christian have to get married tonight. As Roxanne and Christian are getting married Cyrano distracts De Guiche from interrupting by telling De Guiche that he has fallen from the moon. As Act Three ends Roxanne and Christian are married. However, Christian now has to go fight in the war and leave Roxanne.

Act Three teaches us that Cyrano still has feelings for Roxanne. Cyrano makes it obvious because when Roxanne was describing the man she loved, Cyrano clearly thought it was him and got his hopes up. Later Roxanne says she loves Christian and Cyrano seemed a little disappointed telling by his reaction. However, as the Act continues Cyrano handles it well knowing that in reality Roxanne really likes him because he is the one writing all the poems Christian gives to Roxanne.

One new word I found in the reading was demisemiquaver. (pg 89) Demisemiquaver is defined as a thirty-second note. The word was used by Cyrano while giving an order to a boy and saying, “A demisemiquaver, stupid boy!”

Act 2 Scenes I-X

Act two opens up with Ragueneau and his cooks making food for the day. Ragueneau’s wife Lise is later infuriated with him after she finds out that he has been giving away free food to poets. Cyrano later arrives at Ragueneau’s bakery while Ragueneau still awaits the arrival of the other poets. When the remaining poets finally arrive Ragueneau shares some of his verses with them, while Cyrano confronts Lise about her affair with Musketeer. As Act Two comes to a end Roxanne finally arrives at the bakery to meet with Cyrano. Roxanne goes on to tell Cyrano that she is in love with Christian and wants him to write to her.

Act two shows Cyrano’s loyalty to his friends. The reason being that Cyrano goes to confront Lise about the affair she is having with the musketeer behind Ragueneau’s back. Cyrano goes on to tell Lise, “I like Ragueneau. That’s why I won’t allow anyone to make him play the ridiculous part of a deceived husband.” (pg 71) This quote demonstrates how much Cyrano cares about Ragueneau, because he could have just ignored the problem. Instead, like a good friend Cyrano goes ahead and confronts Lise about the affair. At the end of Act two Cyrano could clearly be labeled as loyal due to his actions in the Act.

While reading through the play I came across the word coronets. A Coronet is defined as a crown worn by nobles or peers (Dictionary.com). Our coronets would stretch from here to doomsday!