How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #1
A GUARDSMAN (to a flower girl who comes forward)
How sweet
Of you to come before they light the hall!
(Puts his arm around her)
FIRST CAVALIER (Receives a thrust of the foil)
A hit!
SECOND LACKEY
A club!
THE GUARDSMAN (Pursuing the girl)
A kiss!
THE FLOWER GIRL (Pushing away from him)
They’ll see us!
THE GUARDSMAN (Draws her into a dark corner)
No danger! (I.8-10)
The language of lovers renders the game of love a battle of words, a verbal sparring. It is fitting that this dialogue takes place at the very start of the play, since it sets the stage for what is to follow.
Quote #2
ANOTHER MAN (Draws a bottle from under his cloak and sits down with the others)
Here’s the spot
For a jolly old sot to suck his Burgundy—
(Drinks)
Here—in the house of the Burgundians! (I.13-14)
Wordplay and verbal cunning also feature prominently in the play, so again Rostand readies us (at the start of the first act) for what is to come.
Quote #3
THE CITIZEN (To his son)
Would you not think you were in some den of vice?
(Points with his cane at the drunkard)
Drunkards—
(In stepping back, one of the cavaliers trips him up)
Bullies!—
(He falls between the lackeys)
Gamblers!—
(Behind him as he rises, still struggling with the Flower Girl)
One kiss –
THE CITIZEN
Good God!
(Draws his son away quickly) (I.15)
Language synchronizes with action and provides the play with a verbal rhythm.
Quote #4
A CUT-PURSE (Gathers around him several evil-looking young fellows)
Now then, you picaroons,
Perk up, and hear me mutter. Here’s your bout—
Bustle around some cull, and bite his bung. (I.23-25)
The cut-purses, like gangs of thieves today, have their own jargon, their own way of speaking that is enigmatic to the layman. Because men are defined by their speech in this play, the cut-purse is set apart by his words from the gentlemen around him.
Quote #5
CYRANO (Closes his eyes for an instant.)
Stop… Let me choose my rimes… Now!
Here we go—
(He suits the action to the word, throughout the following:)
Lightly I toss my hat away,
Languidly over my arm let fall
The cloak that covers my bright array—
Then out swords, and to work withal!
A Launcelot in his Lady’s hall…
A Spartacus, at the Hippodrome!...
I dally awhile with you, dear jackal,
Then, as I end the refrain, thrust home!
(The swords cross—the fight is on.)
Where shall I skewer my peacock?... Nay,
Better for you to have shunned this brawl!—
Here, in the heart, thro’ your ribbons gay?
—In the belly, under your silken shawl?
Hark, how the steel rings musical!
Mark how my point floats, light as the foam,
Ready to drive you back to the wall,
Then, as I end the refrain, thrust home!
Ho, for a rime!.. You are white as whey—
You break, you cower, you cringe, you… crawl!
Tac!—and I parry your last essay:
So may the turn of a hand forestall
Life with its honey, death with its gall;
So may the turn of my fancy roam
Free, for a time, till the rimes recall,
Then, as I end the refrain, thrust home!
(He announces solemnly.)
Refrain:
Prince! Pray God, that is Lord of all,
Pardon your soul, for your time has come!
Beat—pass—fling you aslant, asprawl—
Then, as I end the refrain…
(He lunges; Valvert staggers back and falls into the arms of his friends. Cyrano recovers, and salutes.)
Thrust home! (I.456-484)
Cyrano’s brilliant improvisation fits the structure of a ballad—an impressive feat indeed.
Quote #6
RAGUENEAU (Raises his head; returns to mere earth.)
Over the coppers of my kitchen flows
The frosted-silver dawn. Silence awhile
The god who sings within thee, Ragueneau!
Lay down the lute—the oven calls for thee!
(Rises; goes to one of the cooks.)
Here’s a hiatus in your sauce; fill up
The measure.
THE COOK
How much?
RAGUENEAU (Measures on his finger.)
One more dactyl.
THE COOK
Huh?...
FIRST PASTRYCOOK
Rolls!
SECOND PASTRYCOOK
Roulades!
RAGUENEAU (Before the fireplace)
Veil, O Muse, thy virgin eyes
From the lewd gleam of these terrestrial fires!
(To First Pastrycook)
Your rolls lack balance. Here’s the proper form—
An equal hemistich on either side,
And the caesura in between.
(To another, pointing out an unfinished pie)
Your house
Of crust should have a roof upon it.
(To another, who is seated on the hearth, placing poultry on a spit)
And you—
Along the interminable spit, arrange
The modest pullet and the lordly Turk
Alternately, my son—as great Malherbe
Alternates male and female rimes. Remember,
A couplet, or a roast, should be well turned. (II.3-19)
Ragueneau’s wordplay, punning between poetical terms and cooking ones, makes him one of the funniest and most pretentious characters in the play.
Quote #7
LIGNIÈRE
It is true that for an ode—
You give a tart—
RAGUENEAU
A tartlet—
LIGNIÈRE
Modesty!
And for a triolet you give—
RAGUENEAU
Plain bread.
LIGNIÈRE (Severely)
Bread and milk. And you love the theatre?
RAGUENEAU
I adore it!
LIGNIÈRE
Well, pastry pays for all. (II.98-102)
Ragueneau puns between pastries and currency. Rostand may be making a commentary on the theater here by saying that it is worth nothing but sweets—in other words, nothing.
Quote #8
CYRANO [to Roxane]
—But my dear child! You, who love only words,
Wit, the grand manner—Why, for all you know,
The man may be a savage, or a fool. (II.217-219)
Roxane is so concerned with Christian’s looks that she does not hear Cyrano’s words; this reflects the larger issue at hand, that she doesn’t hear Cyrano for who he is because she is so focused on her hunk of a cadet.
Quote #9
A VOICE OUTSIDE
Ah! Sandious!
(Noise outside of swords and trampling feet approaching.)
CARBON
Here they come now!
THE CADETS (Entering the shop)
Mille dious!—
Mardious!—Capadedious!—Pocadedious!
RAGUENEAU (In astonishment)
Gentlemen—
You are all Gascons?
THE CADETS
All! (II.256-258)
The different tribes of Frenchmen can be recognized by their different dialects of speech. Here, the Gascons are identified by their curses. Again we see that language defines identity in this play.
Quote #10
ROXANE
My words, well aimed, find you more readily.
CYRANO
My heart is open wide and waits for them—
Too large a mark to miss! My words fly home,
Heavy with honey like returning bees,
To your small secret ear. Moreover—yours
Fall to me swiftly. Mine more slowly rise.
ROXANE
Yet not so slowly as they did at first.
CYRANO
They have learned the way, and you have welcomed them.
ROXANE (softly)
Am I so far above you now?
CYRANO
So far—
If you let fall upon me one hard word,
Out of that height—you crush me! (III.232-241)
Here, words are compared to weapons like arrows and weights; Cyrano—an ugly man—knows that words can be used to hurt as well as compliment and woo.
Quote #11
ROXANE (Out on the balcony)
Are you still there?
We were speaking of—
CYRANO
A kiss. The word is sweet—
What will the deed be? Are your lips afraid
Even of its burning name? Not much afraid—
Laid aside laughter, slipping beyond speech
Insensibly, already, without fear,
From words to smiles… from smiles to sighs… from sighing
Even to tears? One step more—only one
From a tear to a kiss—one step, one thrill!
ROXANE
Hush!—
CYRANO
And what is a kiss, when all is done?
A promise given under a seal—a vow
Taken before the shrine of memory—
A signature acknowledged—a rosy dot
Over the i of Loving—a secret whispered
To listening lips apart—a moment made
Immortal, with a rush of wings unseen—
A sacrament of blossoms, a new song
Sung by two hearts to an old simple tune—
The ring of one horizon around two souls
Together, all alone! (III.367-385)
Cyrano uses the transformative power of words to convince Roxane—but more likely to convince himself—that a kiss (a physical act) is no different than a promise (a verbal one). This is comforting to him, since he can provide the latter and not the former.
Quote #12
CYRANO (Takes her hand.)
Was it true—what you told him just now?
ROXANE
It was true!
I said that I should love him even…
CYRANO (Smiling sadly)
The word
Comes hard—before me?
ROXANE
Even if he were…
CYRANO
Say it
I shall not be hurt!—Ugly?
ROXANE
Even then
I should love him. (IV.502-507)
Roxane knows that words can hurt and thus cannot bring herself to use the term "ugly" before Cyrano.