How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #22
CYRANO
But the cool, quiet pipe our goatherds play!
Listen—the forest glens… the hills… the downs…
The green sweetness of night on the Dordogne…
Listen, you Gascons! It is all Gascoyne!...
(Every head is bowed; every eye cast down. Here and there a tear is furtively brushed away with the back of a hand, the corner of a cloak.)
CARBON (Softly to Cyrano)
You make them weep—
CYRANO
For homesickness—a hunger
More noble than that hunger of the flesh;
It is their hearts now that are starving. (IV.95-101)
Over and over, Cyrano fights practical reality with overblown romanticism.
Quote #23
CYRANO
So it is!... Well—a poet while he writes
Is like a lover in his lady’s arms,
Believing his imagination—all
Seems true—you understand? There’s half the charm
Of writing—Now, this letter as you see
I have made so pathetic that I wept
While I was writing it!
CHRISTIAN
You—wept?
CYRANO
Why, yes—
Because… it is a little thing to die,
But—not to see her… that is terrible!
And I shall never—
(Christian looks at him.)
We shall never—
(Quickly)
You
Will never—
CHRISTIAN (Snatches the letter.)
Give me that! (IV.215-225)
Despite his best efforts, Cyrano’s love for Roxane is too overwhelming for him to hide.
Quote #24
ROXANE
You do not altogether know me… Dear,
There is more of me than there was—with this
I can love more of you—more of what makes
You your own self—Truly!... If you were less
Lovable—
CHRISTIAN
No!
ROXANE
—Less charming—ugly even—
I should love you still. (IV.458-463)
Roxane’s love transforms from the shallow, appearance-obsessed kind to one of greater depth, a love of the lover’s expression—which is, as Roxane describes, the outpouring of the lover’s soul.