How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #1
THE CUT-PURSE
Lignière—that friend of yours—
CHRISTIAN (same business)
Well?
THE CUT-PURSE
Good as dead—
Understand? Ambuscaded. Wrote a song
About—no matter. There’s a hundred men
Waiting for him to-night—I’m one of them.
CHRISTIAN
A hundred? Who arranged this?
THE CUT-PURSE
Secret. (I.188-192)
Lignière mentioned that he wrote a parody song about Comte de Guiche earlier, so one can infer that it is the Comte who sent one hundred men to kill him. This is an early indication of the depth of the Comte’s depravity; he is so offended by a mocking song that he sends one hundred armed men against one drunkard simply to assuage his pride.
Quote #2
A VOICE (In the back of the hall, sings.)
Monsieur de Cyrano
Must be another Caesar—
Let Brutus lay him low,
And play us "La Clorise"!
ALL THE CROWD (Singing)
"La Clorise!" "La Clorise!"
CYRANO
Let me hear one more word of that same song,
And I destroy you all! (I.244-250)
To those who mock his interruption of La Clorise, Cyrano threatens death. He is particularly stung by this disembodied sing-song voice because it so echoes his own entrance—his poetic verbal mocking of Montfleury.
Quote #3
CYRANO
Did you not ask, my dear, why against one
Singer they send a hundred swords?
(Quietly, drawing his own sword)
Because
They know this one man for a friend of mine! (I.676-678)
Cyrano knows his enemies well enough to suspect that they are easily pricked by his bold insulting words and will stop at nothing to avenge themselves upon him, even if it means hurting innocent bystanders—like Cyrano’s friends—along the way. This ulterior motive establishes the Comte as a mortal enemy of Cyrano from the very beginning.
Quote #4
A CADET (Enters with a drawn sword, along the whole blade of which is transfixed a collection of disreputable hats, their plumes draggled, their crowns cut and torn.)
Cyrano! See here—
Look what we found this morning in the street—
The plumes dropped in their flight by those fine birds
Who showed the white feather!
CARBON
Spoils of the hunt—
Well mounted!
THE CROWD
Ha-ha-ha!
CUIGY
Whoever hired
Those rascals, he must be an angry man
To-day!
BRISSAILLE
Who was it? Do you know?
DE GUICHE
Myself!—
(The laughter ceases.)
I hired them to do the sort of work
We do not soil our hands with—punishing
A drunken poet…
(Uncomfortable silence)
THE CADET (To Cyrano)
What shall we do with them?
They ought to be preserved before they spoil—
CYRANO (Takes the sword, and in the gesture of saluting De Guiche with it, makes all the hats slide off at his feet.)
Sir, will you not return these to your friends?
DE GUICHE
My chair—my porters here—immediately! (II.346-359)
De Guiche confirms our suspicions of his rabid, revenge-obsessed character. Cyrano, however, shows a flare of spirit in taking a bit of his own revenge. To rub in the Comte’s men’s incompetence, he mockingly asks the Comte to return the fallen plumes (already a sign of cowardice and a source of shame for the Comte).
Quote #5
ROXANE
But Cyrano? What will you do to him?
Order him into danger? He loves that!
I know what I should do.
DE GUICHE
What?
ROXANE
Leave him here
With his Cadets, while all the regiment
Goes on to glory! That would torture him—
To sit all through the war with folded arms—
I know his nature. If you hate that man,
Strike at his self-esteem.
DE GUICHE
Oh woman—woman!
Who but a woman would have thought of this?
ROXANE
He’ll eat his heart out, while his Gascon friends
Bite their nails all day long in Paris here.
And you will be avenged!
DE GUICHE
You love me then,
A little?...
(She smiles.)
Making my enemies your own,
Hating them—I should like to see in that
A sign of love, Roxane.
ROXANE
Perhaps it is one… (III.99-113)
Roxane takes advantage of the Comte’s obsession for revenge to save Christian.
Quote #6
ROXANE
(The others gather around her. She pretends to read from the letter, aloud.)
"Mademoiselle:
The Cardinal
Will have his way, although against your will;
That is why I am sending this to you
By a most holy man, intelligent,
Discreet. You will communicate to him
Our order to perform, here and at once
The rite of…
(Turns the page)
Holy Matrimony. You
And Christian will be married privately
In your house. I have sent him to you. I know
You hesitate. Be resigned, nevertheless,
To the Cardinal’s command, who sends herewith
His blessing. Be assured also of my own
Respect and high consideration—signed,
Your very humble and—etcetera—" (III.424-37)
Roxane changes the contents of the letter in part to get revenge on the Comte for offending her honor (by thinking she would get dirty with him while the men marched off the war).
Quote #7
CYRANO (Leads the bridal pair down to De Guiche and strokes with great satisfaction his long white beard.)
My lord,
The handsome couple you—and God—have joined
Together!
DE GUICHE (Regarding him with a frosty eye.)
Quite so.
(Turns to Roxane)
Kindly bid
Your… husband farewell.
ROXANE
Oh!—
DE GUICHE (To Christian)
Your regiment
Leaves to-night, sir. Report at once!
ROXANE
You mean
For the front? The war?
DE GUICHE
Certainly!
ROXANE
I thought
The Cadets were not going—
DE GUICHE
Oh yes, they are!
(Taking out the dispatch from his pocket.)
Here is the order—
(To Christian)
Baron! Deliver this.
ROXANE (Throws herself into Christian’s arms.)
Christian!
DE GUICHE (To Cyrano, sneering)
The bridal night is not so near! (III.561-569)
After being thwarted by Cyrano’s and Roxane’s wits again, Comte de Guiche takes his revenge instantly and ruthlessly by breaking his promise to Roxane and ordering Christian’s regiment to the war front.
Quote #8
CYRANO
So—never fear!
I have two deaths to avenge now—Christian’s
And my own!
(They come down. Cyrano takes from him the lance with Roxane’s handkerchief still fastened to it.)
Float, little banner, with her name! (IV.548-550)
Cyrano, whose love and passionate poetry caused desperate Christian to seek death, feels obliged to avenge his death. For him, however, this is not true revenge. Cyrano isn't acting out of spite; instead, he seeks justice.
Quote #9
DE GUICHE (after a pause)
Have you forgiven me?
ROXANE (Simply, looking up at the cross of the Convent)
I am here. (V.41-42)
Unlike the men in the play, Roxane is forgiving, which thus links mercy to the feminine. While de Guiche cannot let go of his grudge against Cyrano even after fifteen long years, Roxane has let go of her hostility toward the Comte.
Quote #10
DE GUICHE (He goes to Le Bret, and speaks in a low tone.)
One moment—It is true
That no one dares attack your friend. Some people
Dislike him, none the less. The other day
At Court, such a one said to me: "This man
Cyrano may die—accidentally."
LE BRET (Coldly)
Thank you.
DE GUICHE
You may thank me. Keep him at home
All you can. Tell him to be careful. (V.96-102)
De Guiche still carries a grudge against Cyrano for shaming him so many years ago. He eventually triumphs in the end by killing Cyrano for insulting him, but this triumph is compromised by the fact that he can never have Roxane’s love. And also the fact that he’s a jerk, but hey, we’ve known that all along.