Synopsis: Cyrano de Bergerac

Edmond Rostand

Translated by Anthony Burgess


Paris, 1640. Louis XIII is king, but Cardinal Richelieu reigns.
A cross-section of Paris gathers at Theatre Bourgogne for a performance of Clorise, starring Montfleury. A newcomer to the city, Baron Christian de Neuvillette, is looking for the woman he has fallen in love with. Christian is about to join the Gascony cadets, and the poet Lignière introduces him to two men with whom he will be associated—an officer named Le Bret and Ragueneau, a pastrycook who gives pastry to poets on credit because he too is a poet. They anxiously await the arrival of another cadet, Cyrano de Bergerac. A quick-tempered, lethal swordsman, Cyrano has ordered Montfleury not to perform for a month, and his friends anticipate an unpleasant scene.
In describing Cyrano to Christian—“Poet. Fighter. Physician. Musician”—they speak of two defining characteristics: his panache, the white plume which they call his “visible soul,” and his enormous and grotesque nose, which can never be mentioned.
A beautiful woman, Roxane, enters—a member of that group of spirited, independent, intellectual and witty women known as the précieuses. She is Christian’s unknown beloved, and he despairs when he realizes she will expect him to be clever. A powerful (and married) aristocrat, Count De Guiche, courts her, planning to force her to marry his toady, Valvert, who won’t object when De Guiche makes Roxane his mistress. Christian would gladly defend his beloved, but he learns that Lignière is in danger. The count has hired a hundred men to kill him, and honor demands that Christian rescue his friend. He leaves the theatre.
Just as the performance of Clorise begins, Cyrano finally appears and drives Montfleury from the stage with a few well-chosen threats. Valvert, currying favor with De Guiche, insults Cyrano’s nose. In the duel that ensues, Cyrano composes a classical ballade and on the final line thrusts home, killing Valvert and confirming the enmity of De Guiche and other powerful men.
To Le Bret, Cyrano confesses that he, the ugliest man in France, is in love with the loveliest. Le Bret, realizing Cyrano means his cousin, Roxane, encourages him to tell her of his love. Just then, a message arrives, a request from Roxane for Cyrano to meet her the next morning at Ragueneau’s pastry shop. Filled with hope and exhilaration, Cyrano races away to fight the hundred men lying in wait for Lignière.

The next morning, Roxane confesses her love—but not for Cyrano. She loves Christian and begs Cyrano to befriend him. Only De Bret knows what this will cost his friend. Christian, determined to hurry his hazing as a new recruit, uses the word “nose” in every sentence. He bravely stands ready to face the wrath of Cyrano, but finds himself embraced instead by the man who claims to be a kind of brother to Roxane.

Several weeks pass, during which Cyrano writes letters to Roxane signed with Christian’s name and composes words for Christian to speak to her. First attracted by Christian’s beauty, Roxane now loves the soul he expresses—not knowing it is Cyrano’s soul. Cyrano and Christian quarrel, and Christian insists on speaking for himself—so dully that Roxane thinks he no longer loves her. Cyrano takes pity and coaches Christian from the darkness under Roxane’s balcony. Then, he thrusts Christian aside and speaks from his heart—although Roxane believes the words come from Christian. Encouraged by Cyrano, Christian climbs up to the balcony to claim a kiss.
A monk arrives with a letter from De Guiche, informing Roxane that he expects to spend the night with her. She tells the monk that the message is from Cardinal Richelieu, ordering her to marry Christian immediately. As the monk performs the ceremony inside the house, Cyrano diverts De Guiche’s attention. When De Guiche realizes how he has been fooled, he orders the Gascony cadets to leave for the siege of Arras that very night. Cyrano promises that Christian will write to Roxane every day.

Weeks later, the French are starving, surrounded by the Spanish and cut off from supplies. Nevertheless, Cyrano crosses the battlefield twice a day to post a letter to Roxane. De Guiche orders the cadets to certain death; they are to attack the Spanish in order to buy time for the rest of the French army.
Just then Roxane, having charmed the Spanish sentries, appears in a coach filled with food. When she tells Christian how much she loves the soul his many letters have revealed, Christian realizes that the real love is between Roxane and Cyrano. He insists that Cyrano tell Roxane the truth.
As Cyrano starts to speak, the first shot is fired, striking Christian, who dies calling Roxane’s name. Now Cyrano must keep silence forever. De Guiche takes Roxane to safety, and Cyrano leads the cadets to victory under the banner of Roxane’s handkerchief.

Fifteen years pass. Roxane has retired to a convent, although she has not taken vows. She carries Christian’s farewell letter next to her heart. Faithfully, every Saturday, Cyrano visits her with gossip from the court. According to Le Bret, another visitor, Cyrano makes enemies with his writing and lives in squalor and poverty. Even De Guiche, no longer a suitor but Roxane’s old friend, warns Le Bret that Cyrano’s enemies plan to kill him. Ragueneau bursts into the quiet convent garden to whisper to Le Bret that Cyrano has been injured and is not expected to live. Keeping the news from Roxane, the men hurry to Cyrano’s deathbed.
But in the twilight, Cyrano arrives at the convent. He asks to read the letter Roxane carries next to her heart. When it grows too dark to read, he recites it. At last Roxane realizes that the letter she cherishes is stained with Christian’s blood and Cyrano’s tears. “I never loved but one man in my life,” she laments. “Now I must lose him twice.” As moonlight floods the garden, Cyrano defies his old enemies, “Falsehood, Compromise, Prejudice, Cowardice.” Death, which takes everything, can never sully one thing: “a white plume over the battle—a diamond in the ash of the ultimate combustion—my panache.”