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Summary: Act 3, scene 1

Ragueneau sits outside Roxane’s house conversing with her duenna. He tells the duenna that his wife, Lise, ran off with a musketeer and that his bakery is ruined. He says that he tried to hang himself but that Cyrano found him, cut him down, and made him Roxane’s steward. The duenna calls up to Roxane, telling her to hurry. They are going to a discussion group on the tender passion. Cyrano strides into the scene followed by a pair of musicians, whose services he won in a bet over a fine point of grammar. The musicians are terrible, however, and Cyrano sends them off to play an out-of-tune serenade to Montfleury.

Roxane comes down, and she and Cyrano talk about Christian. Roxane says that Christian’s letters have been breathtaking—he is more intellectual than even Cyrano, she declares. Moreover, she says that she loves Christian. She recites passages of the letters to Cyrano, who makes a show of critiquing the poetry. Roxane says that Cyrano is jealous of Christian’s poetic talent. The duenna cries out that de Guiche is coming, and Cyrano, hastened by the duenna, hides inside the house.

Summary: Act 3, scene 2

De Guiche tells Roxane that he has come to say farewell. He has been made a colonel of an army regiment that is leaving that night to fight in the war with Spain. He mentions that the regiment includes Cyrano’s guards, and he grimly predicts that he and Cyrano will have a reckoning. Afraid for Christian’s safety if he should go to the front, Roxane quickly suggests that the best way for de Guiche to seek revenge on Cyrano would be for him to leave Cyrano and his cadets behind while the rest of the regiment goes on to military glory. After much flirtation from Roxane, de Guiche believes he should stay close by, concealed in a local monastery. When Roxane implies that she would feel more for de Guiche if he went to war, he agrees to march on steadfastly, leaving Cyrano and his cadets behind. He leaves, and Roxane makes the duenna promise she will not tell Cyrano that Roxane has robbed him of a chance to go to war.

Summary: Act 3, scene 3

Roxane expects Christian to come visit her, and she tells the duenna to make him wait if he does. Cyrano presses Roxane to disclose that instead of questioning Christian on any particular subject, she plans to make Christian improvise about love. Cyrano agrees that he will not tell Christian the details of her plot, a gesture Roxane appreciates. She conjectures that Christian would prepare a speech to her if he knew. Roxane and the duenna leave, and Cyrano calls to Christian, who has been waiting nearby.

Summary: Act 3, scene 4

Cyrano tries to help Christian prepare for his meeting with Roxane. He urges Christian to learn lines Cyrano has written. But Christian refuses. He says he wants to speak to Roxane in his own words, and Cyrano bows to Christian, saying, “Speak for yourself, sir.”

Analysis: Act 3, scenes 1–4

Rostand’s play does not hold musketeers in high esteem. This dislike becomes immediately apparent when the distasteful Lise runs away with one. Many of the references to the musketeers and to Dumas’s The Three Musketeers are overwhelmingly negative. By this point, the musketeers have been developed as symbols of an antiquated and corrupt past. Rostand uses the musketeers as moral foils, contrasting them with more noble characters, such as Cyrano, Roxane, and even Christian. For instance, when Lise’s despicable actions with the musketeer drive Ragueneau to desperate measures, Cyrano saves Ragueneau’s life, consoles him, and finds him a job. Cyrano cleans up the mess made by the musketeers.

Cyrano’s development as a heroic and moral character becomes even more remarkable in these scenes. He displays his knowledge of music, language, and mathematics. Despite his affection for Roxane, Cyrano enjoys helping Christian win her love, a fact that exemplifies Cyrano’s attraction to challenges of all kinds. But he also displays modesty: when Roxane praises the letters, which he secretly wrote, Cyrano does not believe that they have truly affected her. He realizes this impact, or allows himself to realize it, only when Roxane recites many of the lines back to him by heart. Cyrano may be proud, but he is also unbelievably humble.

These scenes present Roxane as an expert moderator who has powerful skills of persuasion. First, she convinces Cyrano about the beauty of the letters. But her most important achievement is persuading de Guiche to forgo taking vengeance upon Cyrano. Perhaps de Guiche’s reluctance can be attributed to his feelings for Roxane, but it is her persuasive flirting that clearly affects him.

The contrast between Cyrano and Christian intensifies in these scenes: Cyrano is humble and reserved, and Christian is proud and supremely confident, yet simple-minded. Given Cyrano’s incomparable love for Roxane, his ability to maintain a strong sense of reserve as she compliments the letters is remarkable. In comparison, Christian is more excited than Cyrano, though he did not even write the letters. At the end of scene iv, Christian seems somewhat unappreciative of Cyrano and believes the wooing is complete. Christian doesn’t understand that his decision to speak to Roxane without Cyrano’s help might lead him down a difficult and disastrous path.

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