How we cite our quotes: (Act.Line)
Quote #19
CYRANO
I never
Look at you, but there’s some new virtue born
In me, some new courage. Do you begin
To understand, a little? Can you feel
My soul, there in the darkness, breathe on you? (III.323-327)
Love inspires new superhuman courage in Cyrano. This recalls the "Bring me giants!" scene in Act I where Cyrano, spurred on by Roxane’s acknowledgement of him, spends his newfound courage fighting off 100 men.
Quote #20
LE BRET
Horrible!
CARBON
Why, yes. All of that.
LE BRET
Mordious!
CARBON (Gesture toward the sleeping Cadets)
Swear gently—You might wake them.
(To Cadets)
Go to sleep—
Hush!—
(To Le Bret)
Who sleeps dines.
LE BRET
I have insomnia.
God! What a famine.
(Firing off stage.)
CARBON
Curse that musketry!
They’ll wake my babies. (IV.1-5)
Though Captain Carbon is ultimately a fighting man, he loves his Cadets with an almost parental tenderness.
Quote #21
CYRANO (Appears on the parapet)
Bergerac, idiot!
LE BRET (Goes to meet him.)
Thank God again!
CYRANO (Signs to him not to wake anyone.)
Hush!
LE BRET
Wounded?
CYRANO
No—They always miss me—quite
A habit by this time!
LE BRET
Yes, you can laugh—
Risking a life like yours to carry letters—
Where are you going now?
CYRANO (At the tent door)
To write another. (IV.29-32)
Le Bret, Cyrano’s closest friend, worries about him risking his life every morning to send a love letter. Obviously not bothered by Le Bret’s concerns, Cyrano makes it clear that he values love more than life.