70 pages 2 hours read

Edmond Rostand

Cyrano de Bergerac

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1897

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Act 5

Act Summaries & Analyses

Act 5 Summary: “The Fifth Act: Cyrano’s Gazette”

In the autumn of 1655, 15 years after the previous acts, several nuns sit around Mother Marguerite de Jesus on a bench outside their convent. They tease each other for minor indiscretions and discuss how Cyrano has been visiting Roxane every week for 10 years. The nuns also discuss Roxane living among them during that time. Sister Claire wants to convert Cyrano to Catholicism, but Mother Marguerite tells her to leave him alone. She notes that he is impoverished but too proud to accept charity.

Roxane and Guiche enter as the sisters leave. Roxane says she remains faithful to Christian and carries his last letter with her always. Cyrano, she says, visits her weekly to share the news. Le Bret joins them and discusses Cyrano’s poverty and works of satire with Guiche. Guiche envies Cyrano’s freedom of speech, despite being richer and more powerful than Cyrano. Privately, Guiche mentions to Le Bret that people have threatened to murder Cyrano, and Le Bret agrees to warn Cyrano.

As Ragueneau approaches, the others discuss the many careers he has pursued after being a Poet, such as singer and actor. Roxane goes off with Guiche, and Ragueneau tells Le Bret that he saw Cyrano get in an accident—a lackey dropped a log of wood out a window, and it fell on Cyrano.