Cyrano de Bergerac Notes | Topic Tracking: Honor

Act 1

Honor 1: Cyrano accepts responsibility for ruining the play, and offers all of his money to the actors to keep them from having to take a loss on the night's theatre performance.

Honor 2: Cyrano so defines himself as a man of honor that he extends that nature to his unbelievable nose, going so far as to verbally attack the Irritable fan's normal nose as being completely inadequate.

Honor 3: Cyrano, a true musketeer and man of honor, prizes his honor above all else. When Valvert insults him, Cyrano does what honor dictates, and kills Valvert.

Act 2

Honor 4: Cyrano can't bear to see his good friend Ragueneau being dishonored by his wife, so he demands that she stop sneaking around with her Musketeer.

Honor 5: After Christian insults him, Cyrano is forced to choose between the two most important things in the world to him - his honor, and his love Roxane. He finally swallows his pride and befriends Christian.

Act 3

Honor 6: Roxane correctly informs De Guiche that the best way to get his revenge on Cyrano would be to keep him out of the war with Spain. Cyrano could never accept the damage to his honor that would result in his being forced to sit aside when everyone else was waging war.

Act 4

Honor 7: Even though they are starving and hopeless, Cyrano manages to rally his troops be appealing to their sense of national pride. He sing their regimental song, and reminds them what honor is.

Honor 8: Cyrano humiliates De Guiche by exposing him as a coward in front of the other men. Cyrano reminds De Guiche that he cannot be a true soldier, a true Frenchman, because he's not willing to put his honor before his life.

Honor 9: Cyrano had promised to tell Roxane the truth and let her decide who she loves. But after Christian is killed, he can't bear to break Roxane's heart by telling her the truth - so for the first time, he breaks his word.

Act 5

Honor 10: Cyrano can't bear the thought of having been killed by an unknown assassin. So he stages a final duel for himself, a heroic struggle in which he strikes down bad principles, until finally, he can't fight any more, and is slain by death.