Topic Tracking: Love
Act 1
Love 1: Christian is eager to duel Valvert in an attempt to prove his love to Roxane, even after he's been told how dangerous Valvert is.
Love 2: Cyrano reveals that he had another reason for threatening Montfleury - he's in love with Roxane, and couldn't bear the lecherous way that Montfleury was looking at her.
Love 3: Cyrano and Christian are both in love with Roxane, but neither feels confident enough to approach her - Cyrano because he's too ugly, and Christian because he's too uncouth.
Act 2
Love 4: Roxane is so blinded by the ideal love she imagines in Christian that she can't even imagine that he isn't the perfect man. She refuses to believe that he couldn't be witless. Cyrano is so in love with Roxane that he'll do anything she asks, even if it helps his competition for her affections.
Act 3
Love 5: Roxane is so obsessed with Christian that she is willing to steal from Cyrano the one thing he would more than anything, an opportunity to go to war.
Love 6: Finally able to throw off his self-loathing by standing in the darkness, pretending to be someone else, Cyrano expresses his love to Roxane. He's able to win her heart - but it's Christian who gets the kiss.
Love 7: Cyrano has accepted that he's lost Roxane forever, but still he wants to connect with her in the only we he can - by writing love letters to her, even if they are in Christian's name.
Act 4
Love 8: Even though she faces almost certain death, Roxane has become so committed to Christian that she's willing to risk her life, even die, so long as she gets to do it with her husband.
Act 5
Love 9: Roxane finally realizes that it was Cyrano she fell in love with from the letters, but it's too late to do anything about it. All she can do is mourn both men as her departed husbands, because truly, it was a combination of the two of them that she loved most of all.
View More Summaries on Cyrano de Bergerac (play)
