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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Cyrano appear in Scene 3?

2. What are the players of the Hotel de Bourgogne doing at the end of the first act?

3. Who challenges Cyrano to a duel after he ejects Montfleury?

4. What does Lise use as wrapping for Ragueneau's food?

5. For whose benefit do the cadets demand Cyrano tell the story of his recent victory over the brigands?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why does Cyrano leave the theatre at the end of Act 1?

2. Describe Christian's interchange with Roxane in Scene 5.

3. How does Roxane trick the monk in Scene 11?

4. What plan do Cyrano and Christian hatch by the end of Scene 10?

5. Why does Ragueneau expect Cyrano at the play?

6. What job is Cyrano given in Scene 12?

7. Describe Lise.

8. What new sadness has befallen Ragueneau at the beginning of Act 3?

9. Describe the scene created when Ragueneau's poets enter the shop.

10. How does Roxane prevent Christian's going to battle in Scene 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Cyrano de Bergerac is forever held prisoner by his inability to declare his love for Roxane. Write an essay about his continued resistance to admitting his feels for her, focusing on three parts:

Part 1) Why is Cyrano initially unwilling to declare his love to Roxane? How are his assaults on Montfleury and Valvert connected to this reticence?

Part 2) What decisions does Cyrano make regarding Christian and Roxane once he knows they care for each other? What does this say about Cyrano's attitude toward both and toward himself?

Part 3) Cyrano makes a conscious decision not to tell Roxane the truth regarding his letters to her after Christian dies. What is the root of this decision? What does this choice mean for the next 15 years of his life?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the play, Rostand uses caricatures of certain character types to create a sense of society at large. Write an essay about these caricatures - focusing on three - and what effect they create. What are they mocking? How do they create the impression of a status quo? How do major characters interact with them, and why?

Part 1) Monfleury

Part 2) The poets of Ragueneau's shop

Part 3) The sisters of the convent

Essay Topic 3

Christian is in many ways the tragic figure of CYRANO DE BERGERAC. Write an essay on this assertion. What does he want at the beginning of the play, and why does he choose to involve Cyrano in this endeavor? In the end, how does CHristian end up accomplishing the opposite of what he wanted to?

(see the answer keys)

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