Cyrano de Bergerac is a play in verse by the French dramatist Edmond Rostand, first performed in Paris in 1897. It is based on the life of an actual 17th-century French writer and soldier.
The hero of the play is Cyrano, a valiant and witty soldier whose appearance is marred by a grotesque nose. He is in love with his beautiful cousin Roxane. She does not know of his feelings and tells him that she loves Christian, a handsome but dull-witted soldier in Cyrano's company. Determined that Roxane shall be happy, Cyrano helps Christian win her by writing poetic love letters for him. Soon after Roxane and Christian are married, Christian is killed in battle. Roxane enters a convent, where Cyrano visits her regularly for 15 years. He helps her keep Christian's memory alive by reading his letters to her. In the final scene, as Cyrano dies, Roxane realizes that the words she has loved are Cyrano's.
