Count de Guiche decides to remain at Arras

Count de Guiche’s decision to remain at Arras is a battlefield choice shaped by encirclement, hunger, and an abrupt reversal in responsibility. He initially commits to stay when Roxane refuses to leave, and asks for a musket so he can take part in the defense. Yet his resolve does not end in standing beside the soldiers: when Cyrano tells him to save Roxane, De Guiche carries her away in his arms. The sequence tests valor not as a fixed pose but as a willingness to accept danger and then act where the danger is most immediate.

Siege Conditions and the News

The decision takes place in a camp under severe pressure. The defenders are themselves besieged by the Spanish forces, a reversal that Le Bret calls a trap: the French are conducting a siege while also trapped within one. Carbon objects that it is disgraceful for besiegers to starve, making clear that the military predicament is also a matter of basic supply. Hunger is not incidental background; it limits what the defenders can endure and gives each report about provisions or force a tactical weight.

De Guiche brings news of a secret effort to supply the camp. The previous evening, the Marshal had made a final attempt to victual the defenders and had taken a substantial force with him. De Guiche reports that half the army is now absent from camp. Carbon recognizes the danger if the Spaniards learn this. The report therefore frames De Guiche’s later choice: remaining means holding a position made more vulnerable by the absence of so many troops, not simply expressing loyalty under ordinary conditions.

Roxane’s arrival sharpens the contrast between military need and the cadets’ immediate privation. When the conversation turns to food, she says that the camp air has made her hungry and orders pasties, cold fricassee, and old wines. Her request makes provision concrete amid the broader shortage, and the cadets’ consternation at the abundance underscores how strained their circumstances are. De Guiche also points out a cannon that has been carried into a corner for the men to use if necessary. The scene thus places a specific defensive resource beside the depleted forces and the demand for food.

Roxane Refuses to Leave

De Guiche asks Roxane what decision she will take; she answers that she will stay. When he presses the question of departure, she repeats her refusal. Her choice leaves De Guiche facing a more personal consequence of the camp’s danger: Roxane is not going to withdraw herself from it, and he must decide how to respond to her presence there.

He asks for a musket and explains that he, too, means to remain. The gesture matters because it is a change from command to participation. Rather than merely direct the defense, he asks for a weapon among the soldiers. His explanation is that he will leave no woman in peril. His commitment is therefore expressed as protection, although at this point he treats staying at the camp as the way to fulfill it.

Valor and Reversal

Cyrano answers De Guiche’s resolve by acknowledging that he has proved his valor, then urges him to fly and save Roxane. The exchange redirects the meaning of De Guiche’s decision. Remaining is no longer the only available proof of courage: once his willingness to face danger has been established, Cyrano asks him to take responsibility for Roxane’s safety instead.

De Guiche accepts the new charge without delay. He rushes to Roxane and carries her away in his arms, saying that if they gain time, victory will be theirs. The action reverses his earlier declaration in its outward form—he had asked for a musket because he meant to remain, but now he leaves with Roxane—while preserving its protective purpose. The scene does not establish that he abandons the defense altogether; it shows him answering Cyrano’s immediate appeal and carrying Roxane out of danger.

Significance of the Decision

The episode links personal courage to the military facts surrounding it. A hungry, encircled force has lost half its army from the camp, depends on a cannon held in reserve, and faces the possibility that the enemy may discover its weakness. Against that setting, De Guiche’s offer to remain is not empty bravado: he volunteers to bear the danger himself. But the scene also refuses to make steadfastness a matter of simply staying in place. Cyrano’s intervention gives De Guiche a different task, and De Guiche’s rapid response makes protection, rather than the performance of command, the decisive action.

The change is also a moment of recognition between the men. Cyrano explicitly credits De Guiche’s valor before asking him to save Roxane, so the command rests on a demonstrated willingness rather than an assumption. De Guiche’s earlier pledge and his later departure are consequently not presented as a simple contradiction. Together, they show a decision being revised as the stakes become clearer: he means to remain rather than flee, but when Roxane’s safety becomes the urgent need, he carries her away and seeks to buy time for victory.