In Edmond Rostand's masterpiece drama, Cyrano de Bergerac, Cyrano, the plays antagonist, suffers through emotional trauma instilled in him by his unreturned love for his cousin Roxanne. Amidst his many impressive qualities, Cyrano possesses an uncanny sense of wit and cunning unparalleled by any of the story's unique characters. Through a dialogue expressed by this sly character, Rostand displays a "purple patch" by combining excellent poetic writing with a keen sense of symbolism, vivid imagery and intriguing figures of speech.
             Cyrano's tirade responds to an insult made about his nose by Valvert, rival character. Instead of allowing Cyrano to display a violent reaction, Rostand keeps him true to form by having him release a fiery, entertaining, and utterly hilarious outburst in which he displays his wit by rolling of better insults then the weak Valvert, who, in the end, receives much more severe embarrassment.
             During his speech, when Cyrano exclaims that " 'From its size and shape, I'd say it was a rock, a bluff, a cape- No a peninsula- how picturesque' ", Rostand paints a vivid picture into the minds of the reader of the true size of the nose (Rodstand 30). While combining comedy into a cleverly designed series of words in which the size of the object increasingly gets larger- like moving from a normal sized nose to one of extraordinary size. The tone of the line, quick, direct, and sarcastic, opens the readers mind to Rostand's true intentions of a smooth and embarrassing insult. Cyrano later describes his nose as " 'Quite a useful gadget, that. You hold it high and then hang up your hat' "(30). This line expresses a comedic joke with both poetic rhythm and a figure of speech by comparing the nose to a large hat hook. Creativity blended with the easily comparable everyday object such as a hat hook helps inject colorful life into the insult, which a...