Shakespeare's Insults: Educating Your Wit

by William Shakespeare, Wayne F. Hill, Cynthia J. Öttchen

Book Overview

The sharpest stings ever to snap from the tip of an English-speaking tongue are here at hand, ready to be directed at the knaves, villains, and coxcombs of the reader's choice. Culled from 38 plays, here are the best 5,000 examples of Shakespeare's glorious invective, arranged by play, in order of appearance, with helpful act and line numbers for easy reference, along with an index of topical scorn appropriate to particular characters and occasions...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517885395
• ISBN13: 9780517885390
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Most useful volume of ancilliary literature ever written

LitCrit doesn't generally impress me much; I'm not sure why I should subsidize people who feel this is in the benefit of society. I don't normally have much time for folks who meticulously catalog things out of fiction; i.e. exhaustive lists of names of people in "The Iliad", the studies of Tolkien's constructed languages, the trivia of Harry Potter, etc. "Shakespeare's Insults" however... With insults cataloged by play and application, this book serves several ends. Should a child or subordinate fail to exercise proper and suitable speech, you can point out that "more of your conversation would infect my brain", and as a corrective training, have them copy out a few pages of insult and profanity superior to the run of the mill in twenty-first century United States. This book clearly illustrates that Shakespeare is livelier than most high school teachers will allow it to be in their class rooms. And it provides a repository of useful words and phrases for those moments and individuals in life that the 'F' word simply falls short of. I enjoyed this book and have gotten great use out of it. E. M. Van Court

Amazing resource

Shakespeare's Insults is a thoroughly researched and well-presented documentation of The Bard's inventive invective. It's an invaluable resource for those who teach or perform Shakespeare. I present a very popular workshop called "Thy Mother," teaching people how to create Shakespearean insults. This book makes it much easier and, in fact, I use it as a prize for the winning teams of insulters. Highly recommended.

Shakespeare is right on

Shakespeare's wit is on the mark. His vocabulary still stings in today's world as it did in his. The book is well organized with amble references. I carry it in my briefcase for quick use.

Excellent!

This is a fabulous little book that every high school English teacher should have in their arsenal. When the jock in the back row groans when you ask him to read aloud from Hamlet, call him a burly-boned clown. When the popular kid in the front row claims to have forgotten to read the assigned pages from Macbeth, call him Triton of the minnows. Okay, maybe don't, but using it to help you find the curses and insults within the texts, and therefore to help you point them out to your students, will definitely make Shakespeare more fun for them.

To air is human; To forgive is folly

Haven't figured out a classy way to tell someone that they get on your nerves? Want to make a big impression in a heated one on one dispute? Well, this is the book for you. Potent, sarcastic yet classic quotes taken from Shakespearean plays are compiled in this tiny book. Whether you tuck this small treasure in your desk at work or place it on the nightstand at home, you must use it. You will definitely have the upper hand in your next verbal battle with the enemy. Be offensive with style!