Shakespeare's Insults: Educating Your Wit

by Wayne F. Hill

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Description

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.

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Member Reviews

3 reviews
This collection is a hit and miss collection, like so many of the genre. It depends greatly on the editing, what is included, what is left out, and how it is presented. There are some wonderful zingers in here, as anyone familiar with the bard would expect, but some of the items selected aren't actually insults so much as curses or other ramblings. The presentation is all right, but the format leads to repetitiveness, because the insults are presented in three different formats. I also don't think it was helped by the decision of the editors not to include what character they were spoken by, or to, because they felt they would be more able to be utilized by readers to insult their own tormenters. While I love the insults here, I suspect show more I would never actually call someone by most of these names. It is more interesting as a curiosity than as a reference. show less
This book is entertaining and funny. I always find shakespear hard to understand though.
A hoot and a good reference book.

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Author Information

7 Works 821 Members
Wayne Hill has taught a summer course on totem-pole carving at Sir Sandford Fleming College

Common Knowledge

Original publication date
1991
Epigraph
Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.

--William Shakespeare
The Tempest
First words
People need insults.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)[Thy] learned pate
Ducks to the golden fool.
Timon of Athens 4.3.17-18

Classifications

Genre
Poetry
DDC/MDS
822.33Literature & rhetoricEnglish & Old English literaturesBritish DramaShakespeareShakespeare, William 1564–1616
LCC
PR2892 .H55Language and LiteratureEnglishEnglish LiteratureEnglish renaissance (1500-1640)
BISAC

Statistics

Members
734
Popularity
38,323
Reviews
3
Rating
(3.75)
Languages
English
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
8
ASINs
3