Shakespeare Insults

The following list of insults from Shakespeare's plays may seem a bit out of date. Can you think of any present day equivalents?

Shakespeare Insult 1 – The Two Gentlemen of Verona
“Thou subtle, perjur’d, false, disloyal man!”
Shakespeare Insult 2 – As You Like It
“Thou art like a toad; ugly and venomous.”
Shakespeare Insult 3 – The Tempest
“Thine forward voice, now, is to speak well of thine friend; thine backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract.”
Shakespeare Insult 4 – Measure For Measure
“Thou art a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward.”
Shakespeare Insult 5 – All’s Well That Ends Well
“A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.”

Shakespeare Insult 6 – Cymbeline
“Thy tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile.”
Shakespeare Insult 7 – Henry IV Part 2
“You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe!”
Shakespeare Insult 8 – All’s Well That Ends Well
“Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.”
Shakespeare Insult 9 – The Winter’s Tale
“My wife’s a hobby horse!”
Shakespeare Insult 10 – Troilus and Cressida
“Thou art as loathsome as a toad.”

Shakespeare Insult 11 – Macbeth
“Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver’d boy.”
Shakespeare Insult 12 – Henry IV Part 1
“Thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch!”
Shakespeare Insult 13 – Henry IV Part 1
“That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?”
Shakespeare Insult 14 – Henry IV Part 1
“You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish–O for breath to utter what is like thee!-you tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck!”
Shakespeare Insult 15 – Henry IV Part 1
“Peace, ye fat guts!”

Shakespeare Insult 16 – Henry V
“There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune.”
Shakespeare Insult 17 – Richard III
“Thou poisonous bunch-back’d toad!”
Shakespeare Insult 18 – Richard III
“Thou art unfit for any place but hell.”
Shakespeare Insult 19 – Hamlet
“Thou are pigeon-liver’d and lack gall.”
Shakespeare Insult 20 – All’s Well That Ends Well
“Your virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese.”

Shakespeare Insult 21 – Henry V
“Thine face is not worth sunburning.”
Shakespeare Insult 22 – As You Like It
“Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after voyage.”
Shakespeare Insult 23 – Henry IV Part 1
“You are as a candle, the better burnt out.”
Shakespeare Insult 24 – Hamlet
“If thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.”
Shakespeare Insult 25 – Measure For Measure
“Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.”

Shakespeare Insult 26 – All’s Well That Ends Well
“A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.”
Shakespeare Insult 27 – All’s Well That Ends Well
“Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.”
Shakespeare Insult 28 – The Taming Of The Shrew
“Come, come, you froward and unable worms!”
Shakespeare Insult 29 – Macbeth
“Thou cream faced loon”
Shakespeare Insult 30 – Henry IV Part 1
“Thou art as fat as butter.”

Books Unlocked March 2016

This month's theme is Shakespeare week 14 – 21st March and National Poetry day on 21st March.

What Shakespeare have you read, seen on stage, watched as a movie?

What poetry have you read?

If you have any reviews for the blog please share, or email sarah.arkle@beds.ac.uk Look out for the displays at Luton LRC and Bedford Library

Books Unlocked: Snuff and Temperance

From the author

One piece of advice given to authors is to write about what they know. I am not sure I was aware of this when I created Snuff and Temperance. But I have somehow followed the suggestion anyway, consciously or otherwise. While Luton is my home town and I have lived and worked here for most of my life, it may not be the Luton that you, as a potential reader know. Even amongst fellow Lutonians, we may have shared the same space, time and oxygen but your town may look, feel and smell differently to mine. So this is not an attempt at a definitive description of living in this corner of Bedfordshire or an attempt to capture the ‘real’ Luton, whatever that may be. Rather, it is a set of fictions that I have put together over the years for my own entertainment and, hopefully if you have a read, yours too. 

 

6 Book Challenge - Luton Display

6 Book Challenge

The Couples - a review

The Couples by Forrest Dunbar reviewed by a member of staff

A clever piece of characterisation, if somewhat stereotypical. We are introduced to three sets of neighbours, two distinguished by their religion: Catholic and Jewish and the third main couple, Clifford and Christine.

We follow their lives through suburbia, Christine a psychiatrist, who has recovered from illness to recommence her home counselling, is neighbour, friend and counsellor to the other two women in the novel, Lydia a menopausal woman who is married to a stingy, unappreciative Jewish husband. Sarah, who is living with her devout Catholic boyfriend. For obvious reasons she feels neglected and unloved. Clifford and Christine, however have a successful loving relationship. They try their best to support and generate goodwill between the three sets of neighbours putting up with their nuances.

The farce unfurls and we are faced with some very comedic situations, relationships become tense and strained, with a smattering of infidelity. With an overall undertone of goodwill, I laughed out loud on several occasions!

A competent first attempt at comedy by someone so young. Three cheers for Forrest!

6 Book Challenge - The Couples

My name is Forrest Dunbar and I am currently studying English Literature on the Bedford Campus. Reading and writing has always been a main passion of mine, I could not visualise what a world would be like without fiction… Well I could, it would be unimaginatively boring and dull like the TV show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

In September, 2013, my siblings went back to school and suddenly (for a change), I had the house to myself. This was a blessing as it finally gave me a chance to write something. Firstly, I write in an unconventional way. I write about whatever enters my mind at that current time, if what I am writing seems interesting I pursue it but if I get bored quickly and I have no motivation to continue, I scrap the story and start again. When I started The Couples everything seemed to fall into place; the characters developed their own personalities, making the writing aspect for me enjoyable. When I got so far into the book that is when I stop and plan what lies ahead for the characters.

Nothing greatly inspired me for the characters; they just formed in my head. I have always been fascinated by relationships and extreme stereotypes; I particularly had great fun caricaturing the ridiculousness of extreme stereotypes, it makes good comedy.

I have future novels in mind that have inspired me from certain situations and events but there will be more to say once they materialise.