When I had to read Shakespeare in school, I didn’t appreciate his talent. He was a master of insults. I enjoyed the way the words he wrote flowed, but I didn’t take the time to look up unfamiliar words so that I could understand just what he was saying.
First are the insults that have some unfamiliar words in them. Once you know what the words mean, the insults are, well, so much more insulting. Then I share the insults that are more easily understood along with the book it is in and when that book was written.
“Hang ye, gorbellied knaves, are ye undone? No, ye fat chuffs.”
From Henry IV, Part 1; 1623
chuff – This word means chubby or fat, but it can also mean swollen with pride.
gorbellied – having a protruding belly; fat.
“These lies are like their father that begets them, gross as a mountain, open, palpable. Why, thou claybrained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson, obscene, greasy tallow catch.”
From Henry IV, Part 1; 1623
claybrained – stupid, dull
knotty-pated – blockheaded; thickheaded
whoreson – bastard, a coarse fellow
“Away, you scullion! You rampallion! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe.”
From Henry IV, Part 2; 1599
fustilarian – a fat and slovenly person
rampallion – a ruffian or scoundrel
scullion – a kitchen servant who does menial work; a low or contemptible person
“Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows.”
From Troilus and Cressida; 1609
sodden-witted – dull
“I speak not like a dotard nor a fool,
As, under privilege of age, to brag
What I have done being young, or what would do
Were I not old.”
From Much Ado About Nothing; 1623
dotard – a person, especially an old person, exhibiting a decline in mental faculties; a weak-minded or foolish old person
“I am sick when I do look on thee.” From A Midsummer Night’s Dream; 1600
“A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.” From All’s Well That Ends Well; 1623
“I do desire that we may be better strangers.” From As You Like It; 1623
“They have a plentiful lack of wit.” From Hamlet; 1603
“Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood.” From King Lear; 1608
“Thou art unfit for any place but hell.” From Richard III; 1597
“The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes. From Coriolanus; somewhere between 1605-08
“Villain, I have done thy mother.” From Titus Andronicus; somewhere between 1589-92
“Out of my sight! Thou dost infect my eyes!” From Richard III;1597
“You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness.” From Much Ado About Nothing; 1623
“Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows.” From Troilus and Cressida; 1609
“No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip. She is spherical, like a globe. I could find out countries in her.” From The Comedy of Errors; 1594
There are so many more Shakespearean insults than the ones I have included in this article. Do you have a favorite insult from The Bard? What is it?
Amazon Links:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Shakespearean Insults Coffee Mug
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