Customer Reviews

Shakespeare's Insults: Educating Your Wit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Based on the premise that "people NEED insults," Hill and Ottchen here offer a catalogue of every insult the immortal bard ever published. It must have been a tedious collection process, but the work was well worth it; as anyone even the slightest bit familiar with Shakespeare would expect, here in this isolated form his insults reveal themselves as powerful, picturesque, and scathing. The language and the diversity of emotion and expression will not fail to impress you.

My one quibble with the collection is that is seems rudderless in its organization. If we are intended to use the language as our own, why does most of the book consist of a list of insults organized by PLAY (which is hard to use, and a bit tedious to read unless you are treating the book as a concordance for the play itself) rather than by type of insult or applicability? (The final section offers this, but it is VERY short). In terms of content and concept, though, this book makes for a great addition to a classroom, resource collection, letter-writing desktop, or to the Shakeseare-lover's coffee table -- a good gift for the scholar or bibliophile.

Not a book to be read from cover to cover, but used as a reference. Categories (lawyers, doctors, fools, etc.) of phrases and lines from the "Compleat Works" which are mildly to outrageously insulting. The editor stretches the word insult a bit, since at least some of the epithets included might be affectionately used. Without good actors to say them amusingly, these lines might not seem as hilarious or insulting as they are, but for those trying to educate about Shakespeare or wishing to show off a bit, this book is wonderful.

I thought this was going to have definitions of the various terms used by Shakespeare, but it only has lists and lists of insults. I admit many of the terms are somewhat straightforward, but I really was trying to find something that would "educate" me about how the insults came about and perhaps their meaning at that time. If you are looking for lists of insults, however, this is the book for you.

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.

Wayne Hill and Cynthia Ottchen have compiled a very useful list of insults from the works of the Master Bard himself!

The book begins with Part I providing a list of ready to use insulting names for the act of "name-calling." Part II examines Shakespeare's major plays and the insulting lines therefrom. Part III ends the book with a list of Ready Insults For Particular Occasions.

Trust me, upon purchase and use of this text, when the content is memorized, you will never be at a loss for words again! Commendable work. Outstanding. Five stars.

Example: "You foul-mouthed and caluminous knave; you rabble of vile confederates, and herd of boils and plagues, etc."

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

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.

This book was purchased as a gift for a Speech and Drama college student.
These kids really enjoy the wit Shakespeare wrote. Knowing which insult to use for appropriate moments is a blast for them!

This book will is a sure fire way to get friends laughing. So buy it, you cofbeater!

This was the best book I ever bought!