Product 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. Line art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187888 in Books
• Published on: 1995-10-03
• Released on: 1995-10-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780517885390
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From the Inside Flap
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. Line art.

Customer Reviews

Why use your own insults when Shakepeare's are so colorful?
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.

Marvelous! Tickle your brain and upgrade conversation
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.

Deceptive Title
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.