10 Shakespearean Insults
“I was seeking for a fool when I found you.” Or so says Jacques in Act 3 of As You Like It.
The great William Shakespeare died 400 years ago this week, so in honour of his quadricentennial, here are ten of the Bard’s best barbs.
1. “Scurvy politician”
King Lear, Act 4, scene 6
“Get thee glass eyes, and like a scurvy politician seem to see the things thou dost.” Shakespeare’s scurvy means “contemptible” or “despicable” while he used a politician to mean a crooked plotter or schemer who, in this quote from King Lear, only chooses to see what best suits him. And you can provide your own example of that.
2. “Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat”,
Henry V, Act 4, scene 4
A “luxurious mountain goat” might sound like something you’d want to pet, but back in Shakespeare’s day luxurious meant “louche” or “hedonistic”, and the randy behaviour of goats was enough to transform this into an insult Pistol throws at a French soldier in Henry V.
3. “Thou damned doorkeeper to every custrel that comes inquiring for his Tib!”
Pericles, Act 4, scene 6
Nothing wrong with being a doorkeeper of course—but when the door in question is the door to a brothel, things take a turn for the worse in Act 4 of Pericles. Custrel, originally just another name for a knight, is a 16th-century word for a scoundrel while Tib was a byword for “a young of low or loose character” according to the OED.
4. “Where got’st thou that goose look?”
Macbeth, Act 5, scene 3
After he’s called the servant bringing him news of an army of 10,000 English soldiers on their way north a “cream-faced loon”, Macbeth asks him “where got’st thou that goose look?” In others words, “why do you look so stupid?”
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