Shakespeare: The Bard's Guide to Abuses and Affronts

by William Shakespeare, Running Press (Editor), Nancy Armstrong (Editor)

Baffle your friends with your erudite knowledge of Shakespearean English, all while casually insulting them. This deluxe collection of Shakespeare’s most dazzling insults is neatly separated into sections for quick retrieval when a stinging retort is demanded. Become the master of your own villainy with creative insults that will show those rogues and ruffians who’s in charge!

Genres: Shakespeare, Nonfiction, Humor, Classics, History, Theatre, Reference

176 pages, Hardcover

First published February 25, 2014

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pocket size book of simple insults in Shakespeare plays. These are only short insults. In King Lear there are some great insults that are full paragraphs long which are not included here. There are many missing, but there are some fun ones.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is surely the best way to read Shakespeare!

Short quotations that are easy to digest and what's more these ones relate to abuses and affronts, which makes them more amusing.

I particularly like 'The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes' from Coriolanus and 'There is no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune' from Henry IV Part 1 - both quite fruity!

I don't think I have enjoyed Shakespeare as much since GCE days - only joking about the latter!

[Искра · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." summary of most books nowadays

"Idol of idiot-worshipers." - best

"We make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars, as if we were villains by necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion."

[Jade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is handy. I even took photos of the insults that I'd like to use on people. It was a quick and amusing read.

[Lilz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book is just a lot of fun. I especially liked the Merchant of Venice insults, and missed all the Lady Macbeth insults not used. This is getting me in the mood to binge all of Shakespeare’s work that I haven’t. Also he’s a possible bisexual king?? Why have I never heard about this??

[Addy Canzano · Rating 5 out of 5]

HIGHLY recommend to whisper (or shout them with pride) these in your friends ears while walking around the streets of nyc

[TRex_TeaTime · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great little read!
Insults I plan on using include, 'I do desire we may be better strangers' and 'more of your conversation would infect my brain'
👏👏👏

[EmmieLouDraws · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, though I did notice one of the insults was repeated. Some of these were so funny!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Studying Shakespeare next year so this reading this book counted as work...right?

Anyway an hilarious look into Shakespeare's plays and some very handy insults

[Kailea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little book. I appreciated the addition of some history at the beginning, and the formatting was fabulous. Made me miss doing Shakespeare a bit.

[Dora Pavić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thou crusty batch of nature.

[Lucia Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and entertaining little book, each insult as sharp as the day it was penned, however the introduction and short history of Shakespeare's life was quite infantile in the telling. It seemed to go out of it's way to say "Hey! Look at all this unreliable evidence that Shakespeare may have been a bisexual polygamist!" Like sure, give us the information, but don't hit it over our heads. I've got more interesting things to do than watch you flounder about trying to prove Shakespeare's sexual and romantic preferences one way or the other.

[Yannis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shakespeare never ceases to impress the contemporary reader with the breadth and wealth of his intellect! A very good book in summarizing lesser-known insults invented by William Shakespeare. Shame we don't use most of them any more!

[august · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up when I was in the Globe Theater. It's my new favourite thing ever X3

[Diana Jaques · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shakespeare: The Bard's Guide to Abuses and Affronts a book everyone should have in their pocket.

This book begins with a brief introduction making the reader aware that so many of the little things we say today actually stem from Shakespeare without us even knowing.
There is also a section that discusses a brief history of Shakespeare and what little information we know of his life before entering the main body of the book.

With each section there are short Shakespeare quotes perfect for insults. Some are so short you could more than likely commit them to memory and when the time arises and your faced with the opportunity you could recite a Shakespearean insult which will no doubt leave your interlocutor stumped and you feeling rather smug.

I love the idea of brining old language and sayings back into the twenty first century and I'm always keen to broaden my own vocabulary as I know so many other readers will find the same appeal with this book.

You can quite literally have this book in your pocket or bag with it being so small. It is definitely a practical book to carry around and something that will be a conversation piece.

[Kate Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tiny collection of Shakespeare’s creative insults and criticisms is a fast and entertaining read, each page features a different (small) quotation from one of his plays. I was hoping for a lot of entries from Taming of the Shrew and unfortunately, I felt like some excellent ones were missing, however in this tiny collection it would be impossible to include them all! And the ones that were featured were very funny and fresh. Additionally, I loved the different fonts and page formats included on each page, these regular changes kept me interested and helped distinguish one quotation from another. Although this book makes a lovely edition to my bookshelf, I probably won’t read it again as it does not contain any significant information about Shakespeare himself. But I would defiantly recommend it as a gift for any bardolator!

[Barrita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este fue definitivamente mi favorito de la colección y me sacó varias risas. Algunos de los insultos los recordaba de las obras pero otros fueron un refrescante recordatorio de que las obras de Shakespeare son sumamente graciosas y su fin es entretener.

El minilibro está dividido en secciones, teniendo insultos sobre el físico, inteligencia y blasfemias varias. Aparte de ser super simpático en forma y dimensiones, la selección de dicterios es una maravilla que puede ser de utilidad para aficionados de Shakespeare y neófitos curiosos por igual.

[Tony Loyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but just a little wanting in terms of quality. One of the quotes is repeated twice very close together which a cursory glance should have revealed in the editing process. Some of the quotes aren't really abuses or affronts so much as have words in them vaguely relating to the theme of the section they're in. Still, a nice bit of fun and definitely a cute little book. Many of the quotes on idiocy put me in mind of a certain co-worker that I can't stand lately, so it was fun imagining situations where I got to yell them at the co-worker aloud.

[Mayad Tarabey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book which was a part of a 3-book Boxset because I truly want to get into Shakespeare‘a works and life more. Also we’re gonna study Shakespeare’s works in college so I wanted to get a glance of what we will be seeing from him. So this was a good introduction of his life in a brief summary and also the quotes that were chosen made me more excited to read his works.
He was low-key reading others to filth and I was here for it.

[J.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting way to see the way Shakespeare uses language, and the types of insults he dishes out. There’s a good quantity of quotes here and they mention their sources, unfortunately they don’t mention the specific line so you can find it. Not a huge bummer of course, it’s all for fun.

[Adam Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tiny but cool.

[Milla · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Thou art a very ragged Wart"

[PJ Wenzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun pocket-sized edition of Shakespeare’s best insults! Also prefaced by an insightful and concise biography on the Bard.

Many thanks to my Daughter, Chloe for the fun read!

[Leiki Fae · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the cutest and funniest books on my shelf. Highlights: "I do desire that we may be better strangers." "Idol of idiot worshippers!" "Thou smell of mountain goat."

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It definitely lives up for its title - now I know where to go to find a confusing insult to throw at someone 😂

[Ikschikdersoms · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I ask myself why I can be so mean, but then I remember this is in my pocket.

[Rebecca Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super easy to read as it’s just pages of quotes! Hilariously witty!

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pocket-sized book of curses and slams to boggle the minds of people who annoy you. Wish there were more.

[Ingvild Sofie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"thy mother
took into her
blameful bed
some stern
untutor'd churl...
whose fruit
thou art... "
-henry VI, part II

10/10

[John Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little book with insults from Shakespeares plays