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How to insult like the Bard

Shakespeare enriched the English language with hundreds of new words. But, upon my word, you can also find some of the best put-downs in his writing.

william shakespeare, NFAI, shakespearean plays, national film archive of india, plays, shakespearean bards, sonnets, macbeth, indian express pune

“Thou subtle, perjur’d, false, disloyal man!”
The Two Gentlemen of Verona

“Thou art like a toad; ugly and venomous.”
As You Like It

“Thine forward voice, now, is to speak well of thine friend; thine backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract.”
The Tempest

“Thou art a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward.”
Measure For Measure

“A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.”
All’s Well That Ends Well

“Thy tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile.”
Cymbeline

“You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe!”
Henry IV Part 2

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“You have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness.”
much ado about nothing

“My wife’s a hobby horse!”
The Winter’s Tale

“A weasel hath not such a deal of spleen as you are toss’d with.”
Henry Iv, part 1

“Out of my sight! thou dost infect my eyes.”
richard iii

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“I do desire that we may be better strangers”
as you like it

“Thou art as fat as butter”
henry iv part 1


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