Patients looking to vent their spleen on their doctors, and doctors eager to do the inverse, in verse, will find all the bilious verbal abuse they need in this compendium of insults from Shakespeare, who knew, apparently, that sometimes invective is the best medicine. 20 line illustrations.

Away, you scullion, you rampallion, you fustilarian! Along with penning some of the most sublime passages in all of English Literature, Shakespeare was a master when it came to casting a wicked comeback or hurling a barbed insult. Whether it's Prospero calling Caliban a 'freckled whelp, hag-born' in The Tempest or King Lear railing against his daughter Goneril with the damning words, 'Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood', Shakespeare didn't hold back when it came to getting creative with his slights. Packed full of eloquent stings and poisonous putdowns, this is the perfect resource for anyone looking to scorn an enemy – without resorting to swearing! 'Away, you starvelling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, bull's-pizzle, you stock-fish!' Henry IV Part I (Act 2, Scene 4). 'Away, you three-inch fool.' The Taming of the Shrew (Act 4, Scene 1). 'Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver'd boy.' Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 3). 'The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes.' The Comedy of Errors (Act 5, Scene 4).

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.

Put dullards and miscreants in their place with more than 150,000 handy mix-and-match insults in the bard's own words. This entertaining insult generator and flip book collects hundreds of words from Shakespeare's most pointed barbs and allows readers to combine them in creative and hilariously stinging ways. From "apish bald-pated abomination" to "cuckoldly dull-brained blockhead" to "obscene rump-fed hornbeast," each insult can be chosen at random or customized to fit any situation that calls for a literary smackdown. Featuring an informative introduction on Shakespearean wit, and notes on which terms were coined or only used once by the author in his work, this delightful book will sharpen the tongue of Shakespeare fans and insult aficionados without much further ado.

The Anatomy of Insults in Shakespeare's World explores Shakespeare's complex art of insults and shows how the playwright set abusive words at the heart of many of his plays. It provides valuable insights on a key aspect of Shakespeare's work that has been little explored to date. Focusing on the most memorable scenes of insult, abusive characters and insulting effects in the plays, the volume shifts how readers understand and read Shakespeare's insults. Chapters analyze the spectacular rhetoric of insult in Henry IV, Troilus and Cressida and Timon of Athens; the 'skirmishes of wit' in Much Ado about Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream; insult and duelling codes in Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It and Twelfth Night, the complex relationships between slander and insult in Much Ado about Nothing and Measure for Measure; the taming of the tongue in Richard III and The Taming of the Shrew, the trauma of insults in Othello, The Merchant of Venice and Cymbeline and insult beyond words in Henry V and King lear. Grasping insult as a specific speech act, the volume explores the issues of verbal violence and verbal shields and the importance of reception and interpretation in matters of insult. It offers a panorama of the Elizabethan politics of insult and redefines Shakespeare's drama as a theatre of insults.

Having a problem with a lazy student? Forget detention--tell him how you really feel: "Your brains are useless, boil'd within thy skull." Tired of your teacher's boring, pointless lectures? Raise your hand and comment that "Your reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search." Full of schoolroom slings, digs, and retorts, Shakespeare's Insults for Teachers is better ammunition than a spitball--and hey, you're learning something!

Why are certain words used as insults in Shakespeare's world and what do these words do and say? Shakespeare's plays abound with insults which are more often merely cited than thoroughly studied, quotation prevailing over exploration. The purpose of this richly detailed dictionary is to go beyond the surface of these words and to analyse why and how words become insults in Shakespeare's world. It's an invaluable resource and reference guide for anyone grappling with the complexities and rewards of Shakespeare's inventive use of language in the realm of insult and verbal sparring.