Shakespeare's Insults Explained Via TED-Ed Animation: What's Your Favorite Literary Put-Down? (VIDEO)

It's common knowledge Shakespeare used a lot of words. Some he made up, some he combined to great effect, and some were just straight out disses. That last category is the subject of a recent animation by the good people at TEDEd, the TED offshoot that's every lesson plan-writing teacher's dream. Today's lesson: how do Shakespeare's insults function within his plays? The answer, as you'll see below, is more subtle than you might expect.

WATCH:

It's rare we actually ask you to leave insults in the comments sections, but that's exactly what we're about to do. If you need a refresher, here's a handy guide to the Bard's best yo' mamas from HuffPost Books. Or check out this broader chart of put-downs from Dostoevsky to Dent.

 

[via Brainpickings]

Comments

[the taoist]

12:54 PM on 05/19/2012

This is JD Considine reviewing Chers album "Love Hurts" ....................."not this much............"

[themightyabealrd]

04:47 AM on 05/19/2012

Columnist Tony Kornheiser, on Patricia Ireland's endorsement of a 6 year old boy being punished for kissing a classmate (Ireland was head of NOW at the time):

'She said, "Boys who aren't taught to respect girls grow up to be workers at the Mitsubishi plant."
Hmmm. And girls who aren't taught a sense of proportion grow up to be humorless, desiccated, sanctimonious spokespersons for national organizations and get savaged in print because they deserve it.'

[smeeeee]

10:24 AM on 05/18/2012

I always like the one where one Lord says "Sir, you will either die of syphilis or by hanging" and the reply is "That will depend, sir, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress."

[Tony Solorzano]

05:05 AM on 05/18/2012

My favorite comes from Winston Churchhill who, when excoriated by a woman for being drunk, responded with the now classic:

"Yes, madam, I am quite drunk and you are ugly, but I shall be sober in the morning"

[Michael Cosdon]

09:41 PM on 05/17/2012

Thou bawling blasphemous incharitable dog! -The Tempest

[tendril]

08:16 PM on 05/17/2012

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. (W.S.)

[Maximum number of charac]

07:29 PM on 05/17/2012

"Yeah, but I'm taller."

[ummm]

04:43 PM on 05/17/2012

G.B. Shaw on W. Shakespeare: It would be a relief to dig him up and throw stones at him

[verflixed]

04:16 PM on 05/17/2012

Few people die too early, many people die too late. Friedrich Nietzsche

[Sir Alto]

01:16 PM on 05/17/2012

I bite my thumb tat you sir!
got too love the classics

[NDeeZ]

11:16 PM on 05/17/2012

Do you bite your thumb at ME, sir?

[Jason Shields]

09:41 AM on 05/17/2012

Dorothy Parker, on hearing of Calvin Coolidge's death..."How could they tell?"

[Land of Unlikeness]

09:40 AM on 05/17/2012

But my favorite is by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, regarding Charles II:

Here lies our sovereign lord the king,
Whose word no man relies on;
He never says a foolish thing,
Nor ever does a wise one.

[Land of Unlikeness]

09:33 AM on 05/17/2012

"Cowardly rascal! Nature disclaims in thee. A tailor made thee." Kent to Oswald in King Lear.

[twain307]

09:01 PM on 05/16/2012

“Wit has truth in it; wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.”
― Dorothy Parker

[Rosemary Timoney]

08:36 PM on 05/16/2012

You are nothing but a walking solipsism.