Saturday marked 400 years since Shakespeare’s death and South Bank was full of it. Even President Obama visited The Globe for a quick performance of a Hamlet scene, while screens dotted along the riverside played various versions of his plays to crowds. Because, he’s kind of a big deal.
The barometer (bard-ometer?) for love, rage, betrayal, desire, comedy and tragedy, Shakespeare gave us words for every situation. “Tempt not a desperate man”, “The lady doth protest too much”, “That it should come to this” (anyone else hear The Streets’ “Has it come to this” from Original Pirate Material?)
He also gave us the hardest cusses. While our generation are still reeling from such witty slays as “your mum”, Shakespeare’s squad were rather more cutting. Well, at least better articulated, as “Villain, I have done thy mother” from Titus Andronicus proves. So from Macbeth to Macduff, Henry V to Falstaff, here’s an edit of the best Shakespearian takedowns. Suggested read: in Rowan Atkinson’s voice.
“Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after voyage.”
As You Like It
"Thou lily-livered boy."
Macbeth
“There’s no more faith in thee than a stewed prune.”
Henry IV Part 1
“Thou art pigeon-liver’d and lack gall.”
Hamlet
“Thine face is not worth sunburning.”
Henry V
"Exit, Fool"
Various plays by William Shakespeare
“Thou art as loathsome as a toad.”
Henry IV, Part 2
“Come, come, you froward and unable worms.”
The Taming Of The Shrew
“Thou art a natural coward without instinct.”
Henry IV Part 1
"Sir, as I told you always; her beauty and her brain go not together. She’s a good sign, but I have seen small reflection of her wit."
Cymbeline
“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
“You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe!”
Henry IV Part 1
“Villain, I have done thy mother.”
Titus Andronicus
“You are as a candle, the better burnt out.”
Henry IV Part 2
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