Shakespeare home > Shakespeare resources > Shakespeare insults

Shakespeare Insults

So you think you know a foul word or two? Shakespeare’s insults, put downs and cussing were second to none, and with his insults Shakespeare was most certainly a master of his trade! Read our selection of Shakespearean insults below:

Shakespeare Insult 1 – The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Thou subtle, perjur’d, false, disloyal man!

Shakespeare Insult 2 – As You Like It

Thou art like a toad; ugly and venemous.

Shakespeare Insult 3 – The Tempest

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

Shakespeare Insult 4 – Measure For Measure

Thou art a flesh-monger, a fool and a coward.

Shakespeare Insult 5 – All’s Well That Ends Well

A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.

Shakespeare Insult 6 – Cymbeline

Thy tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile.

Shakespeare Insult 7 – Henry IV Part 2

You scullion! You rampallian! You fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe!

Shakespeare Insult 8 – All’s Well That Ends Well

Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.

Shakespeare Insult 9 – The Winter’s Tale

My wife’s a hobby horse!

Shakespeare Insult 10 – Troilus and Cressida

Thou art as loathsome as a toad.

Shakespeare Insult 11 – Macbeth

Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver’d boy.

Shakespeare Insult 12 – Henry IV Part 1

Thou clay-brained guts, thou knotty-pated fool, thou whoreson obscene greasy tallow-catch!

Shakespeare Insult 13 – Henry IV Part 1

That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?

Shakespeare Insult 14 – Henry IV Part 1

You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish–O for breath to utter what is like thee!-you tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck!

Shakespeare Insult 15 – Henry IV Part 1

Peace, ye fat guts!

Shakespeare Insult 16 – Henry V

There’s no more faith in thee than in a stewed prune.

Shakespeare Insult 17 – Richard III

Thou poisonous bunch-back’d toad!

Shakespeare Insult 18 – Richard III

Thou art unfit for any place but hell.

Shakespeare Insult 19 – Hamlet

Thou are pigeon-liver’d and lack gall.

Shakespeare Insult 20 – All’s Well That Ends Well

Your virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese.

Shakespeare Insult 21 – Henry V

Thine face is not worth sunburning.

Shakespeare Insult 22 – As You Like It

Your brain is as dry as the remainder biscuit after voyage.

Shakespeare Insult 23 – Henry IV Part 1

You are as a candle, the better burnt out.

Shakespeare Insult 24 – Hamlet

If thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them.

Shakespeare Insult 25 – Measure For Measure

Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade.

Shakespeare Insult 26 – All’s Well That Ends Well

A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.

Shakespeare Insult 27 – All’s Well That Ends Well

Methink’st thou art a general offence and every man should beat thee.

Shakespeare Insult 28 – Henry IV Part 1

That trunk of humours, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloak-bag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with pudding in his belly, that reverend vice, that grey Iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years?

Shakespeare Insult 29 – Henry IV Part 1

You starvelling, you eel-skin, you dried neat’s-tongue, you bull’s-pizzle, you stock-fish–O for breath to utter what is like thee!-you tailor’s-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck!

Shakespeare Insult 30 – Henry IV Part 1

Thou art as fat as butter

 
Read enough Shakesperean insults? Check out our lists of words and phrases that Shakespeare invented & some interesting facts about Shakespeare.