Shakespeare's Best Comebacks
This is not your typical post about Shakespeare's insults: these are the 10 best insults from Shakespeare's plays used as comebacks to other insults. Without further ado, let's dive in. 1) "What a brazen-faced varlet art thou...you rogue...I'll make a sop o' th' moonshine of you, you whoreson, cullionly barbermonger." ( King Lear , II.2.28-33) This comeback occurs during a face-off between Kent, in disguise, and Oswald. They exchange words at the door to Gloucester's castle, and Oswald walks into a slew of insults from Kent. He retorts––but that only spurs Kent further, who plumbs the depths of his vocabulary to threaten Oswald to a sword fight. 2) "Thou whoreson zed, thou unnecessary letter!" ( King Lear , II.2.65) This is yet another gem from an interaction between Kent and Oswald. According to Merriam-Webster , the letter "z" was even rarer in Shakespeare's time than it is today. In fact, its use in the 4th Century BC was...
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