｜閱讀與文學｜來讀讀 sonnet：大英帝國最偉大劇作家威廉莎士比亞 451 歲生忌日紀念

“If my slight muse do please these curious days, The pain be mine, but thine shall be the praise.” – Sonnet 38

來寫給覺得活在現在的學生們很幸福因為手指一動就可以接上世界看遍經歷卻又實實在在覺得活在好幾百年前的任何一個世紀其實也非常寫意沒有互聯網也春風得意只是不夠喜歡現在這年代這世紀的自己。

隨同 St George’s Day 也就是 England’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare 的 451 歲生/忌日，順道貼上兩張做得不錯的 infographic，十個最強 insults 以及五十個 popular phrases。

Top 10 best Shakespearean insults

by theguardian

1. Hermia calls Helena a “painted maypole” – presumably because she is tall, thin, and wears a lot of makeup in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

2. Maria calls Malvolio “a time-pleaser, an affectioned ass” – a follower of fashion and a pretentious idiot in Twelfth Night.

3. The Welsh Captain describes Pistol as a “rascally, scald [scabby], beggarly, lousy, pragging [show-off] knave” in Henry 5.

4. Sebastian calls the Boatswain a “bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog” in The Tempest.

5. Kent says Oswald is a “knave, beggar, coward, pander [pimp], and the son and heir of a mongrel bitch” in King Lear.

6. Antonio describes Claudio and Don Pedro as “scambling, outfacing, fashion-monging boys” – quarrelsome, bluffing, and dandified in Much Ado About Nothing.

7. Sir Toby calls Sir Andrew “an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull!” – a simpleton in Twelfth Night.

8. Kent describes Oswald as a “base foot-ball player” – a game of the gutter that nobles would never dream of playing in King Lear.

9. Prince Hal calls Falstaff a “whoreson impudent embossed rascal” – literally, the son of a prostitute, and moreover one who’s swollen or bulging out, like a boil in Henry IV Part 1.

10. Doll harangues the Beadle who is about to arrest her: “thou damned tripe-visaged rascal … thou paper-faced villain” in Henry IV Part 2.

50 popular phrases

by independentUK

• “Fancy-free” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• “Lie low” – Much Ado About Nothing

• “Send packing” – Henry IV

• “Foregone conclusion” – Othello

• “A sorry sight” – Macbeth

• “For goodness sake” – Henry VIII

• “Good riddance” – The Merchant of Venice

• “Neither here not there” – Othello

• “Mum’s the word” – Henry VI, Part II

• “What’s done is done” – Macbeth

• “Eaten out of house and home” – Henry IV, Part II

• “Rant” – Hamlet

• “Knock knock! Who’s there?” – Macbeth

• “With bated breath” – The Merchant of Venice

• “A wild goose chase” – Romeo and Juliet

• “Assassination” – Macbeth

• “Too much of a good thing” – As You Like It

• “A heart of gold” – Henry V

• “Such stuff as dreams are made on” – The Tempest

• “Fashionable” – Troilus and Cressida

• “Puking” – As You Like It

• “Dead as a doornail” – Henry VI, Part II

• “Not slept one wink” – Cymbeline

• “The world’s mine oyster” – The Merry Wives of Windsor

• “Obscene” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

• “Bedazzled” – The Taming of the Shrew

• “In stitches” – Twelfth Night

• “Addiction” – Othello

• “Faint-hearted” – Henry VI, Part I

• “One fell swoop” – Macbeth

• “Vanish into thin air” – Othello

• “Swagger” – Henry V

• “Own flesh and blood” – Hamlet

• “Zany” – Love’s Labour’s Lost

• “Give the devil his due” – Henry IV, Part I

• “There’s method in my madness” – Hamlet

• “Salad days” – Antony and Cleopatra

• “Spotless reputation” – Richard II

• “Full circle” – King Lear

• “All of a sudden” – The Taming of the Shrew

• “Come what, come may” – Macbeth

延伸閱讀：9 Shakespeare innuendoes you should have been embarrassed to read in English class by vox.