The Rivalry of the Capulets and Montague!
Spewing Shakespearean Insults
The Montague and the Capulets engaged in a turbulent fight
......attacking the other side with nasty insults
.................the on-going rivalry is very heated and both sides want revenge
..........................Romeo and Juliet find themselves in the middle of this ruthless feud!
Each side pitched back-stabbing insults at the other family with anger and attitude.
Now the rivalry will take a turn towards something worse than insults made of words... VIOLENCE.
Here come the sword-fights and brawls.
Who was the best insulter? Who has more vivid insults? Shakespeare's era or our own? Why?
In my opinion, the best insulters from today's activity were Skyler and Lizzie, because they put a lot of attitude in their insults and used a lot of body language that expressed disgust, nastiness, and dissing (of course in the acting sense when referring to modern day ASPV English class).
Although the insults from Shakespeare's era used a more diverse vocabulary and fancier words, I don't think you can compare the nastiness/ rudeness of two different era's insults. This is because people create insults (they put the value of nastiness in the words). Thus, if you were to insult someone today (modern day) with a Shakespearean insult they wouldn't feel too offended - in fact, they would probably be confused or laugh in your face. Similarly, if you were to call someone during the 1700's "lame", "douche-bag", "noob", or any other derogatory term / swear word of today, the people from that era wouldn't find it insulting in the least. The meaning of words change over time, and new words are being invented and used, so overtime insults change!
An example: When someone tries to insult you in a language your not familiar with yet. You know they are insulting you, but you are not sure of what the exact word means, so it doesn't really have as much of an impact than if you were to be insulted in your 1st language.
Victimizer: "Eres menso!"
Victim: "Qué? (thinking: whatever)
as opposed to...
Victimizer: You're so stupid and you smell bad!
Victim: Am not! (thinking: whaaat?! OH NO YOU DIDN'T!)
Victimizer: Are too!
How is something like that, which is fun, devolve into something much more serious?
At first the Shakespearean insults were funny (they still are), but after re-searching wheat they mean and how they were used, you begin to realize that they were actual insults (and not just funny words that Shakespeare used in his melodramatic plays/poems). Offensive statements are only insulting if you know what they actually mean and you are actually angry/nasty to the person receiving the insult (disrespectful intention). We were laughing today in class while spewing Shakespearean insults at one another, but if you were to insult Romeo he wouldn't find it too hilarious...
The point is, the feud between the Capulets and the Montague was pretty serious, especially if it kept Romeo and Juliet from being able to be together. *Heartbreak*
