3. Did you notice how I greeted
some of you and do you know
what I meant by it?
4. Assessment Focus 3
Talking within role-play and drama –
Create and sustain different roles and
scenarios, adapting techniques in a
range of dramatic activities to explore
texts, ideas and issues.
5. Level 5
I show insight (appreciation or a slightly
deeper understanding) into texts and issues
through deliberate choices of speech,
gesture, and movement, adapting roles
convincingly to explore ideas and issues.
6. Level 6
I demonstrate (show) empathy and
understanding through flexible choices of
speech, gesture, and movement, adapting
(adjusting/changing) roles convincingly to
explore ideas and issues.
7. Level 7
I explore complex ideas and issues through
insightful choice of speech, gesture, and
movement, establishing (creating) roles and
applying dramatic approaches with
confidence.
8. Think of different ways you could deliver the
insult below:
Think about tone of voice, facial expression,
gestures.
Now let’s have a volunteer to deliver the insult
in different ways.
9. Each of you will be given a piece of paper with
an insult created by Shakespeare.
Even if you don’t know what the words mean,
you should practise saying them a few times.
Now - let your neighbour insult you. Next
insult them.
Try to experiment with practising different
ways to deliver the insult.
10. Which insult was the most memorably
insulting?
Whose performance was the most memorable?
11. You will be provided with an Elizabethan
Insult Dictionary. In your groups, try to
work out what each of the insults mean.
Write down each of the insults from your
group and explain how the language used
by Shakespeare makes it so insulting.
Use the example I have given you on the
table to help you.
12. Insult What this makes me think/feel
You scullian! You ramparian! You
fustilarian! I’ll tickle your
catastrophe!
Shakespeare has used a list of three insults
which emphasises how angry the speaker is. All
of the terms used show that this is a person of
no morals and of low birth, since ‘fustilarian’ is
the lowest of all servants. The last line seems
to be phrased like a threat . The word
catastrophe means disaster and perhaps the
speaker is going to bring a disastrous fate upon
the person.
13. Decide in your groups which is the most
effective insult.
Have one of your group come to the
front to deliver the insult. You must be
prepared to explain to the class what it
means in today’s English.
Which phrase was the most insulting?
14. LO: To explore Shakespeare’s
language and develop our
knowledge of Elizabethan
vocabulary.
16. Now create your own Elizabethan insults.
You will need at least two adjectives, and a
noun.
Use the following as model;
Thou art a (adjective 1), (adjective 2), (noun).
Extension: Experiment with different sentence
structures by looking at some of the ways the
Shakespearean sentences were created.
E.g. (Thine face is as a..........) could be one variation.
What others can you think of?
Editor's Notes
Have a student good at drama come to the front – have another student stand there while the insult is delivered. Have the class direct the student to perform it in different ways, contemptuously – looking the student up and down, angrily, shouting – pointing finger aggressively etc. Threateningly – circling and hissing through teeth etc.
