Skip to main content

Much Ado About Nothing: “Every Word Stabs”


Watching Much Ado About Nothing, and expecting the new adaptation of it, it suddenly came into my mind that the play is so full of insults – smart insults – which resemble the things that people nowadays use at school, or at people they don't really like, or really like, but like to tease.

For my personal enjoyment, and hopefully enjoyment of others, I'd like to put some – just some – inspirational lines that might come in handy when you're upset (but please think twice before saying any of these to anyone except you are sure he won't understand it anyway), and their accompaniment in Bahasa. Any damage done is attributed to Shakespeare.

“I wonder that you will still be talking, <insert name or anything you want to call him/her with>. Nobody marks you.” (“Kok kamu masih betah ngomong sih? Ga ada yang dengerin.”)

“What, my dear <insert name or anything you want to call him/her with>! are you yet living?” (“Oh, <insert name or anything you want to call him/her with> sayang! Kamu masih hidup?”)

“Scratching could not make it worse an 'twere such a face as yours were.” (“Muka kamu dicakar-cakar juga ga akan bisa jadi lebih jelek.”)

“If her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were no living near her; she would infect to the North Star.” (“Kalo bau nafasnya setajem kata-katanya, ga akan ada makhluk hidup di deket dia. Itu bisa kecium sampe luar angkasa.”)

A comment upon somebody's singing: “An he had been a dog that should have howl'd thus, they would have hang'd him.” (“Kalau ada anjing yang lolongannya kaya gitu, pasti udah digantung.”)

This is madness. In the play there are even more witty annoying insults that make people laugh when they're not aimed at them.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Leve-toi, soleil!" - Juliet is the sun

Ah! lève-toi, soleil! Fait pâlir les étoiles Qui, dans l'azur sans voiles, Brillent au firmament. Just 4 lines of Romeo's famous aria,  L'amour, l'amour!... Ah! lève-toi, soleil! I've been a fan of Gounod's opera interpretation of Shakespeare's tragic lovers RnJ, but yesterday something brought it to my attention, again. Somebody (on a TV program) describes the aria as "Romeo waiting for the sun to rise so he can see his beloved again." How huge the difference is between what Shakespeare expressed in his play and this tenor understands through the libretto  I rushed to the Aria Database website  and checked the lyric of the aria again. Today, I'd like to discuss it with you guys here. The scene opens with Romeo, under Juliet's balcony, trying to express his feelings, the love that he experiences after much heart break in his previous unrequited love story, while hiding himself in the dark, avoiding any contact with both his fri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Say It Like Shakespeare: “I don't understand.”

Have you ever wanted to say “I don't get it” without making yourself look stupid? Shakespeare is your solution. Firstly, if your friend knows Shakespeare, he would think you're cool. If he's not Shakespeare-literate, you still sound great. Well, here's some help. “I understand the fury in your words, but not your words.” - Desdemona, Othello Othello was full of wrath, and Desdemona innocently said this like, “Calm down, Honey. I don't know what you're talking about.” 'Fury' means super ARRGHHHH! type of anger, not the Greek furies, though the word was probably derived from that. But hey, why not calling your frienemy a Fury anyway? It's like, “Hey Bro, you act like a monster and I still don't understand any word you say.” “More matter with less art.” - Gertrude, Hamlet Polonius was going down the rabbit hole explaining Hamlet and Ophelia's love story in superfluous lines. The Queen wanted it quick, so, “Stop all the fuss and say ...
2 comments
Read more

Citing Scriptures: Everything That Is, Has Been Before

I was reading Ecclesiastes the other day, and found the verse that I was looking for - the one that I was reminded of when I read Sonnet 59.  It's Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10 (KJV). The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.  But Shakespeare's Sonnet 59 is a (not so) subtle refutation to the verses' argument that the world repeats itself. Here's what the Bard says about his friend. If there be nothing new, but that which is Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd, Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss The second burthen of a former child! O, that record could with a backward look, Even of five hundred courses of the sun, Show me your image in some antique book, Since mind at first in character was done! That I might see what the old world ...
Post a Comment
Read more