Insults and biting quips are standard fare in many of Shakespeare's plays. There are literally hundreds sprinkled throughout his tragedies, comedies and histories alike. Romeo and Juliet is no exception. One of the first insults in the play is a simple gesture, rather than a verbal taunt, when the Capulet servant Sampson "bites his thumb" in the direction of the Montague servants. The biting of one's thumb was apparently considered a severe insult in the world of Shakespeare's Renaissance Verona. Verbal insults, however, appear throughout the play. Immediately following the thumb biting incident in Act I, Scene 1, Tybalt insults Benvolio suggesting he is a coward for drawing his sword among the worthless servants ("heartless hinds").
After breaking up the street brawl in that same scene Prince Escalus refers to the Montagues and Capulets as "beasts." Later, Friar Laurence seems to insult Romeo in Act II, Scene 3 by saying "Young men's love then lies/Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes." In Act II, Scene 4, after being obscenely accosted by Mercutio, the Nurse refers to Romeo's friend as a "scurvy knave." In Act III, Scene 1 Tybalt calls Romeo a "villain" and a "wretched boy." Later in that Act, after Romeo learns he has been banished from Verona, the Friar suggests that Romeo's "tears are womanish."
More typical Shakespearean insults appear in Lord Capulet's fit of rage in Act III, Scene 5 after he learns that Juliet has refused to marry Count Paris. He unleashes a barrage of rude remarks, calling Juliet "mistress minion," "green-sickness carrion," "young baggage," "disobedient wretch" and "whining mammet." He also refers to the Nurse as a "mumbling fool."
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