Introduction: ‘No abuse?’
Chapter 1: The Spectacular Rhetoric of Insult
Chapter 2. The ‘merry war’: Insult as a Love Game
Chapter 3: ‘Quarrelling by the book’: Insult and Duelling Codes
Chapter 4: Insults as Actionable Words
Chapter 5: Insult and the Taming of the Tongue
Chapter 6: The Trauma of Insult
Chapter 7: Insult beyond Words
Epilogue: Shakespeare’s Theatre of Insult
Bibliography of Works cited
Detailed outline
Index