What is an example of invective?
An example of invective can be found in Shakespeare’s play The Comedy of Errors (Act 4, Scene 2):
“He is deformed, crooked, old and sere,
Ill-faced, worse bodied, shapeless everywhere;
Vicious, ungentle, foolish, blunt, unkind;
Stigmatical in making, worse in mind.”
This is a classic example of invective, where Shakespeare employs a series of insults in a rhyming, poetic structure to convey the speaker’s strong disapproval and contempt for the target.