Censorship In Shakespeare Essay

Cesorship of the Works of William Shakespeare

Why have the works of Shakespeare been censored?

William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous and respected author ever to write in the English language. His plays have been read by millions and watched, both on stage and on screen, by billions of people worldwide. Yet, his works have provoked censorship ever since their writing--even before their first performance on stage. Why? The reasons for censorship are nearly as varied as the works themselves; however, unlike Shakespeare's works, the reasons for their censorship have changed significantly over time.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., defines censorship as "the institution, system, or practice of censoring" (185). The same dictionary defines "censor" as "to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable." In this paper, I will generally use the above definition of censorship. The "works of Shakespeare" I will deal with will be the plays of the First Folio, as well as Pericles, and the Sonnets. This is the standard used in most modern Shakespeare compilations.

Censorship Pre-1660: Politics and Profanity

While

However, Shakespeare is in some ways little different from these "avant-garde" works. In fact, in Epstein's book, David Nields states that "Those who praise Shakespeare and condemn, say, Robert Mapplethorpe, certainly don't know Shakespeare" (117). As well, Epstein states that many who object to obscenity in "modern" music overlook Shakespeare's bawdiness (118). Perhaps Shakespeare is lucky that he lived and wrote in the Elizabethan era, when standards of censorship were different, and not today. According to Fowell and Palmer (328), "What is to convince us that some Censor has not already contemptuously snuffed out a smaller