Cesorship of the Works of William Shakespeare Essay -- Exploratory Ess

Cesorship of the Works of William Shakespeare Why have the works of Shakespeare been censored? William Shakespeare is arguably the nigh 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 Shakespeares works, the reasons for their censorship have changed significantly over time. Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed., defines censorship as the institution, system, or practice of censorship (185). The same dictionary defines censor as to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable. In this paper, I will generally example 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 modern-day censorship of Shakespeares works seems shocking, Shakespeare was just another playwright to the Elizabethan government censor. crimson though Shakespeares theater company was of all companies, in the closest relation to the court through their patrons, and the least likely to run counter to authority, except by inadvertence (Chambers 1 237), his plays did not escape censorship, although much more of Shakespeares work might have never seen the light of day had he been with a lesser company. The best-known case of political censorship is that ... ...Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare. New York Viking, 1993. Fowell, Frank, and Frank Palmer. Censorship in England. 1913. New York Burt Franklin, 1970. Gustafson, Patrick. Books That Have Been Challenged. Christian Science Monitor. 18 may 1998. http//www.csmonit or.com/durable/1998/05/19/fp55s2-csm.htm (5 Dec. 1994). Haight, Anne Lyon, and Chandler B. Grannis. Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. New York R.R. Bowker Company, 1978. Ockerbloom, John Mark. Banned Books On-Line. http//www.cs.cmu.edu/People/spok/banned-books.html (19 Mar. 1999). Perrin, Noel. Dr. Bowdlers Legacy A History of Expurgated Books in England and America. Rev. ed. Boston Godine, 1992. The Bonfire of Liberties. http//www.humanities-interactive.org/exhibit1.html (19 Mar. 1999). The pass with flying colors Works of William Shakespeare. http//www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/