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

Cesorship of the Works of William Shakespeare wherefore have the kit and caboodle of Shakespeare been ban? William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous and respected author ever to indite 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 kindle censoring 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, tenth ed., defines censorship as the institution, system, or practice of censoring (185). The same lexicon defines censor as to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable. In this paper, I will generally use the supra definition of censorship. The works of Shakespeare I will deal with will be the pl ays 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 contemporaneous censorship of Shakespeares works seems shocking, Shakespeare was just another playwright to the Elizabethan political sympathies censor. Even though Shakespeares theater company was of all companies, in the approximate relation to the court through their patrons, and the least likely to run forestall to authority, except by inadvertence (Chambers 1 237), his plays did not escape censorship, although such(prenominal) more of Shakespeares work might have never seen the light of daylight 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 curb Been Challenged. Christian Science Monitor. 18 May 1998. http//www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/05/19/fp55s2-csm.htm (5 Dec. 1994). Haight, Anne Lyon, and Chandler B. Grannis. tabu 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 explanation 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 Complete Works of William Shakespeare. http//www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/