I recently attended a Shakespeare conference at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and it’s interesting to also note that, historically, not everyone has been enamored of the bard.
Take, for example, the unusual case of Dr. Thomas Bowdler, who, in 1818, created a 10-volume expurgated version of Shakespeare’s works. Bowdler decided some passages in most of the plays were unsuitable for mixed company. For example, in the modified “Hamlet,” Ophelia accidentally drowns. In the original she commits suicide. In the censored “Henry IV, Part 2,” the character of Doll Tearsheet, a prostitute, is entirely deleted.
But while we often criticize Bowlder there were some unintended benefits: many people who were put off by the “adult” nature of some of the plays began to read them with their children, thus introducing many young people to the literature.
One often-censored plays is “Othello.” In the 1600s the play was heavily criticized because of its mixed-race portrayal. In the 1950s audiences were shocked by its interracial kiss. Perhaps the most-banned play in American schools has been “The Merchant of Venice,” because of the portrayal of the Jewish money-lender Shylock. But the play isn’t banned in Israel. Then there is “Measure for Measure,” which centers on a political figure trying to force a nun to sleep with him. Obviously, the play offends both Protestants and Catholics in equal measure.
Even during his own lifetime Shakespeare came under attack as Elizabethan officials, offended by political overtones and racy material, tried to prevent some of the plays from being shown. There is no doubt Shakespeare’s play contain violence, racism and a host of other politically incorrect themes. But it may be appropriate to remember a couple of quotes from the master himself: in “Richard II” he wrote, “Free speech and fearless, I to thee allow.” And at the end of “King Lear” he wrote we should “speak what we feel, not what we ought to say.”
