Bowdlerism

For those of you new to the issue of censorship, the term 'BOWDLERISM' is vital to your understanding of the causes and effects of this conflict.William Shakespeare's plays have often been taught in high school english classrooms, but often at the expense of Shakespeare himself. Teachers purge the text of any absurdities, especially crude language and sexuality. The mastermind behind this term is an English physician, Thomas Bowdler. He was an editor of a children's version of William Shakespeare, called Family Shakespeare, in which he "endeavoured to remove every thing that could give just offence to the religious and virtuous mind." Although Bowdler is infamous for extracting the 'offensive' content of novels and plays, the act of doing so actually started before him, in about 1780. It is amazing to see that censorship has roots to far imbedded in our cultural history. English teachers must then take an even longer leap in order to stray from bowdlerism and embrace books without removing their essence, the core, the meaty stuff. That is why certain books are so popular. If Romeo and Juliet had been about a casual dating relationship that ended in a fairytale manner, it would not be so captivating and noteworthy. Death, sexuality, love, and profanity is, well, a part of life. Literature is supposed to reflect life at its worst and its best. By bowdlerizing, teachers are changing the value systems that humans have been geared to understand and imitate for centuries.

Sources: http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html, http://www.fact-index.com/t/th/thomas_bowdler.html