Act to Restrain Abuses of Players
Act to Restrain Abuses of Players (1606),a parliamentary bill introducing a fine of £10 for each occasion upon which an actor ‘jestingly or profanely’ spoke the name of God or Jesus Christ. Plays written after this date have little or no such profanity, and plays already written show alteration of the offending phrases when revived, although the original unexpurgated text could safely be printed. Words such as ‘zounds’ (a contraction of ‘God's wounds’) could be replaced by ‘why’ or ‘come’, and exclamations such as ‘O God!’ softened to ‘O heaven!’
Gabriel Egan
Bibliography
Taylor, Gary, ‘Swounds Revisited: Theatrical, Editorial, and Literary Expurgation’, in Gary Taylor and John Jowett (eds.), Shakespeare Reshaped 1606–1623 (1993)
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