Shakespeare A to Z | Bowdler, Thomas

Thomas Bowdler is known for The Family Shakespeare, an expurgated* edition of the Bard’s works. Bowdler added nothing to the original text; he simply removed words and phrases he thought unsuitable for reading aloud in front of women and children. His work gave rise to the term bowdlerize, coined in 1936, which refers to a work that has been “sanitized” for the general public.

* expurgate: to remove morally harmful or objectionable material from a literary work

The Family Shakespeare first appeared as a four-volume edition in 1807. In it Bowdler made...

[The entire page is 288 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

Dictionary Tip:

Lookup any word on eNotes with our dictionary. Highlight the word and press SHIFT + D for a definition, or SHIFT + T for a synonym.