Editing Thomas Bowdler (section)

==''The Family Shakespeare''==
{{Main|The Family Shakespeare}}
In Bowdler's childhood, his father had entertained his family with readings from Shakespeare. Later in life, Bowdler realised his father had been omitting or altering passages he felt unsuitable for the ears of his wife and children. Bowdler felt it was worthwhile to publish an edition which might be used in a family whose father was not such a "circumspect and judicious reader" as to accomplish an expurgation himself.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=The Great Variety of Readers |title=Shakespeare Survey |edition=18 |last=Brown |first=Arthur |editor=Allardyce Nicoll |year=1965 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | isbn= 978-0-521-52354-7 | pages=18 | location=[[Cambridge]] | editor-link= Allardyce Nicoll }}</ref>

In 1807, the first edition of ''The Family Shakspeare'' appeared in four [[book size|duodecimo]] volumes, containing 24 plays. In 1818 a second edition ensued covering all 36 available plays.<ref name=":0"/> Each play has an introduction where Bowdler summarises and justifies his textual changes. According to his nephew's ''Memoir,'' the first edition was prepared by Bowdler's sister Harriet, but both appeared under Thomas Bowdler's name, probably because a woman would then be reluctant to admit publicly that she could do such work or even understand Shakespeare's racy verses.<ref>Jessica Tabak [http://www.american.edu/cas/success/literature-brideoake-091102.cfm "Acts of Omission: Fiona Brideoake examines 19th-century censored Shakespeare"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222204018/https://www.american.edu/cas/success/literature-brideoake-091102.cfm |date=22 December 2009}}, 2 November 2009.</ref> By 1850 eleven editions had appeared.

The spelling "Shakspeare", used by Bowdler and by his nephew Thomas in his memoir of Thomas Bowdler the elder,<ref>Bowdler, pp. 31–32 and ''passim''</ref> was changed in later editions (from 1847 on) to "Shakespeare", reflecting general [[spelling of Shakespeare's name]].<ref name="name">[http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/BFD5IYFEJ7P7TAT1J98P96YUDYQUYU76B7E27AQ9TH5QN1X2E3-52421?func=find-b&request=Thomas+Bowdler+Family+Shakespeare&find_code=WRD&adjacent=N Integrated Catalogue], The [[British Library]]. Retrieved 17 December 2011; [http://www.worldcat.org/title/family-shakspeare-in-which-nothing-is-added-to-the-original-text-but-those-words-and-expressions-are-omitted-which-cannot-with-propriety-be-read-in-a-family/oclc/2661877/editions?start_edition=1&sd=asc&referer=br&se=yr&qt=sort_yr_asc&editionsView=true&fq= "The Family Shakspeare"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301223816/http://www.worldcat.org/title/family-shakspeare-in-which-nothing-is-added-to-the-original-text-but-those-words-and-expressions-are-omitted-which-cannot-with-propriety-be-read-in-a-family/oclc/2661877/editions?start_edition=1&sd=asc&referer=br&se=yr&qt=sort_yr_asc&editionsView=true&fq= |date=1 March 2017}}, [[WorldCat]]. Retrieved 17 December 2011</ref>

The Bowdlers were not the first to undertake such a project, but Bowdler's commitment not to augment or add to Shakespeare's text, merely remove sensitive material, contrasted with earlier practice. [[Nahum Tate]] as [[Poet Laureate]] had rewritten the [[tragedy]] of ''[[King Lear]]'' with a happy ending; in 1807, [[Charles Lamb (writer)|Charles Lamb]] and [[Mary Lamb]] published ''[[Tales from Shakespeare]]'' for children with synopses of 20 of the plays, but seldom quoted the original text.<ref name="bmj"/> Though ''The Family Shakespeare'' was seen as a negative example of censorship by the literary establishment and its commitment to "authentic" Shakespeare, the Bowdler editions made it more acceptable to teach Shakespeare to wider and younger audiences.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bowdlers-wanted-clean-shakespeare-not-become-byword-censorship-180963945/ |title=The Bowdlers Wanted to Clean Up Shakespeare, Not Become a Byword for Censorship |last=Eschner |first=Kat |work=Smithsonian |access-date=8 November 2018 |language=en}}</ref>{{according to whom|date=September 2024}} According to the poet [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]], "More nauseous and more foolish cant was never chattered than that which would deride the memory or depreciate the merits of Bowdler. No man ever did better service to Shakespeare than the man who made it possible to put him into the hands of intelligent and imaginative children."<ref name="odnb"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Swinburne |first=Algernon Charles |title=Studies in prose and poetry |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/studiesinprosepo00swinuoft#page/98 |date=1915 |publisher=Chatto & Windus|location=London |pages=84–109: 88–89 |chapter=Social Verse |isbn=9780836973310 |orig-year=1891}}</ref>
{{anchor|bowdlerise|bowdlerize|bowdlerism}}
===Changes===
Bowdler lent his name to the English verb '''bowdlerise''', which means "to remove words or sections from a book or other work that are considered unsuitable or offensive".<ref>[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bowdlerize?q=bowdlerise ''bowdlerise''] in Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved 25 June 2022.</ref> The derivative noun is '''bowdlerism'''. Some examples of alterations made by Bowdler's edition:
* In ''[[Hamlet]]'', the death of [[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]] was called an accidental drowning, not a possibly intended suicide.
* "God!" as an exclamation is replaced with "Heavens!"
* In ''[[Henry IV, Part 2]]'', the [[prostitute]] [[Doll Tearsheet]] is omitted outright, the slightly more reputable Mistress Quickly retained.

Prominent modern figures such as [[Michiko Kakutani]] (in ''[[The New York Times]]'') and [[William Safire]] (in his book ''How Not to Write'') have incorrectly accused Bowdler of changing Lady Macbeth's famous "Out, damned spot!" line in ''[[Macbeth]]'' to "Out, crimson spot!",<ref>Michiko Kakutani, "Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You", ''[[The New York Times]]'', 7 January 2011, at pp. C1 & 5 (only the original print version still contains the accusation – the online version has been corrected); William Safire, ''How Not to Write'' (1990; 2005 reprint), p. 100; {{Cite journal |first=Ross E. |last=Davies |year=2012 |title=Gray Lady Bowdler: The Continuing Saga of the Crimson Spot |journal=The Green Bag Almanac and Reader |pages=563–574 |ssrn=1758989}}</ref> when in fact this particular emendation was the work of [[Thomas Bulfinch]] and Stephen Bulfinch, in their 1865 edition of Shakespeare's works.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Ross E. |last=Davies |year=2009 |title=How Not to Bowdlerize |journal=The Green Bag Almanac and Reader |pages=235–240 |ssrn=1333764}}</ref>