Most readers who love English literature would agree that Shakespeare is as good as it gets! His plays and poetry are considered some of the finest ever written.

But, this didn’t stop an 18th-century Englishman, Thomas Bowdler, from changing Shakespeare’s work.

Bowdler, a doctor and philanthropist, was a man of multiple talents. He once even played chess against the most celebrated player of the era.

Bowdler became famous, however, for altering Shakespeare’s plays. In fact, he published several volumes that were censored, or “bowdlerized” (see definition and hear pronunciation below), to eliminate some of Shakespeare’s more colorful language.

Bowdler wasn’t the first to edit Shakespeare–others had even tried to give some of the Bard’s tragedies happier endings. But Bowdler is the name that stuck!

Cool word vocabulary question of the day: Do you think that some movies, books or music should be bowdlerized or preserved as is?

Bowdlerize: To remove material (from a book or play, for example) that may be considered offensive.

Click to hear the pronunciation of bowdlerize:

https://coolwordclub.com/wp-content/uploads/bowdlerize.mp3