Shakespeare's language and the Restoration

Shakespeare’s fame as the lodestar of English theatre was established in the late sixteenth century, when he emerged – initially alongside other Jacobean figures like Jonson and Fletcher – as a sort of modern playwriting Homer. Paradoxically, though, this canonization took place at a time that was highly unsympathetic to many aspects of Shakespearean theatre, from the bard’s exuberant language to his sprawling plots. In order to play down the relevance of these aspects, therefore, such leading Restoration playwrights as Davenant and Tate embarked on the enterprise of rewriting Shakespeare’s major works so as to fit them into the linguistic, dramatic and ideological norms of their time.