Shakespeare's language and the Restoration

Shakespeare\u2019s fame as the lodestar of English theatre was established in the late sixteenth century, when he emerged \u2013 initially alongside other Jacobean figures like Jonson and Fletcher \u2013 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\u2019s 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\u2019s major works so as to fit them into the linguistic, dramatic and ideological norms of their time