And there you go.
Standards change.
Shakespeare was pretty blue as well.
As Americans, we really didn't get the current stick up our collective butts until the Victorian era.
Comstock aside, I'm not sure that is case, considering what Mae West, The Marx Bros., etc, got away with pre-Hays commission. That's when the current stick stuck, I think.
I don't know, Cotton Mather, who vowed to "never use but one grain of patience with any man that shall go to impose upon me a Denial of Devils, or of Witches," was hanging witches in the 17th century.
I think Puritanism is deep within American roots. "Political correctness" is, IMO, the leftist manifestation of Puritanism.
Well Shakespeare was just pop-culture.
As Americans, we really didn't get the current stick up our collective butts until the Victorian era.
The misnomered "Victorian era" began in America before Victoria was born, and remained long after she died.
(I think it was the early 1830s when Louisa M Alcott's father changed his name from Alcock)