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)
You get the idea, though.
Victoria was the one who really made prudery a fashion-statement.
It was either my grandfather or great-grandfather who, around 1900, was smart enough to change the family name from Lipschitz. I'm not sure it was so much Victorian prudence as practicality, however.