Almost all of the profanity was removed, and that that was not had just reason for being there. Some of the Bard's censored oaths are; .
"God's blessing on your beard" .
Love's Labors Lost, II.i.203 .
This was a very rude curse because a man's facial hair was a point of pride for him. And "to play with someone's beard" was to insult him. .
"God's body" .
1 Henry IV, II.i.26 .
Swearing by Christ's body (or any part thereof,) was off limits in civil discourse. .
"God's Bod(y)kins, man" .
Hamlet, II.ii.529 .
The word bod(y)kin means "little body" or "dear body," but adding the cute little suffix does not make this curse any more acceptable. .
"By God's [blest] mother!" .
2 Henry VI, II.i; .
3 Henry VI, III.ii; .
Henry VIII, V.i .
Swearing by the virgin was almost as rude as swearing by her son, especially when addressing a catholic cathedral as Gloucester did in 2 Henry VI, II.i .
Perhaps the two worst of these Shakespearean swears were "'zounds" and "'sblood." "'Zounds" had twenty-three occurrences. Ten of them were in 1 Henry IV. The rest appear in Titus (once), Richard III (four times), Romeo and Juliet (twice), and Othello (six times). Lago and Falstaff were the worst offenders. 'Zounds has evolved into somewhat of a silly and meaningless word, but was originally horribly offensive. This oath, short for "God's wounds," was extremely offensive because references to the wounds or blood of Christ were thought especially outrageous, as they touched directly on the crucifixion. "'Sblood" had twelve occurrences in all. There were eight times in 1 Henry IV (with Falstaff accounting for six), plus once in Henry V, twice in Hamlet, and once in Othello. 'Sblood occurs less than 'zounds, but is equally offensive and means basically the same thing. .
Several other words came from Great Britain, but were not included in Shakespeare's works. Today the expression "Gadzooks!" is not particularly offensive to most. Of course, most don't know what it originally meant.
