Painted Faces on the Renaissance Stage: The Moral Significance of Face-Painting Conventions

This book shows how the painted face functions as a theatrical signal in Renaissance drama. Explaining the connection between red, white, and black make-up and sexual sin, devilish corruption, and poison, the author surveys how playwrights used face-paint in tragedy to express a wide range of corruption and in comedy to exploit the bawdy meanings of fucus. Illustrated.