Papers by Terri-Ann Wheeler
This essay emphasises the significance of the dramatic appropriations of cosmetic signifiers that... more This essay emphasises the significance of the dramatic appropriations of cosmetic signifiers that are potent in Renaissance revenge tragedies, signifying the genre as the suitable means to convey and instruct women on their social conduct. First I provide a context for early modern cosmetic culture and practices by examining some of the main anti-cosmetic arguments that are reflected in the revenge tragedies. Then I expand on these findings by exploring the stage device of the cosmetic corpse — a curious beautification ritual that goes against the traditional cosmetic scenes of tragedies, where cosmetics are usually applied on the living self causing monstrous ramifications to their health. Instead, female chaste corpses are grotesquely revamped into weapons to depose necrophiliac tyrants, who die from kissing the cosmetically enhanced poisonous corpses of the women who were painted by the revengers. Despite, the device being recycled from Thomas Kyd’s The Tragedy of Soliman and Perseda (c.1591), this essay focuses on the richest representations of the cosmetic corpse found in Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy (1607) and The Lady’s Tragedy (1611) that gave the fullest readings.
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Papers by Terri-Ann Wheeler