‘Unclothe me of sin’s gay trappings’

Abstract

This article demonstrates the ways in which The Renegado is relentlessly rhetorical. Early modern preoccupation with rhetorical theory and practice informs depictions of the material exchanges, erotic overtures and religious conversions as these attend Philip Massinger’s representations of the foreign. When considering the play’s representation of commerce, seduction and religion abroad, at stake is something closer to rhetorical considerations at home; that is, how to convert foreign ornamentation to advantage. Ultimately, the play’s resolutions hinge on transforming effeminizing, foreign ornamentation into ‘plain English’, a conversion that turns global spaces of inherent risk and insecurity into scenes of tractable, marital domesticity.