Throughout the play, Hamlet and Claudius vilify makeup, describing it as something that disguises truth and remakes nature. In Elizabethan England, the Queen and various upper-class women used face makeup that contained white lead, a highly toxic chemical that could be absorbed through the skin. Shakespeare’s actors probably used the same kind of makeup onstage. Shakespeare wouldn’t have known of the dangers of these cosmetics, but he certainly makes strong arguments against wearing them.

(Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, artist unknown, c. 1588)