The Carnival Mask Symbol Analysis

In sixteenth-century French peasant communities, the villagers frequently hosted carnivals in which people could dress up as others using costumes and masks, taking on other identities—even just for an evening. In Davis’s reading, the mask evokes many forms of impersonation in Renaissance culture, suggesting that everyone is always impersonating someone or something else. The mask, in other words, symbolizes the fact that identity is always, in some sense, a charade. For instance, the Daguerre family “masked” their identity by changing their name to “Guerre” when they arrived in Artigat in order to better assimilate to their new community. Likewise, healthy beggars sometimes pretended to be disabled or blind in hopes of appealing to people’s charitable impulses. Furthermore, Davis describes Arnaud du Tilh as “rehearsing” for the role of Martin Guerre, underscoring the theatrical dimensions of his deception. Arnaud essentially wore the “mask” of Martin, like a player in a carnival. But Davis suggests that this impersonation was merely an extreme example of the performances in which many people engaged when they took on new personas, like the Daguerres who became the Guerres. The carnival mask is such a resonant symbol for Davis because it shows that everyone masks their identity in one way or another.