This work takes gender as its point of entry into the comedies of Carlo Goldoni (1707-93). The dramatization of femininity and masculinity is explored in conjunction with that of other social categories (class, the family, and age). The plays reinforce the patriarchal association of femininity with the body, with spectacle, and with theatricality, while the dramatic backdrop of Venice and carnival provides a context for the staging of issues relating to identity, disguise and fashion. In the plays, pretence and theatricality vie with bourgeois Enlightenment values of morality, honesty and respectability to produce dramatic tension with distinct gender implications.