In addition to the reference of colors, the color terms in Shakespearean plays are used to describe abstract things with the aid of such rhetorical devices as simile and metaphor. This study, by investigating color terms in Shakespearean comedies and tragedies, attempts to explore the rhetorical features of the basic and non-basic forms of color from a cognitive perspective. The findings show that Conceptual Metaphor Theory may not fully explain cognition behind color terms -- a combination of cognitive metaphor theory and figures of speech in the analysis will complement the exploration.