Lord Bellamy
Lord Bellamy has arrived in town at the extension of an invitation from Lady Fantast. Bellamy announces to old friends his new state of mind: he is tired of wine, tired women, and tired of wit among men. All he longs for now are a few good friends and quite living.
Mr. Wildish
Wildish has arrived for the festivities for the sole purpose of meeting Gertrude. The rakish gentlemen from the big city (London) has heard much about her great beauty, but learns from his friend Trim that Gertrude’s manners leaves much to be desired.
Gertrude
Gertrude is beautiful, but spends most of the play engaged in what she will refer to as “vapouring” which is essentially a term for revealing her intelligence and expressing opinions not exactly considered conventionally ladylike. She and Wildish will spend most of their time together exchanging witticism over the subject of women and men and marriage and his pursuit of her in relation to her opinions.
Lady Fantast and Her Daughter
Lady Fantast and her daughter, Mrs. Fantast, are presented as the epitome of conceited snobby upper crust women who believe they are much smarter and more clever than they really are. Wildish’s friend, Mr. Trim, is absolutely smitten with the daughter, Mrs. Fantast. He calls her Dorinda and she refers to him as Eugenius.
Charles/Philadelphia
Charles is a page who seems quite familiar to Gertrude. In fact, Charles seems to strongly resemble her sister, Philadelphia. Philadelphia winds up the romantic partner of Lord Bellamy attendant with all the confusing caused by her cross-dressing as the male page.
La Roch
La Roch is a French wigmaker who is coerced into a scheme to bring the Fantast women down to size by exposing them as the gullible gulls they really are. Posing as Count de Cheveux, it is almost too easy for him to absolutely fool and seduce the two women into the prank. The thickness of his French accent provides much of the comedy of this subplot.
