ABSTRACT
The characters in the play include Jupiter, the four unseen mythic figures described by Jupiter, and the eight petitioners. The petitioners are theatrically interesting because they possess human qualities and are often considered imitative of the nondramatic characters of Chaucer. The Gentleman, one of the two characters allowed to speak to Jupiter, is found by Johnson to be “pompous” and by David M. Bevington to be an example of the “biased pleader.” The Merchant, teased by Merry Report for being a cuckold and generally, a forgettable person, seems to be as narrow of vision as the Gentleman whose eye was only upon the pleasures of the hunt. Following traditions of astrological rulership, gentlemen are ruled by Phoebus, merchants by Jupiter, woodsmen by Mars, millers by Saturn, ladies by Venus, launders by the moon, and boys by Mercury.
