Character Analysis
The Butler Did It
When Master Lovewit flees London for his country estate, he leaves his servant in charge of his pad. What could possibly go wrong, right?
Pretty much everything, because this servant is a conman who takes the opportunity to use his master's house as headquarters for a bunch of scams.
This guy's name is actually "Jeremy the Butler," but we don't learn about this until Act 5. When the play opens, the dude has disguised himself as a Captain named "Face," which is what most of his pals call him throughout the play. The name "Face," by the way, is totally fitting since this dude has so many aliases and fake identities. In other words, he's able to wear a lot of different faces—metaphorically speaking—or disguises.
For example, he sometimes goes by the name "Lungs" when he's pretending to be an alchemist's assistant who spends most of his time a) working the bellows and b) inhaling a bunch of smoke while working with fire and metal.
Most of the time, Face's job is to go out onto the streets of London and recruit victims or "gulls" and bring them back to the house where they can be shaken down for a load of sweet, sweet cash. He's really good at his job and he thinks that his partners in crime don't give him enough credit for his mad, sleazy skillz. (That's why he and Subtle are always fighting and bickering about who does most of the work and who should get a bigger chunk of the profits.)
For much of the play, it seems like Subtle is the one who's large and in charge and that Face is just his sidekick. In fact, Subtle and Doll make a plan to skip out of town and cheat Face out of his share of the profits…but Face catches on and get's the upper hand. He's a pretty smart dude who can totally think on his feet.
When his master comes home from the country and busts him like a teenager who's just thrown a raging party while his parents were in Vegas for the weekend, the guy manages to escape punishment. How's that?
Because he knows what makes people tick and can give Lovewit something he knows his master wants: a babe of a wife:
"Sir, you were wont to affect mirth and wit—
But here's no place to talk on't i' the street.
Give me but leave to make the best of my fortune,
And only pardon me thi' abuse of your house:
It's all I beg. I'll help you to a widow,
In recompense, that you shall give me thanks for,
Will make you seven years younger, and a rich one.
'Tis but your putting on a Spanish cloak:
I have her within. You need not fear the house;
It was not visited." (5.3.121-130)
Basically, Face helps Lovewit marry a rich, young widow and makes sure that master gets to keep all of the profits from the scams that have been going down in his house. This shows us a few things—Face is really good at knowing what people want, and he's even better and making sure he uses his people-reading skills to get the best end of any bargain.
We think that, in fact, Face is right when he says that his accomplices don't give him enough credit. This guy knows exactly how to read the crowd (or in this case, his master and his dupes) and how to profit from any situation.
Tricky Dick—er—Face
This makes him a classic trickster figure: the kind of character that always has a scheme going (usually two) and usually gets caught red-handed. Luckily for the trickster figure, he's also so freaking charismatic (not to mention clever) that he gets off with the lightest possible punishment.
Bonus: this kind of character is always fun to watch, and the audience/reader gets a perverse little thrill out of rooting for a guy who's not exactly a knight in shining armor. Face's predecessors include Loki from Norse mythology, Anansi the Spider, and the figure of the Coyote in many Native American tales. (Source)
And his descendants? Well, there are almost too many to count.
Some of our favorites are the dynamic duo of conmen portrayed in the 1970's classic The Sting, Bugs Bunny, and Jack Sparrow. Even the Joker has some trickster figure in him…although he also has a heaping spoonful of homicidal maniac.
But Face is no homicidal maniac—he's just an enterprising, amoral butler who wants to get his. When he pretty much succeeds, we're cheering from the sidelines.