Antic is one of the three pages lost in the wood who receives shelter from Clunch the smith. Forced by Madge to retire with Clunch, Antic does not hear the old wife's tale.
BALL
Ball is the dog owned by the smith Clunch. His barking is heard off-stage as the pages Antic, Frolic, and Fantastic are lost in the wood.
BERECYNTHIA
Berecynthia is the name given to Delia by the magician Sacrapant when he orders her to oversee the slave labor performed by her brothers Calypha and Thelea.
BOOBY
Booby is an alternative name for Huanebango's servant Corebus.
CALYPHA
Calypha, a son of the king of Thessaly, is brother to Thelea and Delia. (The text refers to him as the First Brother.) Along with Thelea, he seeks to rescue Delia from the sorcerer, Sacrapant, but falls under the magician's spell and is enslaved. He is released when Sacrapant is destroyed.
CELANTA
Celanta is the ill-favored but kind-hearted daughter of Lampriscus. She gains a fortune in gold by acquiescing to the request of the Head in the Well of Life to have his beard combed. She ultimately marries the blind clown Corebus (also known as Booby).
CLUNCH
Clunch is a smith and the husband of the "old wife" Madge. He discovers the pages Antic, Frolic, and Fantastic lost in the woods and invites them home. There, Frolic and Fantastic are treated to the old wife's tale of the magician Sacrapant and the rescue of Delia by Eumenides and the Ghost of Jack.
COREBUS
Corebus, also called Booby, is a servant travelling with the braggart knight Huanebango. He is generous to Eretus, is struck blind by the magician Sacrapant, and ultimately marries the homely but loving Celanta. The fortune she receives from the Head in the Well of Life helps to fulfill Erestus's prediction that Corebus will find a rich wife in the end.
DELIA
Delia is the daughter of the king of Thessaly and sister to Calypha and Thelea. She is abducted by the magician Sacrapant and placed under a spell. Sought by her lover Eumenides, her two brothers, and the braggart knight Huanebango, she is released by Eumendies and the Ghost of Jack.
ERESTUS
Erestus is a young man betrothed to Venelia. The magician Sacrapant places a spell upon him, making him seem an aged man, speaking in riddles, during the day, and turning him into a white bear during the night. Through his riddles, he attempts to offer aid and advice to all who visit him by the cross where he spends his days. He encourages Eumenides to give all he has, thus preparing the knight for the generous gesture of paying for Jack's funeral, a gesture which results in Jack's ghost aiding him in the destruction of Sacrapant and the release of the magician's victims.
EUMENIDES
Eumenides is a knight and the lover of Delia. In seeking her, he is counseled by Erestus to give all he has. When he does so in paying for the funeral of Jack, he earns the help of the Ghost of Jack in destroying the sorcerer Sacrapant and releasing all of the magician's victims.
FANTASTIC
Fantastic, along with Antic and Frolic, is a page lost in the woods near Madge's cottage. Invited home by the smith Clunch, Fantastic and Frolic will be treated to Madge's "old wife's tale" of the sorcerer Sacrapant and the rescue of Delia by Eumenides and the Ghost of Jack.
FROLIC
Frolic, along with Antic and Fantastic, is a page lost in the woods near Madge's cottage. Invited home by the smith Clunch, he and Fantastic will be treated to Madge's "old wife's tale" of the sorcerer Sacrapant and the rescue of Delia by Eumenides and the Ghost of Jack. His interruption of Madge with mocking and overly literal questions about her story elicits from her the rebuke, "Nay, either hear my tale, or kiss my tail."
GHOST OF JACK
A village ne'er-do-well, Jack dies penniless, and both the Sexton and Steven Loach, the churchwarden, are resistant to burying him at the expense of the parish. In gratitude for Eumenides's having paid for the funeral, the Ghost helps the knight free Delia by showing him where the magic lamp is hidden, by cutting off the head of Sacrapant, and by summoning Venelia to extinguish the flame that supports the magician's spells. When the Ghost insists that he have half of Delia as payment for his services, Eumenides agrees as a matter of honor. Just as the knight is preparing to cut Delia in half (with the lady's approval), the Ghost drops his demand, indicates he was only testing Eumenides's word, and retires to his grave.
HARVEST-MEN
Although figures such as the Harvest-men are often supernumeraries in the drama of this period, Peele uses them purposefully in this play. They enter to sing and dance twice, interrupting the tale Madge is trying to tell. Their intrusions, unconnected either to Madge's story or to the frame that encompasses it, call to the attention of the audience both the extraordinary artificiality of this play and the artifice of theater generally.
HEAD IN THE WELL OF LIFE
The Head appears from the Well of Life to Celanta and Zantippa with a request to have its beard combed in return for great wealth. The shrewish Zantippa refuses, breaks a pot over the Head, and is deprived of a reward. The kind-hearted Celanta obliges and is rewarded; a second Head appears and the young woman's combing results in a shower of gold.
HOSTESS
The Hostess is the proprietor of the inn where Eumenides finds that his purse has been replenished with gold after his having spent all he had to pay for Jack's funeral.
HUANEBANGO
Huanebango is a braggart knight in search of the missing Delia. Accompanied by his servant Corebus (Booby), Huanebango lacks generosity in his encounter with Erestus, is struck deaf by the sorcerer Sacrapant, and finally marries the shrewish Zantippa. His bombastic rant and occasional use of hexameter lines may be an attempt to poke fun at Gabriel Harvey.
LAMPRISCUS
A poor neighbor of Erestus, Lampriscus has two daughters from two unsatisfactory marriages: the beautiful but ill-tempered Zantippa and the ill-favored but loving Celanta.
MADGE
Madge, married to the smith Clunch, tells the tale of the sorcerer Sacrapant and the rescue of Delia by Eumenides. As she begins her story, its characters appear on stage and the plot unfolds as the old woman, Frolic, and Fantastic look on.
SACRAPANT
Sacrapant is the sorcerer who abducts Delia, the daughter of the king of Thessaly, and deprives her of her identity. Similarly, he casts a spell upon Venelia, making her to appear mad, and another upon Venelia's fiancé Erestus, transforming him into an old man who speaks in riddles during the day and turning him into a white bear at night. The sorcerer is the cause that Huanebango is struck deaf and Corebus made blind. Finally, Sacrapant enchants and enslaves Delia's brothers Calypha and Thelea when they try to rescue her. His magic may only be undone by one is neither maid, nor wife, nor widow.
SEXTON
The Sexton, along with the churchwarden Steven Loach, argues with Wiggen over whether Jack, the village ne'er-do-well, should be buried at the expense of the parish.
STEVEN LOACH
Loach is the churchwarden who sides with the Sexton in arguing that the penniless Jack should not be buried at the expense of the parish. The burial goes forward when Eumenides gives all his meager funds to underwrite the funeral.
THELEA
Thelea, a son of the king of Thessaly, is brother to Delia. (The text refers to him as the Second Brother.) Along with his brother Calypha, he seeks to rescue Delia from the sorcerer Sacrapant, but falls under the magician's spell and is enslaved. He is released when Sacrapant is destroyed.
VENELIA
Venelia, the beloved of Erestus, has been charmed by the sorcerer Sacrapant and appears mad. Because she has been betrothed to Erestus, but they have not yet been formally wed, she is technically neither maid, nor wife, nor widow. She thus fulfills the requirements for one capable of extinguishing the magic lamp which maintains Sacrapant's spells. At the end of the action, the Ghost of Jack summons Venelia with a horn, she breaks the glass and blows out the light, and the sorcerer's spells are all broken. This frees Venelia, Erestus, Delia, Calypha, and Thelea.
WIGGEN
Wiggen is a village spendthrift and a friend of Jack. When the Sexton and Steven Loach, the churchwarden, refuse to bury Jack at the expense of the parish, Wiggen threatens them.
ZANTIPPA
Zantippa is the beautiful but shrewish daughter of Lampriscus. She rejects the request made by the Head from the Well of Life to have his beard combed and thus misses out on the reward of gold that is tied to this act of kindness. She finally marries the deaf braggart knight Huanebango.