Foresight’s obsession with astrological predictions and omens, and the imagery associated with both, occur frequently in his speech and occasionally in the speech of other characters (as when Scandal jokes that Jeremy “speaks like an oracle” (1.122). The symbolism of these beliefs illustrates the play’s ongoing thematic preoccupation with the idea of determinism VS agency in the lives of the characters. The characters in the play often struggle against circumstances of birth or finance that they did not choose, while trying to assert their own will and desire. The degree of agency varies from character to character, suggesting that while Foresight’s superstitions may be foolish, his belief that not everything is within one’s own power does have some merit within the world of the play.

Disguise is used both literally and metaphorically in the play to represent the duplicity of some of the characters’ intentions. Jeremy tricks Mrs. Frail and Tattle into marrying one another through the ruse of disguise, as they marry one another dressed as a friar and a nun while unable to see one another’s faces.

Valentine uses feigned madness as a ruse to try to evade signing over his inheritance to his brother, and in the hopes of inspiring

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