Boredom in love
The prevailing and dominant theme of the play is manifested in the opening lines: “Why should a foolish marriage vow, Which long ago was made, Oblige us to each other now, When passion is decayed?” The play examines the ways that love and desire fade with time in a marriage, and so naturally, married individuals seek out trysts and affairs to enliven their romantic existences. Throughout the play, the plotline that concerns Palamede, Doralice, Rhodophil, and Melantha satirically examines the ways that marriage and longterm relationships are endurance tests, and that all passion fades with time.
Desire and Jealousy
The play suggests that one of the reasons that passion fades in the context of a marriage is that marriage eliminates any element of surprise or drama, and becomes a contract to which one becomes resigned. Desire, as many philosophers have noted, and as the play suggests, has to do with some element of lacking or delay. Thus, the lovers desire those individuals who have not yet been obtained, who must be won, rather than the individuals whom they already know they have. Therefore, at the end, the marriages are enlivened by the competition that has resulted from the various affairs. Rhodophil loves Doralice all the more because he has had to compete with his friend for her, and Palamede falls in love with Melantha because he must win her over with French phrases. Desire and jealousy, the play suggests, are at the heart of marriage and bolsters its commitments.
Mistaken Identity
Various instances of mistaken identity occur throughout the play. Polydamas and his courtiers cannot figure out the true identities of Palmyra or Leonidas, in large part because Hermogenes, their keeper, keeps changing his story about them. By the end, it is revealed that neither of them is who they were thought to be; Leonidas is the rightful heir to the throne, Polydamas is not the king, and Palmyra is Polydamas' daughter.
Additionally, Rhodophil and Palamede get into a sticky situation when they each embark on affairs with one another's beloveds. Palamede seduces Doralice before realizing that she is Rhodophil's wife; meanwhile, Rhodophil has been wooing Melantha, Palamede's fiancée. This results in a humorous open secret, in which both men pretend not to realize they are being cuckolded so that they can continue cuckolding their friend. Matters only get more confusing when there is a masquerade and everyone is disguised to one another.
Pretensions
Since the play is about courtly intrigue, a major theme is social status and the pretensions of the upper classes. The irony, however, is that those who, by birth, are the noblest—Palmyra and Leonidas, the rightful king—are humble and good-hearted, and do not fall prey to any of the pretensions of the court. The character who is the most pretentious is Melantha, a young woman who regularly goes to court even though she is not welcome there. She regularly leaves, miffed that those who are socially higher than her do not regard her with more respect. A great deal of humor is derived from her pretentious attitude, her sense that she is owed something that she simply does not deserve.
True Love
Contrasted with the flippant and humorous affairs of the courtiers is the enduring love shared between Palmyra and Leonidas. Raised together in poverty, they have kindled a love for one another that eclipses all social concerns. They both vow to remain true to one another even in the face of execution and familial betrayal, and their love endures throughout the entirety of the play, until they are able to marry one another without the fear of punishment. They are the image of true love, a magnetic affiliation that is unbreakable.
Royalty
A great deal of the plot centers around the throne in Sicily and Polydamas' search for the rightful heir. Polydamas himself is not the rightful heir, having usurped the throne from the former king. Thinking that the king he stole the throne has no heirs, Polydamas is confident that he will find his successor and have secured his royal position, but this is thrown off course when Hermogenes reveals that Leonidas is actually the rightful heir. In the blink of an eye, Polydamas' power is eclipsed, and the humble, noble, Leonidas ascends his rightful place on the throne.
Public versus Private Life
There is a comic tension between the public and private lives of the various characters, especially Palamede, Rhodophil, Doralice, and Melantha. In their public-facing personalities, they are committed to their marriages and are noble members of adult society. In private, however, they are involved in all manner of deceit and are betraying one another left and right. In this way, the play comically suggests that marriage is as much a deceptive public performance as it is a noble institution. The performance of love and commitment that the respective couples put on with one another is another part of the social codes of their class. Under the surface, things are much more complicated and much less civilized.
