Speaker
The speaker, presumably male, is cynical about love and laments Love's death after his breakup with his mistress: "His death-bed [is] peacock's folly." The speaker seems to be bitter and despairing as he imagines a funeral procession for love, complete with dirges and a burial shroud. He repeatedly asks God to deliver "us"—men—from the ills wrought by women, with his tone half-serious, half-mocking. However, by the end of the poem, the speaker changes his tune, admitting that he has been driven to rage and lies by his rejection. In truth, love is not dead.
Love
Love is personified in this poem. The speaker writes that Love has been "infected," as worth and honor have been disregarded. Sickened, Love dies, and is then wrapped in a funeral shroud. However, as this funeral is described, the speaker implies that Love was not wholly innocent: he is "false-seeming-holy," and blames others for his demise. By the end of the poem, the speaker admits that Love "tempers" both men and women, causing them to act in deceitful, frenzied ways.
The Mistress
The speaker writes that his mistress has a "marble heart": she is cruel and cold in her rejection of him, and that has led to Love's death. However, as the poem progresses, he also describes her as having an "unmatched mind," and Love is still present in her heart, only asleep. Therefore, the depiction is not entirely critical. It is just strongly influenced by the speaker's hurt feelings.
