One of the play's many pleasures is the way it juxtaposes the “high” courtly and triangulated romance of Palamon, Arcite, and Emilia with the “low” story of the Jailer's Daughter and her Wooer. The fact that these country characters have labels rather than names—not unusual in plays of the period— underscores their difference from the nobility. Yet the Jailer's Daughter, and indeed the Jailer himself, are in some ways far more vivid characters than their courtly counterparts.
