Character Analysis
Lovewit's a rich dude who owns a house in London. When the plague hits the city, he flees to his country estate for safety, leaving his butler behind to look after the house.
So, Lovewit's departure from London is the event that opens the door for all kinds of highjinks and shenanigans. As we know, the butler (Face/Jeremy/Lungs) moves two of his pals into the house and proceeds to use the casa as headquarters for a bunch of scams and con games.
But we also know from the get-go that's it's only a matter of time before Lovewit returns to London and finds out what his butler has been up to.
Lovewit's reaction, however, is pretty surprising. He agrees to forgive his servant for everything if his butler can help him 1) get hitched to the rich, young widow, Dame Pliant and 2) make sure that Lovewit gets to keep all the money and loot that Subtle, Face, and Doll have scammed from their victims:
That had receiv'd such happiness by a servant,
In such a widow, and with so much wealth,
Were very ungrateful, if he would not be
A little indulgent to that servant's wit,
And help his fortune, though with some small strain
Of his own candour. (5.5.198-203)
In the end, it seems like Lovewit has hit the jackpot, right? Maybe. It's obvious that Lovewit's just as dishonest and shady as his butler so it's possible that the two will make a great partnership. But, it's also possible that Lovewit's just another chump getting scammed by his ingenious butler.
We talk about this a whole lot more in "What's Up With the Ending?" so head on over there if you want to think about this some more.