# Petulant — The Way of the World character guide

> Petulant in The Way of the World by William Congreve.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0006-act-i

## Snapshot

A peevish gallant who stages his own importance — hiring women to call on him and even leaving letters for himself — while dodging the company he claims to command.

## Who they are

Petulant wants to be seen as a man of appetite and consequence, so he manufactures the evidence: coach-hire for women, a summons he refuses to answer, a cruelty he wears as a humour. His rudeness is not confidence but performance, and it collapses the moment anyone tests it. He matters as the play's study in affectation taken to absurdity, the friend Witwoud cannot quite excuse and the foil that makes Mirabell's self-command look like virtue.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_the_world_se/characters/petulant
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_the_world_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_way_of_the_world_se/characters