The hero of the play, Triboulet, is a historical character during the reigns of Louis XII and François I of France. Triboulet is a court jester, through whose words Hugo attacks contemporary society. The king is a profligate and a womanizer, constantly looking for new conquests. Having set his sights on a new mistress, the Countess de Cossé, Triboulet encourages the king to kill her husband. Triboulet is despised by the courtiers, who plot to abduct the young woman living with him whom they assume is his mistress. The sudden appearance of the Comte de Saint-Vallier, the father of Diana de Poitiers, seduced by the king, to demand compensation from the monarch, leads the king and Triboulet to mock him, upon which the aristocrat curses them.