- Count Almaviva, Governor of Andalusia
- Countess Rosine, his wife
- Figaro, the Count's valet and major-domo; engaged to Suzanne
- Suzanne, the Countess' maid; engaged to Figaro
- Marceline, the housekeeper; in love with Figaro, unknowingly Figaro's mother
- Antonio, gardener of the castle; uncle of Suzanne, father of Fanchette
- Fanchette, daughter of Antonio, girlfriend to many
- Chérubin, the Count's page, the Countess' godson; in love with every woman
- Bartholo, a doctor from Seville; unknowingly Figaro's father
- Bazile, music master to the Countess
- Don Guzman Brid'oison, a judge.
- Doublemain, clerk to Don Guzman Brid'oison
- Gripe-Soleil, a shepherd lad
- Pedrillo, the Count's huntsman
- An usher
- A shepherdess
- An alguazil
- A magistrate
- Servants, valets, peasants, and huntsmen
Beaumarchais wrote detailed notes on the characters, printed in the first published text of the play, issued in 1785.[19] The author prescribed that Figaro must be played without any suggestion of caricature; the Count with great dignity yet with grace and affability; the Countess with restrained tenderness; Suzanne as intelligent and lively but without brazen gaiety; Chérubin as a charming young scamp, diffident only in the presence of the Countess.[19] Chérubin is traditionally played as a trouser role by a woman. Beaumarchais said that in the original company, there were no boys available who were both the right age and who could understand all the subtleties of the role: most of the character's comic traits come from the view of an adult looking back on puberty with amusement.[20]
The ridiculous character of Don Guzman was a jab at a judge, Louis Valentin Goëzman, whom Beaumarchais had—in vain—tried to bribe once, offering jewels to his wife and money to his secretary. Beaumarchais gained public acclaim for directly challenging the judge in a series of pamphlets collectively published as Mémoires dans l'affaire Goëzman. Beaumarchais was hailed as a hero of the people with the public embarrassment he brought upon Goëzman.[21][n 2]
Fanchette is around twelve years old. At the time, the age of consent throughout most of Europe was around that same age; hence, the revelation that she and the adult Count are sleeping together was not meant to be quite as shocking as it is often perceived these days.
