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British Poetry And Drama Unit 3 Restoration Comedy
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Restoration Comedy
ENGLISH
BRITISH POETRY AND DRAMA:17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES
Aphra Behn, The Rover
The Rover Summary
Willmore, the Rover, arrives in Naples where he meets his fellow exiles Blunt, Frederick, and Bellville. They begin rather aimless adventures in quest of pleasure. Although Willmore is an example of the appealing, energetic Restoration hero of wit, it is the women characters who, indirectly, control the action. Hellena, destined by her father for a convent, wishes for another kind of life and is willing to venture into the carnival setting to seek it. Once she has seen Willmore, she decides to make him her husband, even if she must pursue him in disguise. In order to thwart his affair with Angelica, an aged former mistress of a Spanish general, she disguises herself as a page. Her sister Florinda has been promised, against her will, to Antonio. Florinda has been in love with Belvile since he saved her life and that of her brother Don Pedro during a battle. Despite numerous mishaps and mistakes that endanger her, she manages to win Bellville in the end. Both women achieve marriages that will assure financial independence and compatibility and will not require excessive emotional commitment.
Not all pleasure seeking, however, achieves its ends. Behn implies that the person must possess some attractive qualities and panache. Blunt, crudely direct in his hedonism, finds himself deceived and robbed by a courtesan. He represents the naïve country squire of Restoration comedy, who becomes the butt of farcical humour. On the other hand, Willmore’s excesses—drunkenness, brawling, and promiscuity—are redeemed by his wit, savoir faire, and overall good nature.
The drama possesses an abundance of humor, sprightly wit, and farcical adventures. Although the celebration of loyalty may have been its greatest appeal for the Restoration audience, the drama is also noteworthy for its portrayal of strong-willed heroines who choose their own future and act to bring it about. The sequel. The Rovers: Or, The Banished Cavaliers, Part II (pr.. pb. 1681) is generally regarded as inferior to the first part, although it is noteworthy for its use of two figure:, from commedia dell’arte: Harlequin and Scaramouche.
Act I
The scene untraditionally opens on two women. Sisters Hellena and Florinda are discussing love, which the younger sister Hellena wants to experience before her brother sends her to a nunnery, and Florinda coyly tells about her beau, an English colonel. They are interrupted by their brother, Don Pedro, who announces that, to prevent Florinda from having to marry her father’s choice for her, an old man, she must marry Don Pedro’s friend, Don Antonio, the next day. The girls decide to go to the carnival that night in masks and costumed as gypsy whores to exploit their independence before it is stifled by their prearranged futures, and Florinda hopes to encounter Belleville to tell him that she loves him. Their cousin, Valeria, and their governess, Callis, accompany them. Very soon they meet four English gentlemen who are also heading to the carnival.
Hellena meets and sets a date with an. English sailor, Captain Willmore, who shares her goal of enjoying as many fleeting encounters with the opposite sex as he can during his two-day leave. Florinda is also successful, for she meets Colonel Bellville, the man she had fallen in love with when he protected her and her brother during the siege of Pamplona. Behind her mask, she pretends to tell Belvile his fortune, hands him a letter, and whispers to him to meet Florinda at the garden gate that night. Valeria flirts with Frederick, and the fourth Englishman, a simple country squire named Ned Blunt, wanders off with a real harlot, Lucetta. The other three joke that she will probably rob him, as they happily head off for dinner, anticipating an evening of physical pleasure.
Act II
Blunt comes back from setting a date with what he thinks is a woman of quality, who acts as though she is in love with him. He has not bothered to learn her name. He has high hopes of paying nothing for his time with her. The others, now donning carnival masks, take their common purse of money from him, convinced that she is a common whore who will fleece him of his valuables. Walking the streets, they come across the house of the famous courtesan, Angellica. Three portraits of this beauty hang outside, advertising her charms for one thousand crowns a month. Willmore falls in love with her beauty and takes one of the portraits, since he does not have the money to enjoy the original. Don Pedro and Don Antonio arrive wearing masks and vie over which of them will buy Angelica’s favours. Don Pedro recognizes his friend, Don Antonio, who shows no shame over betraying Florinda as he presses his case with Angellica. Pedro challenges him to a fight, but he allows Don Antonio to think it is Belvile who challenges him. After they depart, Willmore manages to get Angellica to fall in love with him so that he may enjoy her pleasures without paying. Her servant, Moretta, is disgusted that she would give away her charms to such a “pirate beggar.” Such folly, Moretta proclaims, “is the fate of all whores.”
Act III
Hellena, Florinda, and Valeria discover that Willmore has a love interest in Angellica. Willmore then proceeds to navigate between Hellena and Angelica, professing undying love to each in turn. Angellica becomes jealous of Hellena, while Hellena takes his betrayal in stride, for she shares his trait of an inconstant heart. Meanwhile, Florinda tries Belle’s faithfulness by courting him in her mask. He proves his fidelity, so she hands him her locket as she leaves. Seeing her picture in it, he realises it was she.
On another street, Lucetta has her servant, Sancho, lead Blunt to her bedroom, where she tricks him into removing his clothing as she slips away in the dark. Her partner and lover, Phillipo, is pleased with the haul and inflamed by the idea of her going to bed with another man. Blunt, lost and in his undergarments, realises his folly. Meanwhile, Florinda is waiting for Belvile, but a very drunk Willmore appears instead and nearly rapes her, taking her for a common wench. Belvile and Frederick happen along just in time to save her, but the appearance of her brother causes her to retreat to her room, with a promise to meet Belleville later. In the mean-time, Don Antonio has paid his thousand crowns to Angellica. Willmore, in his drunken state, fights Don Antonio and leaves him for dead, while Belvile happens on the scene in time to take the blame. Don Antonio, wounded, takes Bellville home with him to assign a punishment.
Act IV
Belvile bemoans his miserable luck, and Antonio releases him on the condition that he fights Antonio’s rival (Don Pedro) in his place, masked and wearing Don Antonio’s clothes. Bellville does not bother to ask the rival’s identity, assuming that Don Antonio means Bellville himself as his rival for Florinda. But since Don Antonio is more concerned about his rival for Angellica, Belvile will have to duel with Don Pedro.
Florinda watches the duel, not realising that Bellville is in Don Antonio’s clothes. She. thus cheers on the wrong man. At the end of the fight, Don Pedro gives in to “Don Antonio” (really Bellville) and agrees to let him marry his sister. Florinda gasps and tries to flee until Belvile reveals himself to her. Don Pedro sees this and grudgingly admits that Bellville has proved himself worthy, though he takes his sister off to ponder the decision further. Meanwhile, Angellica has her servant fetch Willmore, who charms her once again despite her jealousy. Hellena appears, dressed as a boy, to plead her “master’s” case with Angellica to release Willmore. Willmore loves the idea of a wealthy patroness, though he recognizes his “little gypsy,” actually Hellena, under the disguise. Once again, Angellica is “undone” by jealousy.
However, Willmore thinks that Hellena is acting out of her own gypsy interest, so he professes his love to Angellica, thinking to gain more financially with a relationship with the rich courtesan. Willmore claims that if he ever marries, it will be to someone who “has wit enough to manage an intrigue of love.” The challenge thrown, Hellena departs. Willmore insults Angellica, which inflames her desire for revenge, and follows Hellena. Florinda and Valeria, in different costumes, are nearly caught by Don Pedro, but Florinda escapes into a side door, which happens to be the lodgings of the English gentlemen, where Blunt is nursing his pride and waiting for a new suit of clothes to be delivered. When Blunt sees her, he determines to seek revenge on her as reparation for his humiliation at the hands of the harlot, Lucetta. He nearly rapes Florinda, with assistance from Frederick, until the latter hears Florinda mention Belvile’s name and stops the process. The other Englishmen arrive ready to enjoy a laugh at Blunt’s expense, not realising that Florinda is being held captive in Frederick’s room.
Act V
The English gentlemen return to their quarters as they mock Blunt. Willmore, however, pities the man since Blunt did not at least enjoy the lady’s favours. Blunt, desperate for a shred of respect, announces that he is holding another woman hostage. Don Pedro offers to help him discover whether she is “of quality, or for [their] diversion.” Willmore proposes that the man with the longest sword take her, which falls to Don Pedro and his Toledo blade. Don Pedro is about to unveil his own sister before Belvile recognizes her ring, now in Blunt’s possession. However, Belvile dares not reveal her identity, for fear of her brother’s wrath. At the eleventh hour, Valeria comes running in and rescues Florinda, allowing just enough time for Bellville to many her in a hasty wedding. Valeria marries Frederick in the same ceremony.
Now Angellich arrives, wearing a mask and threatening to kill Willmore with a gun. He easily charms her out of her resolve. Don Antonio comes to her rescue and offers to take care of her. When Don Pedro returns, he graciously approves Florinda’s marriage to Bellville. Finally, the two rovers negotiate a unique nuptial agreement, based on mutual mistrust, and then Willmore marries Hellena, only afterwards learning of her wealth. Don Pedro once again demurs; the nunnery is not for Hellena. A final laugh ensues when Blunt’s clothes arrive, for they are the costume of one from the nation he now “abominate[s]” : Spain.
The Rover Characters
Don Antonio
Don Antonio, a Spanish nobleman and the wealthy son of a Viceroy of Spain, has been betrothed to Florinda through an agreement with his good friend, Florinda’s brother, Don Pedro. However, Don Antonio is intrigued with the courtesan, Angellica. It is apparent that if he marries Florinda as planned, he will keep Angellica as a mistress, too. Don Antonio fights with the English gentlemen over the right to visit Angellica and is wounded by Willmore in a brawl. Eventually, Don Antonio gives up his claim on Florinda and forms a bond with Angellica, whom he nobly undertakes to support after her career as a courtesan is ruined.
Colonel Bellville
Belleville is an honourable and steadfast English colonel who fell in love with Florinda when he protected her from an attack during the siege of Pamplona. Belleville is one of many exiled Englishmen travelling around Europe during the Interregnum, the period after the beheading of Charles I and before the reinstatement of his son, Charles H. Unlike his English fellows, Belleville is not interested in any of the many courtesans in Naples, but pines away for his true love. He hopes to find her in Naples and marry her. However, it is Belvile’s bad luck to get himself into countless situations that make it dif-ficult for him to meet Florinda and elope with her as they had planned.
Angellica Bianca
Angellica is a famous courtesan who at the time of the play’s events has just lost her benefactor, Don Pedro’s wealthy uncle, who had been paying her monthly expenses of 1,000 crowns. Now she is advertising for a new lover, so she has placed three portraits of herself on the outside of her palatial home, along with the price. Angellica is accustomed to a life of luxury, but she has paid for it by sacrificing her honour and virginity for the riches she extracts from the men who fall prey to her seductive beauty. For Angellica, being a courtesan is a matter of survival and independence; to fall in love would ruin her, for then she would be at the mercy of the men she uses. Unfortunately, she falls hopelessly in love with one of the worst sort of men, Captain Willmore, who wants only physical satisfaction and not a love relationship. After being “undone” by Willmore, Don Antonio graciously offers to be her lifelong companion, thus removing her from the need to market her body.
Ned Blunt
Blunt is a country gentleman and not as sophisticated as his friend Belvile. His favourite oath, “adsheartlikins,” gives him away as a landed country bumpkin, a stock character. Blunt foolishly believes that a courtesan has fallen in love with his manly physique, and thus he proves an easy mark for her ruse to take him to her house and defrock him of his valuables and clothing. Blunt fears that his friends will laugh at him for his misfortune, since he had bragged overmuch of his conquest before he went with the “wench.” This fuels his desire for revenge, which he nearly takes upon Florinda, the next woman he meets in the street, whom he mistakes for a harlot and whom he intends to rape brutally to avenge his wounded pride. When his friends do in fact laugh at him, Blunt goes into a rage, spluttering that he is “not an ass to be laughed at.” He lacks their gentlemanly power of restraint and decorum. Blunt is further humiliated when, ironically, a local tailor sews him a Spanish costume, “the mode of a nation [he] abominate[s],” instead of a “proper” English one.
Callis
Callis is governess to Florinda and Hellena. She is sympathetic to their plights, and so she willingly assists them in deceiving their brother, Don Pedro, so that they can enjoy the carnival in Naples. They are not so loyal to her, however, for when Florinda decides to run away from her brother’s home to find and marry Bellville, Valeria pushes Callis into a chest and locks her in to give Florinda time to escape. Neither Florinda nor Hellena shows any remorse for this subterfuge.
Florinda
Florinda is the only pure and innocent young woman in the play. Florinda is a noblewoman who has been betrothed to wizened old Don Vincentio by her.father, but since she and her sister and brother are away in Naples, she has been able to put this out of her mind. In the meantime, she has fallen in love with the English Colonel Belvile, who protected her and her brother when they were besieged in Pamplona and whom she hopes to many. Her brother, however, has different plans. Being out of the purview of their father, he hopes to confer his sister and her sizable dowry on his friend, Don Antonio. Don Pedro thinks his plan will please his sister, since Don Antonio is young and handsome. To this plan Florinda is blithely unaware, until she gets a rude awakening when her brother announces that she must marry Don Antonio the next day. Thus Florinda is willing to accompany her more adventurous sister Hellena in a final night on the town, so that they each can experience a taste of love, and so that Florinda can hopefully speak to Bellville of her plight. During their adventure, Florinda is twice nearly raped, first by a drunken Wilmore and then by Blunt, bent on revenge against women in general and harlots in particular.
Frederick
Frederick is an English gentleman and friend to Bellville and Ned Blunt. Frederick shares Blount’s anger at the courtesans of Naples who strip Blunt of his belongings and his clothes. Thus, he is easily convinced to help Blunt rape the innocent Florinda in revenge, when they mistake her for a whore. However, he convinces Blunt to stop when Florinda mentions that she knows Belvile, and thus proves she is a “maid of quality” and not a harlot.
Hellena
Florinda’s younger sister, lively Hellena, is destined for the nunnery, a common destination for younger sisters since the Mediaeval period. Before being carted off to a life of devotion devoid of men and fun, Hellena intends to spend an evening on the town in Naples searching for “a saint of [her] own to pray to,” so that she can experience the “sighs” and “wishes” of being in love. She and her sister don masks and colourful clothing so that they can masquerade as courtesans and flirt openly in this society that frowns on such behaviour from “women of quality.” Hellena feels confident in her ability to play with love and not be smitten, but smitten she is, by the quintessential rover himself, Captain Wilmore. Both of them espouse a policy of loving and leaving, and in this they prove a perfect match for each other. So perfect is their match that even the dour Don Pedro approves their marriage, and therefore Hellena does not have to cloister herself in a nunnery after all.
Lucetta
Lucetta is a common whore who seduces the naïve Ned Blunt into meeting her at her house to consummate their passion. He fails to recognize the harlot’s trick, and she gets him to remove all of his clothes while she steals out of the room and locks him in it. Although she enjoys stealing his belongings, she expresses some regret that he did not at least get a chance to enjoy her favours before he was stripped of his possessions. Her paramour, Phillipo, has no such regrets and in fact finds his passions inflamed by the thought of her being with another man.
Moretta
Moretta is Angellica’ s servant and is herself a courtesan to less wealthy patrons. Moretta tries to steer Angellica away from Willmore, for she sees that he does not have a noble heart. Her warnings go unwar-ranted and unwelcome.
Don Pedro
Don Pedro is a Spanish nobleman who has been left in charge of his two sisters in their father’s absence. Don Pedro follows the European tradition of marrying off the older sister, Florinda, and committing his younger sister, Hellena, to the nunnery. Florinda’s sizable dowry makes her an excellent gift for his good friend, Don Antonio. Don Pedro tries to protect his sisters’ virginity by keeping them out of society.
Phillipo
Lover of the whore, Lucetta, Phillipo feels fully justified in bilking an Englishman due to the long rivalry between Spain and England. The idea that Lucetta nearly went to bed with Blunt makes Phillipo feel “wanton,” so he goes to bed with her himself.
Sancho
Lucetta’s pimp, Sancho, leads the naïve Blunt to Lucetta’s house for what Blunt thinks will be an amorous tryst, but which Sancho knows will be his undoing.
Valeria
Valeria, whose name connotes the Latin-based word “valiant,” is cousin to Florinda and Hellena. Valeria finds the costumes and masks that the three of them wear to disguise their noblewoman’s demeanour and masquerade as courtesans. Valeria falls in love with the English gentleman, Frederick, and they marry at the end of the play.
Captain Willmore
Captain Willmore, the rover, is an English sailor traveling with the exiled Prince (Charles II), and who is on leave after many months at sea without any women. A man without a conscience, Willmore wants nothing more than to enjoy the pleasures of as many women as possible during his brief stay in Naples. Willmore is a smooth talker who charms both lady and courtesan, and he repeatedly manages to earn back their love even after they catch him in another tryst. Nor does he scruple to take their money. While drunk, he attempts to rape a noblewoman. He meets his match in Hellena, who shares his appetite for adventure and love and whose streak of bold independence may inspire him to fidelity.
Question and Answer
1. What is the character analysis of Willmore from Aphra Behn’s The Rover?
Ans: Willmore is a cavalier, which means that he is a royalist who is loyal to Charles II during the English Civil War. Willmore is a rover, which means that he travels from place to place on board a ship. During the action of the play, he takes a few days in Naples to enjoy Carnival and then plans to again board the ship to lead his itinerant life.
When he arrives in Naples, he says, “love and mirth are my business.” He is constantly in pursuit of pleasure and amusement, and when he meets Hellena, who tells him that she is soon to go to a nunnery, he feels equal to the challenge of wooing her. He says, “A Nun! Oh how I love the for’t ! There’s no Sinner like a young Saint.” He promises to be dedicated to Hellena, but he regrets that she has made such an impression on him. He says :
“She has play’d with my Heart so, that ‘will never lie ‘still till I have met with some kind Wench, that will play the Game out with me.”
In other words, he can’t bear to dedicate himself to one woman, and he soon pursues a famous courtesan named Angellica Bianca. He sees her picture on the wall and pulls it down, and then he enters into a fight with some Spaniards. He is rash and impetuous and eager to fight anyone who challenges him.
Throughout the play, Willmore shows little constancy to one woman. As soon as he has pledged his dedicated to Angellica, he finds Hellena during Carnival and begins to flirt with her. He is a rake until the end of the play, when he promises to many Hellena, who he senses is his equal in wit and cleverness.
2. What are the main themes in The Rover by Aphra Behn?
Ans: One of the play’s main themes is the relationship between love and marriage. At the time when Aphra Behn wrote the play—in Restoration England—marriage was largely seen as a social or religious custom, or perhaps a kind of glorified business transaction between aristocratic families. Love seldom, if ever, entered into the equation.
Hellena and Willmore are unusual in this regard in that they want to get married for love. They are both very much free-spirits and always follow their hearts rather than the dictates of established convention. But of course, there are limits to their freedom in such a restrictive society. Though strictly speaking they don’t need to express their love through the formal bonds of holy matrimony, they choose to do so anyway. Hellena and Willmore may be free spirits, but they still have to live in society, which means that they must compromise in some way with prevailing standards. In any case, marrying out of love is a sufficiently subversive act in that it shows how it is possible to maintain social respectability while still remaining true to your heart.
3. How does Aphra Behn’s The Rover compare with George Etherege’s The Man of Mode in relation to gender roles?
Ans: Both The Rover and The Man of Mode are perfect examples of English Restoration comedy, also called comedy of manners. Restoration comedy was especially known for being sexually explicit and satirized issues of social classes, using scandals to drive the plot forward. Restoration comedy also made use of stock characters and satirised gender roles, as we can see in both plays. While both certainly portray some aspects of gender roles as the same, there are also some differences.
One difference can be seen with respect to which gender is given the more dominant role in either play. In The Rover, despite the play’s title, it’s actually the women who drive the plot forward and have the more dominant role, giving them a gender role even commonly seen in Shakespeare. As even seen in Shakespeare, women have the gender role of manipulating situations to their advantage and of even being the controlling force to solve conflicts. Examples of women in The Rover dominating the action can be seen with respect to the actions of Hellena and Florinda. Hellena refuses to join a convent, as her father wishes, and is instead determined to find a husband. She decides to pursue Willmore as her husband and wins him, despite the fact that he is a philandering drunk. Likewise, despite the fact that Florinda’s father wants her to marry Antonia, she is in love with Bellville and also pursues him until she wins him, showing how both women are capable of controlling and manipulating the action to their advantage. We particularly see their strong characters and gender roles in the opening scene in which they discuss their wishes to disobey their father. In particular, Hellena says to Florintia :
Now hang me, if I don’t love thee for that dear disobedience. I love mischief strangely, as most of our sex do, who are come to love nothing else. (I.i.)
In contrast, The Man of Mode presents women as having the gender role of being the weaker vessel–women are objectified and even exploited. For example, both Lady Loveit and Bellinda are exploited by being treated by Dorimant as mere sex objects who he can cast away when he is tired of them.
Similarities and differences can also be seen with respect to the gender roles given to the men in both plays. In contrast to The Rover, the play The Man of. Mode gives the male characters the more dominant role, making them the ones that control situations. For example, Dorimant manipulates the situation so that he is able to cast off both Lady Loveit and Bellinda and even manipulate Harriet’s mother into consenting to his marrying Harriet. However, both plays characterise the men as having the same gender role with respect to their behaviour. In both plays, the men are heavy drinkers, promiscuous, vain, witty, and some are even foolish, showing us that, according to the plays, a man’s gender role is to be those things.
4. What similarities and connections would you draw between Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Aphra Behn’s The Rover?
Ans: I would want to compare these two excellent plays through the way in which they each comment upon the position of women in society and also the severe limitations under which they were forced to operate.
Much Ado About Nothing, as befits its status of a comedy, is of course a delightful romp in many ways as soldiers pursue women and Beatrice and Benedick in particular show sexual war in its full glory and humour as they enagage in their battle of wits. However, in spite of its classification as a, “comedy,” critics are right to stress that there are very un-comic elements to it. This of course centres on the treatment of Hero by male characters, most notably her father, her lover and Don Pedro. The way in which the marriage Hero is publicly shamed and abused reminds us of the inferior position women occupied at this time. If they did not conform to the male image of what women should be like, chaste, pure and virtuous, they were shunned and reviled.
In the same way, The Rover focuses on the position of women and the kind of options that they had when it came to marriage and life. The fate of Florinda can be paralleled to that of Hero in a number of ways, as she is shown to be a character whose fate will be decided by male characters and how they view her. She will either be married to an ageing suitor or somebody else that a male relative will decide for her. The fact that Florinda’s brother has dispatched Hellena to a nunnery is another example of the powerless position that women occupied. Even though this play has a happy ending, as both of the two main female characters end up with the man they love, this is shown to be more a product of complete chancelhan a victory for women.
Therefore, the main focus of this play is on the way in which the position of women is severely limited and curtailed in society, and how their fate was’ decided not by their own character but by the men around them. Although both are ostensibly “comedies,” there is a darker side that paints a rather distressing picture of the position of women at this time.
5. Is The Rover a feminist play ? If so, how is it portrayed?
Ans: The Rover or The Banish’d Cavaliers is a 1677 play by Aphra Behn. The action explores the amorous relationships and adventures of a group of English men and women in Naples during Carnival. While the word feminist and the theory of feminism was not present at the time the play premiered, there is distinctly a feminist reading to the play, specifically consistent with first-wave feminism. The genre of the play is referred to as Restoration comedy, which followed the prohibition of public plays in Puritan society. The genre encourages the use of crass language and sexually explicit plot points. First-wave feminism promoted the idea that men and women should be equal under the law and have the same opportunities in their careers. The female play-wright, Aphra Behn, is one of the first women to earn money as a playwright.
Secondly, the plot of the play focuses on a group of women who, in many ways, act like men. In previous plays, women were written as the object of men’s desires and were afforded limited agency. One of the major storylines in The Rover revolves around the female character Hellena’s sexual pursuit of the male protagonist Willmore.
Furthermore, this play depicts women who are concerned with pursuing their passion and desires, not simply pursuing lives as wives and mothers, which is an important distinction from previous works of literature.
6. What characterises the voice of The Rover by Aphra Behn?
Ans: One of the fascinating aspects of this play is the way that Behn used the aside so much to reveal the inner thoughts and fears of her characters. This is a definite aspect of the voice of the play, as there is a very high number of such asides. Let us remember that an aside is a term given to a comment that is uttered by a character in what is known as a “stage whisper,” that the other characters in stage are unable to hear. This then allows the character uttering that aside to often express honestly what they are thinking and feeling rather than the pleasing exterior that they wish to present to other characters.
Asides in this play are frequently utilised to chart the development of romantic interest between various characters. For example, when Helena finds out that Willmore is romantically interested in Angellica, Hellena’s asides communicate her love for Willmore and indicate her jealousy, therefore developing the plot whilst showing her feelings secretly to the audience alone.
Asides are also often used to indicate the intention or purpose of a character. Using the same example, Angellica remarks “His words go to the very soul of me,” indicating through this aside that she is deeply impacted by her romantic feelings for Willmore rather than just playing the part (that she does so well) of courtesan.
So much of the voice of this play is therefore wrapped up in the use of the aside to reveal character’s intentions and inner feelings to the audience, giving us access to the souls of various characters.
7. Explain The Rover as a restoration comedy.
Ans: The Restoration of Charles II to the English throne occurred in 1660 and with it, a new sub-genre of theatre began: Restoration Comedy. Restoration comedies were often bawdy (see William Wycherley’s The Country Wife) and generally light in tone. The rise in popularity of such works is likely due to the merry attitude of Charles II as well as the general fatigue England felt after its many civil wars. People wanted entertainment that was light-heartened and satirical rather than Shakespearean tragedy.
Largely, The Rover embodies the spirit of Restoration Comedy, especially in its first half. Much of the enjoyment derived from the play comes from farce—that is, the slapstick tomfoolery and hijinks that the characters get themselves into. Take for instance, Lucetta’s deception of the doltish Blunt which leaves him naked and without money. This scene is played purely for laughs as a likeable character is able to fool someone who is unlikable.
However, despite its general adherence to the standards of Renaissance comedy, The Rover takes on a much darker tone in its second half: Lucetta’s trick angers Blunt and he attempts to rape her. Though the rape never comes to fruition, it is still disturbing, especially to contemporary audiences.
The Rover is also unusual in that it takes a rather progressive stance on gender roles and female sexuality. For example, Angellica Bianca—whose initials mirror those of Aphra Behn, the play’s author—despite being a prostitute, is perhaps the most morally conscious person in play.
8. What would be a great thesis for the play The Rover?
Ans: There are several possible ways to interpret Aphra Behn’s play, so an appropriate thesis for an essay about The Rover would depend on the writer’s interpretation. In satirising numerous aspects of seventeenth-century British society, the author is particularly harsh on the restrictive gender-based conventions of the era. Focusing on a theme concerning the character’s manipulation of gender boundaries would support a thesis related to such restrictions.
On the one hand, Behn shows that the female characters, especially Florinda and Hellena, make the most of their disguises as they seek romance and adventure. Placing the “women on top” turns normal relationships upside down, as Natalie Z. Davis has explored. A related thesis would emphasise the importance of the temporary release from strict conventions that is afforded by carnival. This type of argument supports the positive effects of symbolic inversion, using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the “carnivalesque.”
On the other hand, as the women are pretending to be men, they are trying to achieve their goals by using the same methods that men use. In doing so, they are not fundamentally altering the structures that oppress them. A thesis using this type of argument would emphasise that the women are reinforcing patriarchal control by trying to manipulate it rather than challenge it outright. This type of argument emphasises the temporary quality of symbolic inversion, emphasising the more lasting effects of the return to the status quo.
9. Who are the main characters in The Rover?
Ans: Let me answer this question by talking about one of the central and most important characters and then discussing how other characters relate to her. Florinda could be viewed as the heroine of the play, as she is definitely the only woman who is depicted as being untarnished and pure. She is of noble birth, and, at the opening of the play, as been promised by her father to Don Vincentio, an ancient nobleman. She forgets this by a trip she takes to Naples with her sister and brother. There, she has fallen in love with Colonel Belvile, an Englishman who played a key role in saving her brother’s life when they were in Pamplona. Florinda would dearly love to be able to marry him.
Don Pedro, her brother, has different ideas for securing a husband for his sister, and uses the opportunity of being away from his father to give his sister to his friend, Don Antonio, a young and attractive noble. Florinda is very shocked when her brother announces she will many Don Antonio the next day.
This announcement acts as a catalyst for Florinda, sending her out with Hellena, her more daring sister, to visit the town so that they can experience love and also so that Floririda can hopefully fmd Bellville and tell him of the situation that she faces. The adventures of these two sisters end in Florinda almost being raped twice, first by the Rover himself, Willmore, an English Captain, and secondly by Blunt, a country gentleman who is very unsophisticated.
10. Why do many critics believe that Hellena is the Rover rather than Wilmore?
Ans: Generally speaking, critics tend to regard Hellena as the rover of the title because she’s a free-spirit who marries for love. At the time when the play was written, women—especially women of Hellena’s social class—didn’t have much choice in whom they married. Marriages among the upper-classes were often little more than glorified diplomatic treaties or business deals. Love seldom entered into the equation for the interested parties.
Hellena is destined for a convent thanks to her tyrannical father. So her love affair with Willmore represents what would’ve been seen at the time as a shocking challenge to prevailing convention. The methods that Hellena employs to get her man are also subversive. Putting on the disguise of a page is a particularly transgressive act of cross-dressing that allows Hellena to exercise far more autonomy and moral agency than she ever would as a woman in Restoration society.
11. How does Aphra Behn’s The Rover compare with George Etherege’s The Man of Mode in relation to gender roles?
Ans: Both The Rover and The Man of Mode are perfect examples of English Restoration comedy, also called comedy of manners. Restoration comedy was especially known for being sexually explicit and satirized issues of social classes, using scandals to drive the plot forward. Restoration comedy also made use of stock characters and satirised gender roles, as we can see in both plays. While both certainly portray some aspects of gender roles as the same, there are also some differences.
One difference can be seen with respect to which gender is given the more dominant role in either play. In the Rover, despite the play’s title, it’s actually the women who drive the plot forward and have the more dominant role, giving them a gender role even commonly seen in Shakespeare. As even seen in Shakespeare, women have the gender role of manipulating situations to their advantage and of even being the controlling force to solve conflicts. Examples of women in The Rover dominating the action can be seen with respect to the actions of Hellena and Florinda. Hellena refuses to join a convent, as her father wishes, and is instead determined to find a husband. She decides to pursue Willmore as her husband and wins him, despite the fact that he is a philandering drunk. Likewise, despite the fact that Florinda’s father wants her to marry Antonia, she is in love with Bellville and also pursues him until she wins him, showing how both women are capable of controlling and manipulating the action to their advantage. We particularly see their strong characters and gender roles in the opening scene in which they discuss their wishes to disobey their father. In particular, Hellena says to Florintia :
Now hang me, if I don’t love thee for that dear disobedience. I love mischief strangely, as most of our sex do, who are come to love nothing else. (I.i.)
In contrast, The Man of Mode presents women as having the gender role of being the weaker vessel–women are objectified and even exploited. For example, both Lady L,oveit and Bellinda are exploited by being treated by Dorimant as mere sex objects who he can cast away when he is tired of them.
Similarities and differences can also be seen with respect to the gender roles given to the men in both plays. In contrast to The Rover, the play The Man of Mode gives the male characters the more dominant role, making them the ones that control situations. For example, Dorimant manipulates the situation so that he is able to cast off both Lady Loveit and Bellinda and even manipulate Harriet’s mother into consenting to his marrying Harriet. However, both plays characterise the men as having the same gender role with respect to their behaviour. In both plays, the men are heavy drinkers, promiscuous, vain, witty, and some are even foolish, showing us that, according to the plays, a man’s gender role is to be those things.
12. How does a play (The Rover) by a successful female playwright coincide with modern ideas about women & feminism?
Ans: In my mind, there are two issues at hand here. Does the fact that the play was written by a female playwright that enjoyed success constitute a fulfillment of feminist principles ? At the same time, the second issue becomes if the content of the play supports or enhances principles of feminism. A very strong case an be made that Behn’s mere writing in the 17th Century was such a strong statement that this, in its own right, could be a statement of feminism. Women were not encouraged to work or to write and for Behn to break through such a literal social ceiling might be worthy of feminist praise in its own right, regardless of the work being composed. I think that this particular question might involve analysis on both levels.
13. WHY does Angellica fall in love with Willmore ? Doesn’t she know better in The Rover?
Ans: If you ever understand the science of love and falling in love, you will make millions ! No one can make themselves fall in love with someone he/she doesn’t; by the same token, you can’t make yourself not love Someone you do. If we could turn it on and off like that, the wonder of love would be lost. There would be no challenge or conquest at all to the “battlefield” of love (Pat Benetar referred to it in her famous song).
Angellica is a courtesan who makes her living and satisfies her desire for a lifestyle of wealth and comfort by marketing her body to rich men. This lifestyle is a matter of survival for her, so to fall in love with anyone would be the end of her life as she knows it. She not only enjoys the wealth of her lifestyle, but also the control she has over these men. If she fell in love, the shoe would be on the other foot…she would no longer be in control. However, as I mentioned above, we do not get to choose with whom we fall in love or when it will happen. Quite possibly, she had no choice in the matter when she fell for the Captain. Fortunately for her, Don Antonio takes her in so that will no longer have to advertise her wares to make a living.
