Behn's The Rover (1677)

Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

Aphra Behn is the first professional female playwright, as far as we know, in the world. She wrote 17 plays, of which The Rover is the most famous, now and in her own lifetime (it was so popular that she wrote a sequel), as well as poetry and novellas, the best known of which is Oroonoko, a sympathetic portrayal of an African slave in Surinam. She became quite favored in the court of Charles II, and participated in the most elite literary and societal circles until her death in 1689.

Behn specifically sets The Rovers in the Italian city of Naples at a time when it was controlled by Spain during the Puritan interregnum. The “Banished Cavaliers” or Rovers are specifically the English aristocracy who were banished from England at this time. Behn uses this context to denounce the Puritans, poke jabs at the Spanish, and extol an Italian carnival atmosphere that is analogous to Restoration London.

At the same time, she is aware of current political disputes brewing between the Whigs (mostly middle class and higher aristocracy who distrusted the King and advocated greater alliance with European Catholicism) and the Tories (mostly lesser aristocracy who allied themselves with the King and the Church of England.) In 1688, this dispute would erupt into the Glorious Revolution in which the Dutch monarch, William of Orange, took control of England and James II fled to France. In 1677, however, Behn sided firmly against the Whigs.


A note on acting in the Restoration

Despite the construction of increasingly lavish proscenium theatres like Dorset Garden, restoration comedy was still very much an actor’s theatre. The projection of the forestage into the auditorium allowed the actors a great deal of interaction with the audience, who they would often know personally. And the modern etiquette of everybody being quiet, still and attentive during a performance was not the norm (David Garrick actually enforced this kind of behavior for the first time in the mid-18th century) So actors had to not only compete with audience members for attention, but sometimes be ready to parry comments from them. For this reason, repartee (the ability to speak extemporaneously with grace and wit, particularly in exchanging insults and ridicule) was a primary skill for actors.


Fops and Rakes

These stock characters were part of the typical structure of Restoration comedy. They are versions of the typical protagonist and antagonist roles from Greek and Roman Comedy. The Fop is an Imposter character, a prating fool who doesn’t measure up to societal standards, and the Rake is the Ironist who calls his bluff. In The Rover, these characters are Blunt and Wilmore. However, one of the most striking questions for the play is just how much the female characters (particularly Florinda and Hellena) get the better of even the Rake.

This connects to another question: Does it make a noticeable difference that The Rover is the work of a female playwright? What kind of powers and constraints does Behn imagine for Florinda and Hellena? Is she critiquing the patriarchal society of the day, or does the play ultimately support the status quo?