Unit 3:The Rover by Aphra Behn (ThA)

 

Introduction 

Aphra Behn’s The Rover (1677) stands as one of the most significant plays of the Restoration period, not only for its lively depiction of love, wit, and adventure but also for its bold exploration of gender, sexuality, and social hypocrisy. As one of the first professional female playwrights in English literature, Behn used her art to challenge the patriarchal structures that confined women’s voices. Through characters like Angellica Bianca, Hellena, and Florinda, she exposes how women were commodified in both love and marriage, and how society judged their morality based on double standards. The play’s critique of marriage as a financial transaction and its portrayal of women’s emotional and sexual agency anticipate early feminist ideas. This makes The Rover not just a Restoration comedy, but also a powerful social commentary, confirming Virginia Woolf’s claim that Aphra Behn “earned women the right to speak their minds.”

1️⃣ Angellica’s View: Marriage Negotiations as Prostitution

Angellica Bianca, a courtesan in The Rover, argues that marriage and prostitution are not so different, because both involve financial transactions between men and women — the woman’s love or body is exchanged for money, dowry, or social security.

Justification of Her View:

In Restoration society, marriage was often a contract, not a union of love. Families negotiated dowries, titles, and wealth, reducing women to commodities in the marriage market.

Angellica, though a prostitute, is at least open about the economic basis of her relationships, while “respectable” marriages hide the same exchange under moral pretense.

When she falls in love with Willmore, she experiences emotional betrayal, realizing that even love is treated as a bargain by men.

Conclusion:

Yes — to a large extent, Angellica’s view is valid. Through her, Behn exposes the economic hypocrisy and sexual double standards of her age. Angellica becomes a tragic figure who recognizes that women, whether wives or courtesans, are subject to male power and material exchange.

💬 Behn uses Angellica’s voice to question the false moral distinctions society makes between marriage and prostitution — both shaped by patriarchal control and economic dependence.

2️⃣ Virginia Woolf’s Statement about Aphra Behn

Virginia Woolf famously wrote:

“All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

Agreeing with Woolf:

Yes — Woolf’s statement is profoundly true. Aphra Behn was the first professional woman writer in English literature, earning her living through writing at a time when women were excluded from public expression. Her play The Rover exemplifies this bold female voice.

Justification through The Rover:

Female Desire and Independence:

Behn portrays women like Hellena and Florinda as assertive, witty, and sexually aware, not silent or submissive. Hellena openly declares her wish to choose her own lover, defying patriarchal control.

Critique of Patriarchy:

Behn exposes the power imbalance in relationships — men’s freedom versus women’s confinement. Scenes of attempted rape and forced marriage reveal the violence of patriarchal society, yet the women resist with intelligence and courage.

Angellica Bianca’s Voice:

Through Angellica, Behn challenges moral hypocrisy and explores female emotional complexity — something unheard of in Restoration drama written by men.

Pioneering Authorship:

Behn herself lived by her pen — an act of rebellion against social norms. Her success proved that a woman could write, think, and shape the literary world on her own terms.

Conclusion:

Aphra Behn deserves the tribute Woolf gives her. Through The Rover, she claimed the female right to desire, to reason, and to speak, paving the way for later women writers. Her work is not just entertainment but a revolutionary act of self-expression, making her a true pioneer of women’s literary freedom.

🌿 Overall Conclusion

Both Angellica’s defiant views and Behn’s authorship reflect a proto-feminist consciousness.

Behn exposes how social institutions—marriage, morality, and gender norms—are built on inequality and hypocrisy, giving voice to women’s struggles and desires in a male-dominated world.

Through The Rover, Aphra Behn not only questioned double standards but also secured women’s right to speak, write, and live freely, justifying every flower Woolf imagined on her tomb.