The Rover by Aphra Behn

This blog is based on Aphra Behn's The Rover.

1) Angellica's View on Marriage and Prostitution: 

In The Rover, Angellica Bianca, a Venetian courtesan, famously compares the financial negotiations involved in marriage to prostitution, suggesting that both are transactions where women’s bodies are commodified for financial gain. This comparison invites us to question the nature of relationships and marriage in a society where women’s worth is often measured by their ability to secure financial stability through marriage, much like the transaction of sex for money in prostitution.

Do I agree with Angellica's statement? There is truth in her cynicism, especially in the context of 17th-century society. Marriage at that time was often a contractual arrangement, where women, in exchange for their beauty and companionship, were expected to provide emotional and sexual services to their husbands. In many ways, Angellica’s view reflects the limited choices available to women in her society, where economic dependence often led them into marriages that were transactional rather than based on love or mutual respect.

However, the comparison with prostitution oversimplifies the complexity of marriage. While both involve financial transactions and sexual dynamics, marriage (at least ideally) also includes emotional connection, companionship, and family responsibilities, which prostitution does not. Thus, while Angellica’s comment is an insightful critique of the commodification of women, it misses the broader, often more nuanced, nature of marital relationships.

In conclusion, while there are aspects of marriage in Angellica's time that mirror prostitution—especially the way women were financially dependent on men—her perspective is driven by personal bitterness and a desire to highlight her own commodification. Therefore, I think her view has merit in a certain context, but it doesn’t fully capture the diversity of marital relationships.

2) Virginia Woolf’s Tribute to Aphra Behn:

In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf praises Aphra Behn for being one of the first women to earn a living through writing, crediting her with earning women the right to speak their minds. Woolf argues that Behn's success as a playwright and author broke the barriers for future generations of women writers by showing that women could be financially independent and pursue careers in writing.

Do I agree with this statement? Yes, I do. Aphra Behn was a trailblazer. In a time when women were largely excluded from the literary and intellectual spheres, Behn managed to carve out a place for herself as a professional writer. Her works, including The Rover, challenge the traditional gender norms of her time by depicting women with agency, desires, and intellectual depth. These women were not simply passive objects of male desire but active, complex characters who pursued love, pleasure, and independence in a society that often tried to control them.

In The Rover, Behn presents female characters like Hellena and Angellica, who challenge social conventions and act with agency in their romantic and personal decisions. Hellena, in particular, refuses to accept the fate of becoming a nun and instead actively seeks love and adventure. Behn’s portrayal of such characters demonstrated that women could write with wit, intelligence, and emotional complexity, paving the way for future female writers to do the same.

Behn's success, despite the societal constraints of her time, not only provided a model for women to follow but also proved that a woman could sustain herself financially through writing. This was a revolutionary concept at a time when women were often confined to domestic roles. Woolf’s tribute is a fitting recognition of Behn's role in expanding the possibilities for women in literature and beyond.

3) Which Female Character Best Represents Aphra Behn?

In The Rover, the female characters reflect a range of behaviors and beliefs, from self-sacrificing to bold and independent. After considering each of them, I believe Hellena best represents Aphra Behn.

Hellena, the young woman who refuses to be locked away in a convent and instead seeks adventure and love, embodies the qualities of independence, wit, and agency that Behn herself demonstrated throughout her life. Behn was an independent woman, known for her adventurous life as a spy and her success as a writer in a male-dominated field. Hellena’s determination to take control of her own future, rejecting the role of a passive, submissive woman, mirrors Behn’s own refusal to accept societal limitations.

Hellena is also witty and intelligent, using her charm and humor to navigate the social world around her. Similarly, Behn used her sharp intellect and wit in her plays, often creating characters who are not afraid to challenge authority and speak their minds. Behn’s characters, like Hellena, are full of agency; they actively pursue their desires and seek control over their own fates, much like Behn did in her own life.

Additionally, Behn was a writer who, through her works, explored the complexities of love, desire, and power dynamics between men and women—similar to the way Hellena navigates her romantic entanglements with Willmore. Hellena's pursuit of Willmore, despite his flaws, reflects Behn's own exploration of complicated relationships and the freedom of women to express their desires.

In contrast to the more passive characters like Florinda, who is largely controlled by the men in her life, Hellena's self-determination and witty engagement with the world around her make her the character who most embodies the spirit of Aphra Behn.

 Aphra Behn and the Spirit of The Rover

Aphra Behn was an iconic figure in the literary world—a pioneering woman who defied the conventions of her time to make a name for herself as a professional playwright and writer. In an age when women were expected to be silent, obedient, and confined to the domestic sphere, Behn boldly pursued a career in literature, creating works that reflected her own experiences as an independent, adventurous woman. One of her most notable works, The Rover, is a play that showcases the complexities of human relationships, particularly the ways in which women navigate the oppressive structures of their society.

Among the many memorable characters in The Rover, one stands out as a clear reflection of Behn herself: Hellena. Hellena is witty, intelligent, and, most importantly, independent. Refusing to accept the limited role assigned to her by her brother, she actively seeks love, adventure, and personal freedom. In many ways, Hellena is the embodiment of Behn’s own spirit. Behn’s life was anything but conventional—she worked as a spy, traveled the world, and, most notably, became one of the first women to earn a living through writing. She was unafraid to challenge societal norms and express her desires, much like Hellena does in the play.

In The Rover, Hellena’s quest for love and adventure is both empowering and playful. She refuses to be passive in her relationships, actively pursuing her own desires. This is reflected in Behn’s own approach to writing, where her characters—often women—are bold and assertive in their interactions with the world around them. Behn’s portrayal of women like Hellena challenges the notion that women should be silent, obedient, and restricted by societal expectations.

Much like Behn, Hellena does not accept the fate laid out for her. She resists being forced into a convent life, choosing instead to take control of her own destiny. This rejection of passivity and embrace of independence mirrors Behn’s own rejection of the limited roles available to women in her time. By writing strong, self-determined female characters, Behn created a legacy that allowed future generations of women to explore their own voices and assert their agency.

Behn's The Rover is not just a play about love and desire; it is a reflection of her belief in the power of women to shape their own futures. Through Hellena, Behn explored themes of autonomy, freedom, and the complexity of love, themes that she herself lived out in her own life. By creating characters like Hellena, Behn demonstrated that women could be both independent and passionate, intelligent and witty—traits that were often denied to them in her time.

In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf famously said that all women should "let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn," recognizing her as a pioneering force for women in literature. Behn’s contribution to the literary world cannot be overstated. She earned women the right to speak their minds, not only through her writing but by living a life that defied the limitations of her gender. Through characters like Hellena, Behn inspired future generations of women to pursue their own desires and write their own stories.

Aphra Behn’s legacy lives on in the characters she created and the doors she opened for women in the literary world. Hellena, in particular, stands as a testament to Behn’s own courage and spirit, proving that women have always had the power to shape their own destinies and challenge the social norms that seek to restrict them.