Ppaper:101 Literature of Elizabethan and Restoration Period

1. THE ROVER
APHRA BEHN
Presented by: kantariya Sangita
Roll no: 33
MA sem : 01
Paper no : 101 Renaissance literature
Topic: Aphra Behn play ‘The Rover’ theme

2. About the author
• Aphra Behn was one of the first English professionals writers wrote
plays, poetry, short stories and novels.
• Little information is known about her early life.
• She was born in about 1640 near Canterbury, England.
• As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing,
she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for
later generations of women authors.
• She came to the notice of Charles II , who employed her as a spy in
Antwerp.

3. • After her return to London she started her writings.
• She wrote under to pastrol pseudonym Astrea.
• She died shortly after. Her grave is not included in the poets corner
but lies in the East cloister near the steps to the church.
• Virginia woolf writes about her in her famous work. ‘A Room of one’s
own ‘ – “ All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb
of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately,
in westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to
speak their minds.”

4. • Though she is best known for pioneering the formal of novel, she first
made her living from writing plays, primarily comedies.
• She wrote freely on the topic of women’s sensuality, as shown
through the Disappointment.
• She is one of the most prolific dramatists of her time second only to
John Dryden.

5. Works of Aphra Behn
• Plays
• The Forc‘d marriage (1670)
• The Amorous prince or The Curious Husband (1671)
• The Dutch lover (1673)
• Abdelazer (1676)
• The Town Fop (1678)
• The Rover (1677)
• The young King (1679)

6. The Rover
• The Rover or The Banished cavalier is the most frequently and performed
of Aphra Behn’s plays.
• It is a play in two parts written in 1677
• It was first performed 🎭 by the Duke’s company at the Dorset Garden
Theatre in 1677.
• It was initially published anonymously but in the prologue of the third
edition did Behn finally take credit for the play.
• It is a revision of Thomas Killigrew’s play Thomas, or The wanderer (1664).
• Regarding the play, John Dryden writes – “It lacks the manly vitality of
killigrew’s play, but shows greater refinement of expression.”

7. THEME OF THE ROVER
• The Rover is one of the most popular plays of Aphra Behn. It focuses upon
human desire and act. It revolves around willmore, Hellena, Angellica, Don
Pedro etc. The plot of ‘the Rover’ revolves around love, courtship, and
marriage and most Characters spend the entirety of the play either chasing
after a personal love interest or else orchestrating matrimonial
arrangemens for others. The major themes of the play are:
• Gender Roles and female Agency
• Love, courtship and marriage
• Class and money
• Disguise and Deceit

8. Gender Roles and female Agency
• In many ways, the characters of the Rover Conform to the traditional
Gender roles found in comedies of the Restoration period.
• The Rover undoubtedly contains some powerful female characters in
sisters Florinda and Hellena.
• Consider Hellena as a prime example of this agency; from the very
opening of the play, she is presented as a woman with confidence and
drive.
• Florida takes a step further for her and Belvile‘s destiny

9. Love, courtship, and marriage
• The plot of “The Rover” revolves around love, courtship, And
marriage; most characters spend the entirely of the play either
chasing after a personal love interest, or else orchestrating
matrimonial arrangement for others.
• Florinda-Belvile efforts to stay together
• Willmore to Hellena
• Frederick – Valeria
• Don Pedro’s efforts for his sister Florinda
,

10. Class and money
• Although not a particularly romantic topic, the issue of money runs
throughout the Rover.
• Class, meanwhile, creates even deeper issues, since it is the main
barometer by which men decide whether or not a woman is worthy
of respect.
• “love and mirth are my Business in Naples; and if I mistake not the
place, here’s an excellent market for Chapman of my Humour.”

11. Deceit and disguise
• The Rover takes place at carnival time
• Masks and disguises
• Gypsy costumes
• Of course, Deceit, Disguise, and the confusion they cause also
illuminate interesting issues surrounding identity.
• “I am resolved to provide myself this carnival, if there be e’er a
handsome fellow of my Humour above Ground, tho I ask first.