The document provides an analysis of the portrayal of women as commodities and prostitution in Aphra Behn's play "The Rover". It discusses how in Behn's time, women's lives were constrained to three roles: nun, wife, or whore. In the play, women like Florinda and Hellena are treated as property that can be exchanged through marriage arrangements. Characters like Angellica and Lucetta engage in prostitution as a business. By depicting women in these ways, Behn was commenting on and challenging the prevailing social norms of her time regarding women's status and sexuality.
2. Prepared by Trushali Dodiya
Roll no:- 23
Enrollment no:- 4069206420220011
Sem:- 1(M. A.) Batch:- 2022-24
Paper no. :-101 Paper Code:- 22392
Paper name:- Literature of the Elizabeth and
Restoration period
Submitted to:- Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of
English, M.K.B.U.
Dated on:- 15/10/2022
Email:- trushalidodiya84@gmail.com
3. Points to be discussed
● Introduction
● Condition of Women in Aphra Behn’s Time
● Women as commodity
● Prostitution
● Conclusion
4. Introduction
● The rover is a play written by the Restoration female writer
Aphra Behn.
● She has written around 18 plays, more than Whycherchy
and Ethereal. (Behn)
● The First woman writer who earned livings through writings
● Entry of Women in theatre, but they were viewed as
prostitutes
● Aphra Behn was also assumed as a prostitute by her
contemporaries, as it was believed that
“Women who sold their writings were seen as selling
themselves”. (Gale)
5. Condition of women in Aphra
Behn's Time:-
● Restoration of the King Charles II gave
England social and sexual freedom, butit was
not alloted to women.
● Lives of women fit within three roles;
Nun, Wife and Whore(Goodson)
6. Women as commodity
In ‘The Rover’ Women are considered a commodity
● Florinda intended by her father to marry Don
Vincentio
● Her brother gives her choice not freedom
● Hellena’s family wants her to be a Nun
● Willmore uses Hellena and Angellica for physical
pleasure
● Unintentional rape of Florida twice by Willmore and
Frederick
7. ● The idea of the marriage Florinda and Antonio
and marriage of Hellena and Willmore can be
considered as an example of Marriage market.
● The only purpose of the marriage of Florinda
with Vincentio is that he is a wealthy man.
● Willmore married to Hellena because of her
large possession of money.
8. ● In Hard times,
Louisa is exchanged
for the job of her
brother Tom.
● Mahabharata
9. Tu chiz badi hai mast
mast…(Mohra)
● Kanyadan does not mean
they woman is an object to
charity.
10. Prostitution
● Angellica is a courtesan and Lucetta is a
Whore
● Prostitution is like a business in The
Rover. We can see it when Angellica
increases her price to 1000 Spanish
crowns for a month, she also puts a
poster of her photo for marketing.
“Prostitution is the act or practice of engaging in
promiscuous sexual relations in exchange of
money.”(Merriam webster)
11. ● In the Bollywood
movie Gangubai
Kathiyavadi,
Gangubai admits that
prostitution is like
other professions.
(Bhansali Gangubai Kathiyavadi )
12. ● During the Carnival, each
woman is being treated as a
Whore. That's why, first
Willmore and then Blunt
attempted to Rape her.
● In the movie “Pink”, the rapist
thinks that just because
women are drinking with them,
they are of a loose character
and they are an easy catch.
(Pink)
13. Conclusion
“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.”
- Virginia Woolf
14. Work cited:-
Behn, Aphra. The Rover: The Feigned Courtesans; The Lucky Chance; The Emperor of
the Moon. Oxford University Press, 1995. Google eBooks,
https://books.google.co.in/books
Bhansali , Sanjay Leela, director. Gangubai Kathiyavadi . Pen Marudhar Entertainment,
2022.
Chopra, Baldev Raj, creator. Mahabharat. B. R. Films, 1899,
https://youtu.be/4tcnc4HJC4U.
15. Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Aphra Behn's ""the Rover, "" Excerpted from Gale's Acclaimed
Drama for Students. This Concise Study Guide Includes Plot Summary; Character Analysis; Author
Biography; Study Questions; Historical Context; Suggestions for Further Reading; And. Gale,
Cengage Learning, 2016.
Goodson, Ellen T. “Aphra Behn's The Rover: Evaluating Women's Social and Sexual Options.” Inquiries
Journal. Inquiries Journal,
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1695/aphra-behns-the-rover-evaluating-womens-social-and-s
exual-options.
“Prostitute Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster,
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prostitute.
Rai, Rajiv, director. Mohra. 1994, https://youtu.be/bH_8yww6BAI.
Roy Chowdhury, Aniruddha, director. Pink. Rising Sun Films, 2016.
