Assignment 101

Assignment 101- Literature of the Elizabethan Age Restoration Period

Symbols in the play ‘The Rover’

Introduction of the Author: 

Aphra Behn- (1640-1689)

“Mad to possess, himself he threw

On the defenseless lovely Maid.

But oh ! what envious Gods conspire

To snatch his Pow'r, yet leave him the Desire!” (“The Disappointment”)

 Aphra Behn was one of the most influential dramatists of the late 17th century, an English dramatist, fiction writer, and poet who was the first Englishwoman known to earn her living by writing. Her wit and talent have brought her into high esteem, she was employed by King Charles II in secret service in the Netherlands in 1666. Many of these witty and vivacious comedies, notably The Rover (two parts, produced in 1677 and 1681), were commercially successful. when she married a merchant named Johan Behn, though they separated soon after, and by 1666 Johan had died. In any case, from 1664 she went by the name of ‘Mrs. Behn’ professionally.

Behn’s versatility, like her output, was immense; she wrote other popular works of fiction, and she often adapted works by older dramatists. She also wrote poetry, the bulk of which was collected in Poems upon Several Occasions, with A Voyage to the Island of Love (1684) and Lycidus; or, The Lover in Fashion (1688). Behn’s charm and generosity won her a wide circle of friends, and her relative freedom as a professional writer, as well as the subject matter of her works, made her the object of some scandal.

“That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.” – Aphra Behn

Best Works of Aphra Behn-

• The Rover (1677)
• The Rover pt 2 (1681)
• The Dutch Lover (1673)
• The Emperor of the Moon (1687)
• Sir Patient Fancy (1678)
• The Town Fop (1676)
• Abdelazer (1676)
• The Young King (1679)
• Like Father, Like Son (1682)
• The City Heiress (1682)

Behn’s work was published anonymously during her own lifetime. Now, Behn is best known for her novels The Fair Jilt and Oroonoko – the latter of which, though not expressly anti-slavery, was unusual in its time for the respectful attention it pays to a non-white, non-English protagonist – and for her poetry.

 ‘The Rover’

Aphra Behn’s best-known play today, The Rover, was probably also the most successful in her own time. It was often revived and many times reprinted in the first half of the 18th century. Set at carnival time in Naples in 1656, the play presents its 1677 audience with the imagined exploits of a group of ‘banished Cavaliers’.The play explores the attempts of its heroines to exert some control over their destinies. The play’s representative Italians are the ‘Jilting Wench’ Lucetta, who strips and robs Blunt and dumps him in the sewer, and the fabulously beautiful Angellica Bianca, a famous courtesan from the Venetian Republic who is much fought over. Behn’s female characters strive for independence within the limitations of the English system of courtship and marriage. In The Rover, the three leading ladies are all capable and proactive young women who exhibit “the initiative and daring reserved for cavaliers” 

The Spanish sisters Florinda and Hellena and their cousin Valeria are dominated by their brother Pedro. Pedro is confident that he can force Florinda to marry his powerful friend Antonio, and save the cost of a dowry for Hellena by sending her back to her nunnery. Here, the play’s most powerful voice is that of Angellica, who sees prostitution as a better choice than marriage. 

When the rakish Willmore remonstrates with her for charging for sex, she points out to him that men routinely have sex for money: when a man marries he gets his wife’s dowry. Financial advantage, not a woman’s personal characteristics, determines the choices men make:

When a Lady is proposed to you for a Wife, you never ask, how fair – discreet – or virtuous she is; but what’s her Fortune? – which if but small, you cry – she will not do my business – and basely leave her, though she languishes for you. 

In one of the play’s many densely patterned ironies, Angellica’s challenge to Willmore foresees what is to happen. Attracted to both Angellica and Hellena, the rake chooses the heiress when the courtesan unwittingly reveals to him that his attractive ‘gypsy’ is in fact fabulously wealthy:

“... my Gipsie worth Two Hundred Thousand Crowns! – oh how I long to be with her.”

As she presents such encounters, Behn shows that Restoration libertinism has dangerous repercussions for women. This often aggressive masculine culture is not the only important context for Behn’s representation of her Spanish and English men.

Symbols in The play ‘The Rover’: 

In Rover, There are Four symbols.

• Carnival
• Masks
• Angelica’s Picture
• Sword

1. Carnival: 

Italian cities such as Venice and Naples (where The Rover takes place) were famed for their Carnivals, huge, city-wide festivals during which many of the rules of ordinary life were temporarily suspended. Within the play, Carnival symbolizes a world of inverted values and freedom in which noblewomen can roam the streets and impoverished cavaliers can court them and win their hands. 

“I am resolv’d to provide myself this Carnival if there be e’er a Handsom Fellow of my Humour above Ground, tho I ask first.”

Yet the world of the Carnival—a world without consequences—is not without its dark side. Predators such as Willmore and Blunt take advantage of the free-for-all atmosphere in order to accost and even assault women, while belligerent men often end up dueling each other on the streets. In depicting both the positive and dark sides of Carnival, Behn is displaying both the comic and the troubling aspects of the topsy-turvy, consequence-free genre of Restoration Comedy.

“Love and Mirth are my Business in Naples; and if I mistake not the Place, here’s an excellent Market for Chapmen of my Humour.”

2. Mask: 

“Ah Rogue! Such black Eyes, such a Face, such a Mouth, such Teeth—and so much Wit!’’~ Willmore

Masks are a running symbol throughout The Rover. They are a prop for the mistaken identities that drive the bulk of the plot. In addition, masks serve as an evocation of mischief and deception working both for and against the characters. Without the protections afforded by their status and their social groups, the characters—especially the women—may become victims of the unkindness of others. However, for all that the masks provide deception, they often reveal something true about the temperament of those wearing them. The wearers feel they are free to behave without fear of consequences. Of all the characters, it is only Willmore who goes consistently unmasked and shows everything he is on the surface.

Hellena, Florinda, and the cavaliers all use masks and disguises in order to plan and carry out their various liaisons. On a deeper level, however, masks represent the confusion of identity that takes place within this play. Willmore and Hellena fall in love without even knowing each other’s names. Belville, meanwhile, repeatedly does not recognize Florinda even when she is right in front of him. Masks, therefore, are emblems of confusion and deception, and proof that identity is not as stable or singular as it seems.

3. Angelica’s Picture: 

“How wondrous fair she is—a Thousand Crowns a Month—by Heaven as many Kingdoms were too little. A plague of this Poverty—of which I ne’er complain, but when it hinders my Approach to Beauty, which Virtue ne’er could purchase.”~ Willmore

Every day, Angelica commands her servants to display pictures of herself in front of her house, so all the citizens of Naples can admire her beauty. Once she falls in love with Willmore, however, she ceases to do so. These pictures represent not only her vanity but also her sense of self. The courtesan stops displaying them because she has fully given herself to Willmore and so is no longer “giving herself” to anyone else—a disastrous decision, as she soon learns.

Angelica’s picture represents her confidence in her own beauty and her vanity. That she posts the picture out in the public world, displaying it as a salesman might display his wares, also establishes the way that she uses her beauty as an item of commerce. Willmore reintroduces the theme of money, appropriate since Angelica, a prostitute, sells her beauty for money.

They arrive at Angelica’s house, and Belvile notes that her portrait “is not out” (usually Angelica leaves a picture of herself outside of her door in order to remind the world of her desirability). Willmore expresses a wish to see the portrait because it will allow him to gaze at beauty for free.

4. Sword: 

The conflation of swords with masculinity is hardly a new concept, but The Rover gleefully indulges in play around the metaphor. Throughout The Rover, swords are associated with masculinity, virility, and power. Belville is a true man in part because of his skill with a sword. Much of Blunt’s humiliation comes from being robbed of his sword, and then being forced to wear a rusty one. At one point the cavaliers and Don Pedro draw their swords, and much is made of the fact that Pedro’s Spanish blade is longer than their English swords. Willmore, in particular, often uses swordplay as a metaphor for intercourse. The connection between masculinity and violence is a traditional but disturbing one, and Behn takes care to show the consequences of such a belligerent and dangerous atmosphere.

Work Cited: 

• Hobby, Elaine. “The Rover: an introduction.” The British Library, 21 June 2018, https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/the-rover-an-introduction. Accessed 29 October 2022.
• Hoyt-Disick, Gabrielle. “The Rover Symbols." LitCharts, 2015, https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-rover/symbols/carnival. Accessed 2 November 2022.
• White, Robert, and John Riley. “Behn, Aphra [Aphara] (1640?–1689), writer.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-1961. Accessed 29 October 2022.

(Word Count~ 1688)