Thinking activity: The Rover

 The Rover : Aphra Behn 

About Author:-

Aphra Behn ( 14Dec 1640-16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet , translator and fiction writer from the Restoration era... She belonged to a coterie of poets and famous libertines such as John Wilmot, Lord Rochester.

About The Rover :-

"The Rover", alternatively known as "The Banish't Caveliers", is the most frequently read and performed of Aphra Behn's plays. First performed by the Duke's company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in 1677, the play was initially published anonymously. Only in the prologue of the third edition did Behn finally take credit for the play. It is believed that it took her this long to claim authorship because she was afraid of potential plagiarism changes, as the play closely resembles Thomas Killigrew's "Thomaso".

Angelica :  A beautiful and wealthy courtesan, Angelica is desired by all men in Naples, including Don Antonio, Don Pedro,and Willmore,all of whom duel over her at various points throughout the play. Although she initially vows to charge one thousand crowns a month for her company and saxual favours, putting out pictures of herself to display her own beauty, she succumbs to Willmore is charms, and ends up falling in Love with him and giving him money. When she finds that Willmore has been courting Hellena the humiliated Angelica vows revenge, almost shooting her former lover with a pistol.

   "How wondrous fair she is - a Thousand crowns a Month bt 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."

The Rover : Summary

The Rover follows the escapades of a hand of banished English Cavaliers as  they enjoy themselves at a carnival in Naples. The story strings together multiple plotlines revolving around the amorous adventures of these Englishmen, who pursue a pair of noble Spanish sisters, as well as a mistress and common prostitute.

The titular character is a raffish naval captain, Willmore. He falls in love with a wealthy noble Spanish woman named Hellena, who is determined to experience love before her brother,Pedro sends her to a convent. Hellena falls in love with Willmore, but difficulties arise when a famous courtesan, Angelica Bianca, also falls in love with Willmore.

As this plot unravels, Hellena older sister Florinda, attempts to avoid an unappealing arranged marriage to her brothers best friend, and devises a plan to marry her true love, colonel Bekvile. Finally, the third major plot of the play concerns English Countryman Blunt, a naive and vengeful man who becomes convinced that a girl, Lucetta , has fallen in love with him. When she turns out to be a prostitute and thief, he is humiliated and attempts to rape Florinda as revenge against all women for the pain and damage that Lucetta has caused him.

In the end, Florinda and Belvile are married, and Hellena and Willmore commit to marry one another.

The Rover: Reception :-  

The Rover premiered 1677 to such great success that Behn wrote a sequel that was produced in 1681. An extraordinarily popular example of Restoration comedy, the play earned an extended run ,enabling Behn to make a fair income from it, receiving the proceeds from the box office every third night Willmore proved to be an extremely popular character, and four years later Behn wrote a sequal to the play. King Charles ll was himself a fan of The Rover,and received a private showing of the play.

Critic Susan Carlson  arugues that despite much of   Behn's work facing  harsh criticism, The Rover was " perhaps the least tarnished by critical contention over the originality of her work".

The play was later adapted by Mr. John Phillip Komble in 1790 in a production called Love in many masks. Kemble's version featured three acts instead of the normal five. This was not the only abbreviation applied to Behn's original work. The final cut of kemble's piece saw most of the plot that was pertaining to sex, removed. Hellena's speech on rape and unwanted marriage was left out, and the part of the plot relating to the near rape of Florinda by Willmore is only implied. Even though this version of Aphra Behn's The Rover was much more polite and politically correct, it still received criticism that " the ideas are constantly indelicate, and the language frequently gross". This resembled reception that Behn's Rover received as well, and resulted in The Rover disappearing from the stage until the late 1970s.

Thank you....

Wardcount :750