Analyze the rover through a feminist lens. What commentary does Behn
make on the relationships between men and woman? On the Cavalier-Ideal?
I’m The
Man-in-The-House but My Wife Wears The Pants:
A Feminist Spectrum of English Literature
In the play
The Rover, written by a female
royalist; Aphra Behn, of England,
writes an iconic play of a traditional English festival known as the “Carnival”
. Where she very interestingly shows the vibrancies and behaviors of characters
in the play. As a female writer who which at the time was known to have worked
for King Charles, she takes an interesting stance of female morality with great
grit of religion, in mind, and uses characters in the play to depict the power of
female beauty in a time of “Enlightenment”.
Aphra Behn during the Modern
English Reformation, of England was the first female writer of her time, living
sort of what seemed to be the life of an English “Tomb Raider: Lara Croft”.
King Charles of England, who uses her as a spy, is a prime example of how she
depicts woman in act The Rover. She
was well aware, of the power of presence, of a beautiful woman in the room. She
utilized the power of femininity to infiltrate for the King of England. However,
the way in which she writes the acts of characters in The Rover, is very carefully thought-out.
A time in which not only was
considered reformation and enlightening, but also of spirituality controversy,
and confusion. Characters in the play such as Hellena, who claims to become a
nun, after their very lewd and sexual immoralities during and after “Carnival”,
the festival in which people of nobility and all different genres of
social-status, sin and “wild –out”. Writer Aphra Behn, used religion as an
interesting method to engage the audience symbolizing virginity or beauty to
have an emmence role in the play. Florinda in Scene Two : The Molo, says “Yes, you may even force me to the Altar, But not the holy
Man that offers there Shall force me to be thine.”Pg 58. Where male characters fight for her.