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The Rover
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Background
Historical Context: Puritanism and Restoration England
During the early years of Aphra Behn’s childhood, England fell into a Civil War (1642-1651). The Civil War was waged between the Parliamentarians—a group of members of Parliament and their supporters, led by the Puritan Oliver Cromwell—and the Royalists, or Cavaliers, who were loyal to Charles I and his monarchy. Royalists believed in the Divine Right of Kings to exercise absolute power, while the Parliamentarians first wanted to limit the king’s power, then ultimately decided to abolish it. The Parliamentarian army eventually won over the Royalist forces, executing King Charles I in 1649 and establishing a new “Protectorate” under Oliver Cromwell. Meanwhile, Charles I’s heir, also called Charles, fled into exile in Europe.
The Protectorate was supposed to be a republic with religious freedom, but Cromwell became increasingly king-like as he installed a military-enforced Puritan regime. The Puritans, as the name suggests, wanted to “purify” the English Church by eliminating many of the elaborate rites they considered superfluous, and advocating adherence to a strict moral code. The Puritans deemed anything frivolous as sinful, which led to the banning of theatrical productions in 1642, along with public sports. Plays still occurred, but only in private performances, often in homes. Under Cromwell, women were forced to dress modestly and forgo make-up; no one was allowed to wear bright colors or swear. Cromwell even cancelled Christmas celebrations. Cromwell’s and Puritanism’s unpopular severity led to dissatisfaction amongst the English populace. After Cromwell died in 1658, his son and successor lasted only nine months before giving up power.
The English Parliament invited Charles II to return from exile, leading to a reconciliation between the former monarchy and Parliament. Charles was crowned in 1660. The period that followed was called “the Restoration” due to the restoring of the monarchy. With Puritan restrictions lifted, there was a dramatic resurgence of science, literature, and art, including the near-immediate reopening of the theatres. There was also a marked counter-reaction to the former Puritan morality: Amoral bawdiness and opulent extravagance became the defining features of Charles II’s court and upper English society. Women were given new social freedoms, even appearing on the English stage. Charles II’s loyal “cavaliers,” who once more flourished in English society, carried on their lifestyles of sexual liberation and flexible morality. The cavaliers of Behn’s The Rover exemplify the carelessness and vivacity of cavalier culture, reflecting the exuberant and irreverent spirit of the times.
Literary Context: Restoration Comedies
When the English monarchy was restored in 1660, King Charles II immediately reinstated theatre, issuing licenses to two companies, which, through their descendants, would have a monopoly on London stage drama for about two centuries. The companies started with revivals of existing plays. Audiences rejected previously popular tragedies after years of war and no Christmas, so the companies started rewriting Shakespeare’s tragedies with happy endings.
With the new relaxation of censorship under King Charles II, a fresh type of comedy emerged, which later became known as “Restoration Comedy.” The defining features of Restoration Comedy are its sparkling wit and unsentimental approach to love, marriage, and sexual conquest. One of the best examples is William Wycherley’s The Country Wife (1675), about an unrepentant playboy who makes a game of trying to sleep with his friends’ wives. A second wave of Restoration Comedies at the end of the 17th century began to soften in terms of bite and cynicism, but still depicted marriage and the war between the sexes. For instance, William Congreve’s The Way of the World (1700) is about two engaged couples who test each other’s fidelity and love. Another one of the hallmarks of Restoration Comedy was the “comedy of manners,” which made fun of the way aristocrats privately flout social conventions of proper behavior, which is certainly apparent in The Rover. These comedies were popular with a wide range of audiences, from servants to royalty, and created comedy by showing characters in which spectators could see mirrored their own ridiculous behavior.
Like most Restoration Comedies, The Rover is a Comedy of Manners, which satirizes how aristocratic social conventions influence the romantic dynamics between men and women. True to form, The Rover features a man who fancies himself an untamable sexual adventurer until he accidentally falls in love. But Behn’s version of the Comedy of Manners has a twist: she also exposes the way these social mores are oppressive to women, who face different consequences socially and sexually.
One of the most significant changes during the period was the long-forbidden introduction of women onstage, as female roles in English theatres had previously been played by young boys. Notably, the opening production of The Rover included an unusually stellar cast of women: Four of the earliest female stars of the English stage played the roles of Florinda, Valeria, Angellica, and Callis. Elizabeth Barry, who played Hellena, was new to the stage and would go on to become English theatre’s first famous female tragedian.
The presence of female actors helped to shape Restoration Comedy as a genre, with playwrights incorporating new tropes to take advantage of the novelty of women actors. King Charles II was known to be involved in the writing and casting of plays, and two of the leading actresses of the time were in something of a love triangle with the king. While the inclusion of female actors did not mean total liberation—and was often mixed with objectification—their presence in the theatre made space for the work of Aphra Behn.
Authorial Context: Aphra Behn (1640-1689)
The life and career of Aphra Behn are equal parts enigmatic and incredible. Much of the information about Behn’s life before the age of 25 is speculative, and Behn likely created the shroud of mystery on purpose.
According to baptism records, Aphra Johnson was born in Kent in 1640, likely to a poor barber and a wet nurse. In her late teens or early twenties, Behn probably traveled to Surinam, which was at the time an English colony in South America. , Surinam featured in her later short novel Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave (1688), which includes harshly detailed descriptions of the colony and its English officers that could be based on her firsthand experiences. Behn returned to England around 1664 and was supposedly married to Johan (or John) Behn, but was quickly widowed. For a woman during the period, widowhood allowed greater social freedom. Given the lack of documentation of her marriage, it is entirely possible that her widow status was fabricated for social advantage.
In 1665 Aphra Behn spied for King Charles II in Antwerp during the Second Anglo-Dutch War between England and the Netherlands. She used the code name “Astrea,” and her main assignment was to infiltrate a group of expatriated former Parliamentarians and persuade William Scot—whose father, Thomas Scot, was executed for his part in the regicide of King Charles I—to become a spy for the crown. Antwerp was expensive, and Behn pawned her jewelry to survive. Her pleas for funds and permission to go home were ignored. Additionally, the king’s offices failed to follow through on the offers they made to lure Scot, undermining her efforts. Behn finally borrowed money to return to England, either in late 1666 or early 1667. She was never paid by the monarchy, and one of her many letters petitioning the crown for the money she was owed claimed that she was arrested and taken to debtor’s prison, which may or may not be true.
After the plague and the Great Fire, London theatres made a slow return to normality. Behn’s friend Thomas Killigrew (who wrote Thomaso in 1654, the source for The Rover), ran one of the two licensed theatre companies in London, known as the King’s Company. Evidence suggests that he may have hired Behn as a scribe, possibly to adapt older scripts for new audiences. Behn, already writing poetry, began writing plays for both companies because she needed an income. Her first plays were written anonymously under her spy name: Astrea.
Behn was not the first female playwright nor the first female playwright of the Restoration, but she was the first woman to make a living as a professional playwright. This is significant because before Behn, women playwrights were treated as hobbyists. After Behn, writing was more accepted as a vocation for women. Her early plays were tragicomedies; her first staged play, The Forced Marriage (1670), was successful for a first-time playwright. Her second play, The Amorous Prince; or the Curious Husband (1671), parodied the decadence of King Charles II’s court. Her third play, The Dutch Lover (1673), based on a Spanish love story, failed. She was criticized for writing plays that were bawdy and sexually explicit because she was a woman. The historical record of Behn’s life then goes blank for three years, and some scholars speculate that she was traveling or even spying.
When Behn returned to the theatre, she focused on comedies, which were much more commercially successful. With 16 plays, she was one of the most prolific playwrights of the Restoration, likely because it was how she supported herself. Her most famous play, The Rover (1677), was immensely popular and is still produced today. Behn, well-known as a royalist, was also very involved in politics, which sometimes got her into trouble. King Charles II loved her plays, but he also had her apprehended when one of her plays cast aspersions about the wild behavior of one of his illegitimate sons.
In the last years of her life, Behn was poor and in failing health, but she continued to write. She died at 48. and the epitaph on her grave in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey, written by a lover, reads: “Here lies a proof that wit can never be / Defence enough against mortality.” Behn remains a hugely important figure in both Restoration literature and in the history of English women’s writing.
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