Aphra Behn Essay -- Literary Analysis, The Rover

Aphra Behn, who is the first female to achieve status of a nonrecreational do workwright attempted to alter and influence the literary cannon by means of with(predicate) her writing, which was a precarious occupation but allowed literature to evolve in a wider range. Behn was also one of the wittiest and entertaining as evidenced through her most renowned play, The Rover, which is a restoration, yet dark comedy roach in 17th century Italy while under the colonial reign of Spain. The large cast of characters becomes embroiled in scenes and consist a ruffle up of themes of infidelity, seduction, misrepresentation, and elaborate swordplay, which create tension and confusion in addition to many an(prenominal) comedic episodes. The play expresses its authors objections to the vulnerability of women in Restoration society. Perhaps ironically, it also appeals to the lascivious interests of the audience by putting women in chastely compromising situations. found loosely on contemp orary Thomas Killigrews 1564 unperformed play, Thomaso, or The roamer (1664), Behns play is less lewd and more profound. The Rover has been widely acclaimed by critics to be a feminist play, in particular a proto-feminist play which defined by The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms as a philosophical tradition that anticipated modern feminist concepts and the discussion of womens issues when the term feminist was nonexistent prior to the twentieth century. The writing is concern with the unique experience of being a charwoman or alternatively writing designed to challenge existing preconceptions of gender. (Baldick, 2009 128) In The Rover, Behn hindquarterss characters in morally corrupted situations and circumstances to force audiences to reconsider preconceptions, inspiring the brand-new sweat in feminist thi... ...uality keeps her from happiness. Through Angellica, Hellena, and Florinda, Behn reveals that the libertine female has no place in latish Stuart society. The p laywrights observation comes as a wistful warning at a time when women seemed to push the limits of tradition. Actresses look on stage might feel they had found a flight of bodily expression, but from Behns experience as a woman with male colleagues, the freedom is a faade. Women on stage faced fetishization and pass of status. Behns commentary on womens position in the late Stuart period serves to point out the double standard of libertinism in chat up life and the public sphere. (Staves, 2004 73) By exposing and mocking the Puritanical and Cavalier restraints obligate on women, she encourages viewers to reevaluate womens limited roles in the new age by giving her female characters a louder voice.