The Rover: A Critical Look at Behn’s use of Comedy When one pictures the literary and theatrical world of 17th century England, it is hard to believe that a woman as extraordinary and seditious as Aphra Behn was able to write and publish such revolutionary plays at the capacity she achieved. Having already seen six of her plays produced for stage, she was something of an “anomalous figure” in the theatrical community (Behn 14). However, the first known edition of her Restoration comedy “The Rover” was published anonymously with reference to the author as male in the prologue. One can speculate that due to the bawdy nature of “The Rover” Behn felt it was safer to publish anonymously considering the themes explored in the play. Anne Russell …show more content…
However, even as times changed and women were able to take to the stage the “fascination with crossdressing was so deeply ingrained in pre-Restoration theatrical practice, that it resurfaced in what is known as the ‘breeches part.’” (Behn 19) Referring to the breeches worn by men at the time, a “breeches part” was often added to plays with no real significance to the plot, usually to titillate the audience by having an actress show off a little more skin than what was typical of the time. Conversely, Behn’s use of crossdressing in “The Rover” is an interesting satirical plot device, perhaps used to prove that “women could share the same libertine philosophy with men and experience its liberating effects, in much the same way as she was able to compete on relatively equal terms with the best male playwrights of her time” (Behn 19). Hellena’s use of crossdressing is a radical act, one that challenges strict gender norms of that period, while remaining palatable to the audience. Through skillful comedic writing, Behn is able to create a scene that is both a tense and dramatic confrontation between Wilmore and Angellica, and a light-hearted comical dialogue where Hellena diffuses the situation by confessing her love for Wilmore in disguise. Hellena’s use of disguise is especially interesting when contrasted to Florinda’s …show more content…
Hellena entirely disrupts societal norms of women of her time period, she is an inspirational and empowering character with a charming wit and bold perspective. Behn’s use of Hellena to explore radical notions of their era such as women taking back their independence, women taking charge of their sexuality, and women exploring gender roles and the effect of their clothing is an moving tale. Through skillful use of comedy, Behn is able to weave a story rich in crowd-pleasing delights and protofeminist discourse
Though its primary function is usually plot driven--as a source of humor and a means to effect changes in characters through disguise and deception—cross dressing is also a sociological motif involving gendered play. My earlier essay on the use of the motif in Shakespeare's plays pointed out that cross dressing has been discussed as a symptom of "a radical discontinuity in the meaning of the family" (Belsey 178), as cul-tural anxiety over the destabilization of the social hierarchy (Baker, Howard, Garber), as the means for a woman to be assertive without arousing hostility (Claiborne Park), and as homoerotic arousal (Jardine). This variety of interpretations suggests the multivoiced character of the motif, but before approaching the subject of this essay, three clarifica- tions are necessary at the outset.
Society’s gender roles have been changing and evolving, though not necessarily a positive change. Women’s expected and defined role have changed and broken by women who refuses to follow their expected roles in society and decide to rebel against the norm. The pages of history have their own evidence of evolution of these female gender roles into the roles they are following now. Susan Glaspell’s “Trifles” and Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” both contain a female protagonist and make us observe and understand how society in their period of time expects of them and their roles. Both these plays let us rethink and compare a female’s role in their period of time with our modern time through points and events that led them into realization of their roles and identity.
Susan Glaspell’s play, Trifles, was written in 1916, reflects the author’s concern with stereotypical concepts of gender and sex roles of that time period. As the title of the play implies, the concerns of women are often considered to be nothing more than unimportant issues that have little or no value to the true work of society, which is being performed by men. The men who are in charge of investigating the crime are unable to solve the mystery through their supposed superior knowledge. Instead, two women are able decipher evidence that the men overlook because all of the clues are entrenched in household items that are familiar mainly to women during this era. Glaspell expertly uses gender characterization, setting, a great deal of symbolism and both dramatic and verbal irony, to expose social divisions created by strict gender roles, specifically, that women were limited to the household and that their contributions went disregarded and underappreciated.
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
In Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Anger, the women characters play distinct roles in the dramas. However, the type of roles, the type of characters portrayed, and the purpose the women’s roles have in developing the plot and themes vary in each play. As demonstrated by The Importance of Being Earnest and Look Back in Anger, the majority of women’s roles ultimately reflect that women in British society were viewed to be unequal to men in love and in relationships and generally the weaker sex, emotionally, physically and intellectually. However, I have found an exception to this standard in the play Arcadia, in which Thomasina Coverly plays the role of a young genius.
Aphra Behn, a remarkable author who “‘…earned… [women]…the right to speak their minds’”, who was not afraid to speak her mind herself as evident in her works, and was a writer that aided in paving the way for women’s rights through the literature world (The Norton Anthology 2308). A majority of Behn’s works serve to further the voice of women in the oppressed society in which they were living in and this work being examined is no exception to this. The Disappointment serves as a perfect satiric companion to John Wilmot’s satire The Imperfect Enjoyment, in which instead of the sympathy being placed on the “unfortunate” man who cannot perform, the consideration is retained on the woman’s feelings during this situation instead. This may not seem awe-inspiring, but for a time period when a gender whose side in not often portrayed, this is very significant. In the text, Behn is acting as a voice for the women of that era. She is giving women a platform to stand on to push against this male dominated society; thus providing power for the unheard. By using specific diction, meter, and so forth Behn’s work, The Disappointment, is a vessel in which she demonstrates and satires the patriarchal dominance over women in society.
These women authors have served as an eye-opener for the readers, both men and women alike, in the past, and hopefully still in the present. (There are still cultures in the world today, where women are treated as unfairly as women were treated in the prior centuries). These women authors have impacted a male dominated society into reflecting on of the unfairness imposed upon women. Through their writings, each of these women authors who existed during that masochistic Victorian era, risked criticism and retribution. Each author ignored convention a...
All throughout the early part of history women were portrayed as the inferior sex, because at that point in time, women were seen as beings only born to have children. Men didn’t think that women were capable of being anything other than a typical housewife. It was unthinkable that women would actually need an education, let alone earn a living, or become a leader. These ideas are revealed all throughout classical literature. Rarely was a woman seen as doing anything but being dominated by males in some form, whether she was a man’s submissive devoted wife, a sexual object, or a woman being punished for wanting her freedom. We finally begin to see women trying to break free from these traditional expectations and barriers through the lives of Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, John’s wife in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Louise Mallard in “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, and Songlian in Raise the Red Lantern by Su Tong.
I shall endeavour to explore and analyse how women are presented in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” and Duffy’s “Human Interest”.
`Plays and Poetry by early modern women are primarily concerned with negotiating a position from which women could speak. A concern for ideas of gender, language and silence is, therefore, central, though its expression is sometimes open, sometimes covert.' Discuss with reference to Aemilia Lanyer and / or Elizabeth Cary.
The scene that evidently defines Satine’s character is her performance of “Sparkling Diamonds”. During this moment, all eyes are on Satine, staring at her astonishing beauty. The female lead is now being presented to all as an object whom men desire to have and women desire to become. This scene is an adequate example of the male gaze which is “the cinema’s frequent positioning of women as objects (Ott & Mack, 2010).” This theory is manifested through the way the object, Satine, is framed by the camera lens. A better vantage point is given to the spectators by positioning her higher than everybo...
In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, the female protagonists of the play, Beatrice and Hero, and Blanche and Stella, are submitted to battles against misogyny. Unlike the stereotypically submissive Elizabethan woman, Beatrice is ready to be ‘a man’ (Act 4.1.315) for the sake of her wronged cousin Hero and duel against ‘Count Comfit’ (Act 4.1.314). Blanche, while fighting against Stanley as ‘he advances’ (Scene Three, page 41) towards, and hurt, Stella, became relatable to a modern day audience when fighting against Domestic Violence. These women challenge the status quo of their eras, whether it is effective or not.
The representation of the scenes in which the women are being raped suggest that the women’s being subject to men convey the male sexual aggression during that period . In “ The Rover “ , Behn does this by examining the overt commodification of women by not only men , but as a society as a whole ; in Behn’s eyes women were often just as guilty by their complicity . Through the characters of Hellena , Florinda , Angellica and the roving cavaliers , Behn examines ‘commodification ‘ by illuminating just how differently men treated their women according to class and how women were objectified by prostitution , forcible rape and arranged or forced marriages .
In Aphra Behn’s “The Rover”, between the categories of virgin and whore lies a void rather than a spectrum. The three leading ladies of the play Hellena, Florinda and Angellica most certainly fall into these categories; Hellena and Florinda being virginal ladies of quality and Angellica being a famous courtesan. These three women attempt to challenge these roles throughout the play. Aphra Behn uses the domination of the men over the women, the objectification of the women and the double standards that exist between men and women to illustrate the impossibility of taking one’s sexuality into one’s own hands, and challenging the assigned roles of the patriarchal society for the female characters in the play.