The Rover Introduction

The Rover, published and first produced in 1677, was Aphra Behn's most
successful play. The original full title, The Rover, or The Banish 'd Cavaliers,
indicates that the play was a tribute to the formerly exiled cavalier and newly
reinstated king, Charles II. The Rover is a dark comedy that mixes themes of
prostitution and rape with comic buffoonery. The play expresses its author's
objections to the vulnerability of women in Restoration society. Perhaps
ironically, it also appeals to the prurient interests of the audience by putting
women in morally compromising situations. Based loosely on her
contemporary Thomas Killigrew's 1564 Thomaso, or The Wanderer (1664),
Behn's play is leaner, less lewd, and more profound. The plot follows the
fortunes of opposing lovers, one a woman of quality masquerading as a
courtesan and one a wandering rake whose philandering days end when he
falls in love with her. Several near-rapes and the tragic case of a jilted
courtesan, another character in the play, balance the comic treatment of
sexual politics in the seventeenth century. The rover of the title is either
Willmore, an exiled English sea captain on shore leave to enjoy the carnival,
or Hellena, a young woman hoping to experience life and love before being
committed to a convent by her brother. These two rovers meet and fall in love
amid witty debates and sexual maneuvering. Willmore has many parallels to
Charles II, whose exploits during his twenty-year banishment from England
were well known. Charles II enjoyed the play so much that he commissioned
a private viewing of it. Contemporary feminist scholars often focus on the
play's many instances of women vulnerable to rape, and the tragic results of
Angellica's being jilted by Willmore. They see in these plot elements a protest
against the powerlessness of women in Behn's time.

Prologue
The prologue in rhyming couplets portends a play that is not just ''good
conversation'', as conventional plays present, but is full of "wit" and
"deboches" [debauches], as is life.




Act I
Scene 1
Hellena, a young woman about to enter a convent, questions her sister
Florinda about whom she loves. Florinda admits she loves Belvile, an English
colonel, but her father is determined that she marry the elderly Don Vincentio
(who never actually appears in the play). Further complicating matters,
Florinda's brother, Don Pedro, wants Florinda to marry his friend Don
Antonio. Don Pedro enters with Stephano (his servant) and Callis (the sisters'
governess). Pedro encourages Florinda to follow their father's wishes and
marry Don Vincentio. Florinda refuses and Hellena supports her. This
pleases Pedro, who says that he has a means for Florinda to escape that
marriage... by marrying Don Antonio the very next day. Pedro exits and
Florinda and Hellena convince Callis to let them disguise themselves and go
to Carnival.


Scene 2
Three Englishmen, Belvile, Blunt, and Frederick, are walking in the town.
Belvile is melancholic because Don Pedro has forbidden him to marry
Florinda, favoring Antonio instead. Willmore, who has just arrived in Naples,
enters and greets his friends. The Englishmen prepare for a night of love and
feasting. Women dressed as courtesans enter and Willmore flirts with one of
them, while Belvile snipes at him with references to venereal diseases.
Florinda, Hellena, and Valeria (their cousin) enter dressed like Gypsies, and
promise to tell the men's fortunes. Willmore and Hellena flirt with one another;
Hellena reveals she is destined to be a nun, to which Willmore replies
"There's no sinner like a young saint." Hellena agrees to meet Willmore again
later, presumably for a sexual liaison; he swears to love only her. Meanwhile,
Lucetta, a "jilting wench," begins to seduce Blunt. Florinda reads Belvile's
palm and begins to set up a meeting with him when she sees her brother
approaching. She hastily gives him a letter and runs off with Hellena and
Valeria. Pedro merely passes by.
Florinda's letter contains instructions for Belvile to come to her garden at ten
that night and carry her off. Blunt sneaks off with Lucetta. The other men,
who think of Blunt as a foolish provincial, realize that he has all their money
with him, and hope that he does not come to harm. Frederick informs his
friends of a new courtesan in Naples: Angellica Bianca.

Act II
Scene 1
Willmore, Belvile, and Frederick are on their way to see Angellica when
they come across Blunt. Blunt happily (and stupidly) says that Lucetta loves
him and is waiting for him to join her later that night. The Englishmen laugh at
him and retrieve their money, but leave Blunt "to be cozened" (cheated).
Blunt objects to the accusation that Lucetta is a whore.
Angellica's servants hang up a portrait of her outside of her house. The
Englishmen are astounded by her beauty but leave when they realize they do
not have the money to buy her--one thousand crowns a month. Don Pedro
enters and sees the picture and the price. He has the money and runs off to
fetch it.
Angellica laments that no one has taken her up because of the high price, but
when she learns of Don Pedro and Don Antonio, both of whom are rich, she
decides to pursue them, then goes back inside. Pedro soon enters from one
side of the stage, and Antonio enters from the other; both men are masked.
Antonio is also struck by Angellica's portrait and wonders out loud if he could
get away with sleeping with Angellica and still marry Florinda. At the mention
of Florinda, Pedro recognizes Antonio.
Angellica enters and bows to Antonio, who removes his mask and confirms
his identity. Antonio tries to pay for Angellica, but Pedro steps up and
declares that he was there first. They fight. Willmore and Blunt enter and
break them up. Pedro challenges Antonio to a duel the next day over
Angellica. Antonio accepts; Pedro exits.
Meanwhile, Willmore sees a smaller picture of Angellica and tries to steal it.
Antonio tells him to put it back. Willmore refuses, saying that Antonio has the
money to pay for the real thing. Angellica enters just in time to see another
fight break out: soon all the Spaniards are fighting Willmore and Blunt. Belvile
and Frederick enter and join their English comrades. Angellica asks Willmore
to speak with her inside. Willmore goes, despite Belvile and Frederick's fears
that Angellica is angry with him.
Scene 2

Willmore tries to persuade Angellica into sleeping with him for free.
Normally Angellica would not agree to this, but she has fallen in love with
Willmore (she has never loved anyone before). She agrees, despite her
maidservant Moretta's warnings. It demonstrates that Angellica is not a
stereotypical courtesan.

Act III
Scene 1
Florinda, Hellena, and Valeria enter, in different disguises. Hellena says
she is not in love, but she cannot stop thinking about Willmore. The women
see Belvile, Blunt, and Frederick approach, but the fact that Willmore is not
with them leads the women to hide and eavesdrop on the men. Belvile, Blunt
and Frederick have come to retrieve Willmore from Angellica, because he
has been inside with her for two hours. Willmore comes out and brags about
having enjoyed Angellica's charms for free. A servant of Lucetta's enters and
takes Blunt back with him to Lucetta's lodgings.
Hellena, who has seen and heard everything Willmore said, comes out of
hiding and pretends as if nothing has transpired. As Willmore begins to flirt
with her again, Angellica enters, masked, and sees Willmore betraying the
vows he made to her. Hellena finally reveals her face to Willmore, who
praises her beauty. This is the last straw for Angellica. She orders one of her
servants to find out who Hellena is and storms out. Hellena asks what
Willmore was doing in Angellica's house; he denies that anything transpired.
Hellena then attacks him, quoting to him what he had just said about
Angellica. She makes Willmore promise never to see Angellica again.
Meanwhile, Florinda and Valeria are testing Belvile's loyalty to Florinda by
trying to seduce him while he doesn't know who they are. He stands firm. The
women exit, but Florinda leaves Belvile with a jewel (most likely a locket of
some sort) so that he "may repent the opportunity you have lost by your
modesty." Belvile recognizes Florinda's picture in the locket and resolves to
rescue her that night, with Willmore and Frederick's help.
Scene 2
Lucetta's house. Lucetta continues to seduce Blunt and goes into her
bedroom to get undressed. Blunt follows her into the bedroom.
Scene 3
Blunt enters the bedroom and undresses to his shirt and drawers. Lucetta
tells him to turn out the light. When the room is dark, the bed vanishes (with
Lucetta) using a trapdoor system. Blunt stumbles around and then falls
through another trapdoor. Lucetta, her servant, and her pimp enter and steal
Blunt's money.
Scene 4
Blunt crawls out of a sewer, furious at having been tricked.
Scene 5
Florinda waits in her garden for Belvile wearing undress (a nightgown or
underwear). Willmore enters, drunk, mistakes Florinda for a prostitute, and
tries to persuade her to sleep with him. When she resists he attempts to rape
her. This is stopped by Belvile and Frederick entering. Florinda runs off.
Willmore and Belvile almost fight, but Frederick intervenes. The noise
however, brings Pedro and his servants to the garden. A fight breaks out and
the English are driven off.
Scene 6
Willmore tries to explain to a furious Belvile that he didn't know who
Florinda was and mistook her for a whore. Belvile is still keen to fight. The
men arrive outside Angellica's house. Willmore nonchalantly says "I promised
the kind baggage to lie with her tonight." Belvile and Frederick leave to find
Florinda.
Antonio enters, hoping that his page has paid Angellica so he can sleep with
her. Willmore sees this and starts a fight with Antonio. Antonio falls,
wounded; Willmore believes he has killed Antonio and runs off. Belvile runs
in, fearing that it is Willmore who has been hurt. Soldiers enter and arrest
Belvile, believing him to be the attacker. Antonio finds his strength and orders
Belvile taken to his house.










Act IV
Scene 1
Don Antonio does not believe that Belvile is innocent of having injured him;
however, he offers Belvile an option other than imprisonment. Since Antonio
is wounded, he cannot duel Pedro: Belvile must dress up as Antonio and go
as him instead. Belvile agrees, believing that the fight must be over Florinda.
Scene 2
Florinda frets that Belvile did not come to her window as planned, and fears
that the duel about to happen is between Belvile and Pedro. Pedro enters,
masked, and reveals that he will be fighting Antonio, relieving some of
Florinda's fears. Belvile enters, disguised as Antonio. Pedro accuses
"Antonio" of having "the advantage of me in Angellica" and the men start to
fight. Florinda runs in to stop them. Belvile is confused as to why Florinda
would defend his rival but they push her away and fight. Florinda stops them
again just as Belvile disarms Pedro. She begs him "by her you love" to spare
Pedro. Belvile lays his sword at Florinda's feet and swears his love to her.
The action redeems him in Pedro's eyes, so he gives his sister to the man he
believes to be Antonio, demanding that they get married at once. Florinda
protests, but Belvile secretly lifts his mask to show her who he is.
Just then, Willmore and Frederick enter. Wilmore greets him by embrace.
The embrace makes Belvile drop his mask. Pedro now refuses to allow the
wedding, since it was Antonio's fight, not Belvile's. He drags Florinda away,
accusing her of trying to trick him. Belvile, furious at being thwarted yet again,
turns on Willmore and chases him away.
Angellica enters with her servants Moretta and Sebastian, furious that
Willmore loves Hellena. Sebastian runs after Willmore to bring him back.
Angellica accuses Willmore of having another woman. Willmore, as usual,
attempts to charm her back.
Hellena enters disguised as a man. She decides to interfere, approaching
Angellica pretending to be one of Hellena's servants. She tells a story about a
young girl who fell in love and was left standing at the altar because her lover
came to Angellica. Then she reveals the lover to be Willmore. Angellica is
moved by the story, Willmore is only excited and impatient to find out who the
woman in question is. Suddenly, Willmore recognizes Hellena and figures out
what's going on. He turns to Angellica and starts describing Hellena as a
Gypsy, ugly, a monkey, etc. He tells Hellena to go back to her mistress and
tell her "till she be handsome enough to be loved, or I dull enough to be
religious, there will be small hopes of me." Angellica is outraged with
Willmore and vows to take revenge and sends Willmore away. Willmore exits
with an aside in which he says he plans to try to win Hellena back.
Scene 3
Florinda and Valeria enter, disguised in different costumes, having
momentarily escaped Pedro. Then Don Pedro, Belvile, and Willmore enter.
Pedro and Belvile seem to be having a serious conversation. Willmore follows
Florinda when she walks past, again thinking she is a courtesan.
Frederick comes in and relates Blunt's misadventures to Belvile and Pedro.
They all go off to find him. Florinda reenters, still being chased by Willmore.
Then Hellena arrives and sees Willmore pursuing this "unknown" woman.
She sends a page to find out where they go.
Scene 4
Florinda ducks into a door to avoid Willmore; it turns out to be Belvile's
house. The page Hellena sent goes off to relay the information.
Scene 5

Blunt is staying in Belvile's house. Florinda enters, sees Blunt and asks him
for help. Blunt then attempts to rape her based on his new contempt for
women ("be revenged on one whore for the sins of another"). Frederick
enters, also convinced that Florinda is a prostitute, and joins Blunt. Florinda
gives them a diamond ring and asks them to consult Belvile. Frederick fears
that she might be a lady of some worth and asks Blunt to wait. Blunt is still
skeptical but agrees. Frederick locks Florinda in a room.










Act V
Scene 1
Belvile, Willmore, Frederick, and Pedro break into Blunts room and laugh at
him. Blunt says that just a moment before there was a wench in his chamber
and shows them the ring Florinda gave him. Belvile recognizes the ring as the
one he gave Florinda when they exchanged vows. The other men, unaware
that the girl is Florinda, decide to let her out and have their way with her.
They draw swords to see who has the longest. Don Pedro wins and unlocks
Florinda's door.
Florinda runs in, still masked and pursued by Pedro. She is saved when
Valeria arrives and persuades Pedro to leave by telling him that Callis knows
where Florinda is hiding. Once he is gone, Florinda removes her mask.
Valeria tells Belvile and Florinda to get married quickly, before Pedro returns.
Frederick and Valeria decide to get married as well. Belvile sends a boy to
fetch a priest. Frederick and Blunt realize that they almost raped Florinda and
apologize, returning the ring. Belvile, Florinda, Valeria, and Frederick exit to
get married; Blunt goes off to see a tailor. Willmore stays behind to guard
against Pedro's return.
Angellica enters, pointing a pistol at Willmore; she rages at him while
threatening him with the gun. Willmore offers to pay her for her services; she
refuses. As she prepares to kill him, Don Antonio enters with his arm in a
sling. He takes the gun from Angellica, then recognizes Willmore as the man
who stole Angellica's picture. He offers to shoot Willmore. Pedro enters.
Angellica decides to let Willmore live, and leaves. Don Pedro asks why Don
Antonio missed the duel; Antonio tells him what happened, and leaves in a
huff. Pedro decides to give Florinda to Belvile in revenge. Willmore informs
him that the marriage has already occurred. Pedro exits.
Hellena enters, still in boy's clothes, and banters with Willmore, who wants to
sleep with her but not marry her. Hellena finally convinces him to wed her.
Pedro, Belvile, Florinda, Frederick, and Valeria enter. They learn of Willmore
and Hellena's engagement and Pedro approves, tired of fearing for his
sister's honor (virginity). Blunt enters in a Spanish habit, looking ridiculous.
Music plays and masquers from Carnival come in dancing. The play ends
with vows of love between Hellena and Willmore.