B.A. (Hons.

) English Semester-III

Core Course : Paper-VII

British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-3 : Aphra Behn – The Rover (1677)
Study Material

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

Department of English
 Graduate Course

Core Course : Paper-VII

British Poetry and Drama : 17th and 18th Centuries
Unit-3 : Aphra Behn – The Rover (1677)

Contents

Part-I : Background to The Rover (1677) by Aphra Behn

Part-II : The Rover : Summary and Comments

Part-III : The Rover : Summary and Comments

Prepared by:
N.K. Jain

SCHOOL OF OPEN LEARNING

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI
5, Cavalry Lane, Delhi-110007
 Part-I : Background to The Rover (1677) by Aphra Behn
Contents
1. Objective
2. Introduction
3. A Chronology of Aphra Behn's Life and Works
4. Salient Features of Aphra Behn's Life and Works
5. Summing Up
6. Questions
7. Further Reading

1. Objective
This part of the study material is meant to give you essential background information
about Aphra Behn and her times.
2. Introduction
Aphra Behn (1640-1689) is a late admission to the canon of English studies. She lived an
unorthodox life and wrote prodigiously in different genres, drama, fiction, poetry and literary
criticism. But though she won literary recognition in her own days, her work was dismissed
or ignored as being morally depraved and unfit to be read for over two centuries thereafter. It
was only in the twentieth century that she started receiving attention as a major writer. Her
career graph shows the challenges that a woman writer who chooses to hold her own and
write daringly about woman's freedom and female desire has to face in a patriarchal world.
3. A Chronology of Aphra Behn's Life And Works
* indicates approximate years
(?) indicates occurrences in doubt.
c. is an abbreviation for circa, about.
1640 Aphra Behn born.* Maiden name and place of birth unknown.
1663 Period of probable residence in Surinam.*
1664 Marriage to merchant named Behn?*
1665 Death of Mr. Behn?*
1666 Mrs. Behn in Antwerp, Holland as a spy for the crown (July).
1667 Return to London.*

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1670 THE FORCED MARRIAGE, a tragicomedy, produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields
Theatre, December (published 1671).
1671 THE AMOROUS PRINCE, a tragicomedy, produced at LIF, February
(published 1671).
1673 THE DUTCH LOVER, a comedy, produced at Dorset Garden Theatre, February
(published 1677).
1676 ABDELAZER, a tragedy, produced at DG, July (published 1677). THE TOWN
FOP, a comedy, produced at DG c. September (published 1677).
1677 THE ROVER, a comedy, produced at DG, March (published 1677).
1678 SIR PATIENT FANCY, a comedy, produced at DG, January (published 1678).
1679 THE FEIGNED COURTESANS, a comedy, at DG, C. March (published 1679).
THE YOUNG KING, a tragicomedy, produced at DG c. September (published
1683).
1681 THE SECOND PART OF THE ROVER, a comedy, produced at DG c. January
(published 1681).
THE FALSE COUNT, a comedy-farce, produced at DG, November (published
1682).
1682 THE CITY HEIRESS, a comedy, produced at DG c.May (published 1682).
1684 Poems Upon Several Occasions published
1686 THE LUCKY CHANCE, a comedy, produced at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
April (published 1687).
1687 THE EMPEROR OF THE MOON, a comedy-farce, produced at DG, March
(published 1687).
1668 THE FAIR JILT, ORONOOKA, and Agnes de Castro (prose fiction) published.
1689 Death of Aphra Behn, April 16. Burial in Westminster Abbey.
The History of the Nun and The Lucky Mistake (prose fiction) published.
THE WIDOW RANTER, a comedy, produced at TR, November (published
1690).
1696 THE YOUNGER BROTHER, a comedy, produced at TR February (published
1696).
1698 The Adventure of the Black Lady, The Court of the King of Bantam, The Nun, or
Perjured Beauty, The Unfortunate Bride, The Unfortunate Happy Lady and The
Wandering Beauty (prose fiction) published in an edition of the Histories and
Novels.

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 1700 The Dumb Virgin and The Unhappy Mistake (prose fiction) published.
4. Salient Features of Aphra Behn's Life and Works
i) Personal Details: Many fact about Aphra Behn including her maiden name and place
of birth are unknown. The year of her birth, 1640, is also approximate.
In 1663 she probably. went to Surinam and stayed there for an uncertain period, was
married to a Mr. Behn, went to spy for Charles II in Antwerp, Holland in 1666, was
imprisoned at least twice for debt, loved John Hoyle who was a homosexual, and
became a leading propagandist for the Tories.
ii) Love Relationship with John Hoyle
She was in love with a John Hoyle, a lawyer and wit, and wrote many poems to him.
But though he forced her to write to him, he did not return her passion. Her Love Letters
to a Gentleman, though not directly written to him, are believed by her biographers to
have been autobiographical. As a critic puts it, her love letters show “a woman trying to
write herself into a love story that resists her inclusion.”
iii) Plays: Aphra Behn achieved popular success with her plays, which preoccupied her
almost throughout her career. She began with The Forced marriage (1670) and by the
time she came to The Rover (1677), she had written five or six reasonably successful
plays. Aphra Behn wrote for money and wanted to win fame "as much as if I had been a
Hero," as she put it. Most of her plays were produced in her lifetime and at Dorset
Garden Theatre.
iv) Fiction: Behn wrote almost all of her fiction in the last few years of her life. Three of
these, Oroonoko, The Fair Jilt and Agnes de Castro were published only a year before
her death, i.e. in 1688. Her Oroonoko has been regarded as the first abolitionist novel
and has been treated with seriousness by scholars. It has also helped to rehabilitate the
writer.
v) Poetry: According to one critic, Aphra Behn was praised primarily as a poet in her own
days. As part of her revival in recent times, several poems of hers have been included in
the Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (1985) edited by Sandra M. Gilbert and
Susan Gubar and other anthologies. Her poems are centrally concerned with reciprocity
of desire and love in a world where men and women hold asymmetrical power. A
favourite anthology piece is "The Disappointment” which slows a woman suffering
from a powerlessness peculiar to men, sexual impotence.
vi) Literary Criticism: Literary criticism has traditionally been a male preserve until very
recent times. Hazard Adams' standard anthology of literary criticism Critical Theory
Since Plato (1971) does not mention any woman critic in its 1249 double column pages.
Literary criticism in the seventeenth century valued literature for its universality and
timelessness and disregarded historical contingency or the considerations of economics
and of fashion as important factors in the production of literature. Following a change in
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 perspective on what constitutes literary criticism, Aphra Behn's dedicatory epistles,
prefaces and forewords to plays, poems, and novels have now come to be seen as part
of the history of seventeenth century criticism. There were all occasional pieces
concerned with the practical difficulties of a practicing woman writer who was trying to
make a place for herself in the male dominated world of writing of her time. In the
words of Janet Todd, what Behn brought to the august literary critical tradition of her
time, which tended to treat literature as timeless, "was a very real awareness of
historical contingency and specificity, of the economic foundations of literature, and, of
course, of fashion."
vii) Social Isolation
An important biographical fact about Aphra Behn was that socially she stood alone
without any of the usual familial props when she became a professional writer.
viii) Attacks on her Writing
Her writings were attacked for being lewd. Alexander Pope wrote in 1737–
The stage how loosely does Astrea tread,
Who fairly puts all characters to bed! (1757)
The Rover was attacked in The London Chronicle, for its loose morality. In the
nineteenth century the drama scholar John Doran (1865) held that instead of being an
honour to womanhood "she was its disgrace" and "chose to reap infamy." For this
reason she was a problematic model for aspiring woman writers.
ix) Status of a Woman Writer in Seventeenth Century England
In the seventeenth century a woman who was a playwright, or a publishing writer, or an
actress was a public woman. And a public woman was sexually suspect and was
considered available for hire as a prostitute. One of her biographers Angelne Goveau
has said: “The woman who shared the contents of her mind instead of reserving them
for one man was literally, not metaphorically, trading in her sexual property. If she were
married, she was selling what did not belong to her, because in mind and body, she
should have given herself to her husband” ( ).
This popular prejudice against women writers is expressed in a commonplace slur
current in Aphra Behn's period:
Hiyo bag do Punk and Poesie agree so pat,
You cannot well be this, and not be that.
All her career she fought against the unfairness of a public that damned her plays
because they were written by a woman. In the preface to Sir Patient Fancy she wrote:
I printed this play with all the impatient haste one ought to do, who would be
vindicated from the most unjust and silly aspersion, woman could invent to

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 cast on Woman; and which only my being a Woman has procured me, That it
was Bawdy, ... [and] from a Woman it was unnaturall.”
But it she was critical of the sexualization of a woman's writing, she also paradoxically
exploited it whenever it suited her.
Aphra Behn was aware of the popular prejudice that clubbed a woman writer and whore
together. But instead of rejecting it, she embraced it and made use of it as part of her working
strategy. (For more detailed information and discussion on this subject, refer to Gallagher,
Cat “Who was That Masked Woman? The Prostitute and the Playwright in the comedies of
Aphra Behn” Women Studies 15 (1987): 23-42, rpt. In Aphra Behn: Contemporary Critical
Essays, ed. Janet Todd. New Delhi: St. Martin's Press, 1999, in the New Casebook Series,
pages 12-31.
5. Summing Up
The foregoing account has, I am sure, given you some idea of the tremendous odds that
Aphra Behn had to face in seventeenth century England to make space for herself as a writer.
The next step for you now is to read her play The Rover, if you haven't done so already.
It is a highly enjoyable play and I'm sure you will like it for its wit and cleverness and also for
its fresh treatment of a woman's desire.
6. Questions
1. In What way or ways was Aphra Behn an unconventional woman?
2. What was the cause of the neglect of Aphra Behn's writings?
3. What was Alexander Pope's view about Aphra Behn's plays?
4. Why, in your opinion, has she come to be recognized as a serious woman writer
after a neglect of two centuries?
5. Women associated with film or theatre or dancing were not always held in high
social esteem till recently. Think of the disabilities that women in India suffer from
even these days.
6. Can you think of another woman, Indian or otherwise, who faced similar difficulties
in gaining acceptance as a writer?
7. Further Reading
Hunter, Heidi, ed. Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism.
Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 1993.
Besides other articles, contains a very useful introduction pages 1-13.
Todd, Janet. Ed. Aphra Behn. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. New Casebooks
Series.
Besides other articles, contains a very useful introduction pages 1-11.

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 Part-II : The Rover : Summary and Comments

Contents
1. Objectives
2. Introduction
3. How to Read a Play
4. The Rover: Summary and Comments
Act I scenes i & ii
Act II scenes i & ii
Act III scenes i to vi
5. Summing Up
6. Glossary
7. Questions
8. Further Reading

1. Objectives
This study material is meant to enable you to read and understand the play in detail. For
this purpose it provides you a summary of each act of the play and also comments on it.
2. Introduction
Any real study of a play is based on a very close reading of it. This requires at least two
readings of the text, if not more. The first reading will help you to get the bare facts of the
play and how it proceeds. When you read it for the second time, all the facts begin to fall into
place and you begin to see some pattern in it. With every new reading you come to
understand the play better.
So read the play before you read something on it. Remember, a thorough reading of the
text will enable you to write better and fuller answers to questions in your examination.
3. How to read a Play
You will find the following hints on reading a play helpful.
(a) In order to go to the heart of the play ask yourself three questions.
i) The first question relates to the material or the substance used in the play. Why has
the author chosen the story that she has? In the case of The Rover the writer has
chosen the high society of her times. Why?

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 ii) The second question deals with representation. What are the things that the author
has chosen to represent or dramatize in the play? And what are the things that she
merely reports?
iii) Lastly, there is the question of focus. As you read each scene, try and discover its
focus. What, for instance, is the focus of the first scene of The Rover? The scene
begins and ends with female characters, Hellena and Florinda. What would have
been the focus if the play had begun with a conversation between Don Pedro and
Don Antonio or between Pedro and his father?
(b) Discovering the spine of a character
How do we study a character in a play? Each character has something that sets her/him
apart from other characters, something that is special about her/him. This particular feature or
characteristics forms the spine of the character.
4. Act-wise Summary and Analysis
Act I, scene i:
The play opens with a scene in a chamber belonging to a Spanish family in Naples.
Hellena a gay young girl who is meant to be a nun is asking her elder sister Florinda who
she is in love with. Florinda says that she would tell her the secret when she herself was in
love. Hellena then says that though she was not a lover yet, she could make a shrewd guess
about what it was to be in love – it was to sigh and sing and blush and dream and wish. It was
to look pale and tremble in the presence of the beloved. That was how Florinda had looked
when their brother Don Pedro had brought the English colonel home to see her. She also
guesses that his name was Belvile.
Florinda blushes which, Hellena says, betrays her secret. Hellena also suggests the names
of two other possible lovers – Don Antonio the Viceroy's son, and the rich old Don Vincentio
who is her father's choice.
The last name makes Florinda angry and she defiantly says she will make it known to her
father what is due to her beauty, birth and fortune and to her soul. Hellena is pleased at this
disobedience but wants her to confirm that she is love with the gay and handsome
Englishman. Florinda again stalls saying that a girl designed to be a nun ought not to be so
curious about love. At this Hellena announces her intention of never to be a nun, at least not
until she was too old for anything else. She is curious about love because she hopes he
[Belvile] will have some mad companion who could be her lover. She is determined to find a
handsome young man in the carnival who was as mischievous and gay as she herself was.
Florinda cautions her. But Hellena is not to be sidetracked and charges her sister with
indifference now that she has found her man. As for herself, she possesses youth, a gay
humour, beauty, and vigour. And she knows her to use all these gifts to her best advantage.
She then learns from Florinda that she knew him at the siege of Pamplona where as a colonel

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of the French Horse he had treated her and her brother nobly and had saved her from insults.
As she finally talks about her love for Belvile, their brother Don Pedro comes.
Don Pedro reminds her of her father's desire to marry her off to Don Vincentio and of his
vast future and his passion for her. Florinda scoff at this saying that she hates him and tries to
enlist her brother's support in her favour. She values Belvile for having saved her honour
from the lustful attention of the common soldiers. Pedro still pleads for Vincentio saying that
in contrast to him Belvile has nothing to give her but the jewels of his eyes and heart.
At this stage Hellena intervenes on behalf of her sister saying that these gifts were some
valuable than Vincentio's jewels and says that her sister's fate was worse than being confined
to a religious life. She also draws the picture of an unenviable life with an old, miserly
husband, saying that a marriage with Vincentio would be worse than adultery. Pedro,
offended, asks his servant Callis to lock her up for her impertinence. Unfazed, Hellena
defiantly says that she will soon have a lover (“a saint of my own to pray to"). Pedro then
discloses that in pleading for Don Vincentio he had merely been urging his father's will. His
own choice was his friend, the young and brave Don Antonio who she must marry the next
day. Their father would be conveniently away! Florinda meekly says she will do as becomes
his sister, at which assurance Pedro leaves.
Florinda then bewails to her sister that she never knew her ruin was so near and that
since Antonio is young and gay, she has no defence against him.
At Hellena's suggestion, her governess Callis agrees to let them take part in the
entertainment of the carnival. Callis herself wants to enjoy the fun provided they let her
remain in their company. Hellena plans to be as wild and take all innocent freedom. She tells
her sister not to be sad and assures her that she will outwit their brother. She asks her sister to
put on the gay and fantastic dress for the masquerade and ramble around in the carnival.
Stephano, Don Pedro's servant, comes with the news that Florinda's dress for the
masquerade is ready and that her cousin Valeria is waiting for her. Florinda decides to write a
note for Belvile for a possible meeting. The scene ends with Hellena asking her sister to get
dressed for the occasion.
Comments
The scene expertly foregrounds the central concern of the play, love and marriage and
their true and false bases. It gives us an idea of the social milieu in which the quest for love
and marriage is made, introduces us to two of the major female characters in the play,
Hellena and her sister Florinda, and the challenges they face and also what differentiates
them. The scene also gives us a foretaste of Hellena's wildness and her quest for a gay young
man who is as wild at heart as she is.
The scene also draws attention to the masquerade and the dresses the fun-seeking
character will put on.

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Questions
Now on the basis of your reading of the opening scene of the play, answer the following
questions:
1. Pick out the line/s that you particularly like in Act I.i. Also note the name of the
speaker and -200 the reason why you like the lines.
2. Read the following lines:
(a) 'Tis true, I never was a lover yet, but I begin to have a
shrewd guess what 'tis to be so, and fancy it very pretty to
sigh, and sing, and blush, and wish, and dream and wish,
and long and wish to see the man, and when I do, look pale,
and tremble...
Answer the questions that follow:
i) Who speaks these lines?
ii) Is the speaker expressing his/her own view?
iii) To which character in the play could these lines be applied?
b) Here is a line spoken by Hellena:
‘Hang me, such a wedlock would be
worse than adultery with another man.’
Answer the following questions:
ii) Does this line express a conventional view of marriage and adultery?
iii) What does this line tell us about the speaker's character?
3. How are the characters of Hellena and Florinda contrasted? Be specific.
4. Which character sets the tone of the play?
5. Who is the rover of the title? Can you guess?

Act I, scene ii
The scene now shifts to a street. It is carnival time which is also the time for
masquerades.
We are introduced to Belvile and his friends Frederick and Blunt and later to Willmore.
Belvile is downcast. Frederick correctly guesses that he has renewed his acquaintance with
the Spanish girl, Florinda, who he had met at Pamplona but who he has little chance of
gaining. Her brother has forbidden him to visit her. He has a powerful rival in the viceroy's

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son who is rich is a Spaniard and is her brother's friend. While the Spaniard is free to court
her, he himself has to depend on letters and occasional glimpses of her from her window.
Both Frederick and Blunt cannot understand such constancy. Blunt is thankful that he
has not dissipated his fortune by cavaliering.
Willmore fresh from the seas enters and is welcomed by his old friends Belvile and
Frederick. Belvile addresses him as a rover. Willmore says that he is on shore only for a day
or two to have fun, and that love and mirth are his special business in the warm climate of
Naples.
At this point enter several masked men who are singing and dancing. There are women
also who are dressed like courtesans with papers with the slogan 'Roses for every month'
pinned on their breasts and are carrying flower baskets.
Belvile explains that they (the women) are or would have others think that they are
courtesans. Willmore eager for an affair makes bold to ask one of the women if she would
give him leave to gather at her bush. But the woman puts herself into the hands of her man
and goes away. Willmore is disappointed. He says that he could pluck that rose off his hand,
and "even kiss the bed the bush grew in." Frederick remarks that nothing sharpens the
appetite for love like a long voyage at sea, to which Blunt adds that the only exception is a
nunnery. Willmore rues the lost opportunity and says that he is "no tame sigher but a rampant
lion of the forest."
Two men enter dressed all over with horns of several sorts with papers pinned on their
backs. Belvile points out that though the Italians object to the word cuckold yet cuckoldry is
very common. Wilmore then remarks that Italians view cuckoldry as a kind of authorized
fornication for which neither men nor women are blamed or despised as against the dull
English or the French.
Florinda, Hellena and Valeria enter al dressed like gypsies. Callis and Stephano, Lucetta,
Philippo and sancho are wearing masks.
Hellena points Florinda's Englishman to her and makes straight for the handsome fellow
with him, namely Willmore. Gipsies are traditionally fortunetellers and this provides
Willmore an opportunity to ask Hellena what luck he is likely to have in love in the carnival.
There is a verbal duel between the two. He has a certain forward impudence, she says, which
she likes, but he has little money to lose. She also accuses him of being inconstant. Willmore
does not contradict her but says that she has a store of love in him and asks her to share some
of it. Hellena tells him that he would have to rescue her from a nunnery, a kind office which
Willmore offers to perform saying that it would be virtuous in her to lose her virginity. He is
impatient to come first to the banquet of love. But Hellena rebuffs him asking why women
are held guilty of either adultery or murder and also why men think that there is no difference
between love and making love. Finally Hellena asks him to meet her in the same dress after
dinner. She only hopes he will be constant till then. Later Willmore tells his friends that if she
is as beautiful as she is free and witty, he will be constant for a month to gain her.

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 Blunt is vain and thinks he is a lady killer and that a woman has fallen for him. Later
Frederick notices him going away in her (Lucetta's) company. At this all the friends speculate
on the fate that awaits Blunt. Frederick expects that he will be robbed of everything while
Belvile thinks that they would have to have the bellman cry “A lost English boy of thirty" to
locate him.
Florida dressed as a gipsy pretends to tell Belvile his fate saying that Flroinda expects
him at the garden gate and also gives him a letter. The letter asks him to come to the garden
gate at ten in the company of a friend or two.
Don Pedro and others maskers pass on the stage.
Frederick fears that this might be a trap laid by Florinda's brother. But Belvile is excited
and asks Willmore to help him. Willmore is ever ready to do anything for a friend but hopes
that she will grant him her favour (which means sexual favour). He quietens down only when
he is told that the lady is Belvile's mistress.
The scene closes with Frederick mentioning the famous courtesan of Naples, Angellica
Bianca who is the adored beauty of the men and the envy of women in the town. Willmore
always ready for amorous adventure gets immediately interested in her.
Comments
The scene is like a collage with the playwright giving us glimpses of the doings of
different characters taking part in the carnival and the masquerade.
The scene draws attention to the following:
i) Love between Florinda and Belvile is mutual. He is all excitement when he receives
a note to meet her at night.
ii) Willmore is a gay young man from the seas who is always on the lookout for sexual
adventures, first with the woman with the message "Roses for every month” on her
breast, then with hellena and finally with Angellica Bianca. But in Hellena he meets
more than his match for wit and cleverness.
She also asks him a most important question as a male: why don't men make a
distinction between love and love-making?
iii) Blunt is cynical about women and also miserly and his vanity leads him into the trap
Lucetta and her pimp lay out for him.
iv) There are two assignations in the scene – one between Belvile and Florinda in
which love is a settled fact; second, between Willmore and Hellena which is likely
to be an interesting contest. There is also a third – between Blunt and Lucetta which
is headed for a comic disaster.

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 v) The scene also introduces us to several varieties of love – romantic love between
Belvile OG and Florinda; the gay love between Willmore and Hellena; and third
commercial love.
Questions
1. Pick out the lines that you particularly like. Also state your reasons for your choice.
2. Read the following line:
“Besides, 'tis more meritorious to
leave the world when thou has tasted and proved the
pleasure on't. Then 'twill be a virtue in thee, which now will
be pure ignorance.
Now answer the questions that follow:
i) Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii) What is the speaker trying to argue in favour of?
iii) What will be a virtue? Be specific.
3. Read the following lines and answer the questions given thereafter:
“Why must we be either guilty of fornication or murder if we converse with
you men? And is there no difference between leave to love me and leave to lie
with me”?
i) Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii) To whom are these lines addressed?
iii) What male attitude does the speaker have in mind?
iv) How does the speaker react to the male attitude?
Act II.i
Summary
The scene opens with Belvile explaining to Willmore that they are wearing masks in
order not to be held accountable for what they do in disguise. Willmore cannot get his gipsy
out of his mind and will remain restless till he has played a game of love with a "soft, white,
kind woman" such as he imagines Angellica Bianca to be. Belvile leads them to Angellica's
house.
Blunt enters and is ecstatic about his meeting with his girl [Lucetta] who has made him
believe that he is someone special and who has offered him her love for sheer love, not
money. But Belvile and Frederick and Willmore are all skeptical about Blunt's story.
Two of Angellica's bravos hang up a great picture of the courtesan and two little ones at
each side of the door. The price for her favour is a thousand crowns.
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 The picture evokes different reactions from the characters. Belvile says that only a fool
would pay the high price. Blunt deluded that he has won his girl [Lucetta] for sheer love will
have nothing to do with the courtesan if she is to be 'sold.' Willmore full of praise for her
beauty thinks the price not at all excessive but rues his poverty.
Don Pedro enters wearing a mask followed by Stephano. At this Belvile, Frederick and
Blunt withdraw.
Pedro doesn't consider the price excessive and goes away, presumably to get the money.
Angellica and her woman Moretta enter. One of the bravos tells Angellica about the
reactions of the English to her picture and the price. She finds their wonder at her beauty
welcome because it feeds her vanity. She also says that she has had no time for love and that
only gold shall charm her, and also that she has spread her nets for Don Pedro or Don
Antonio.
Both the gallants arrive wearing masks. They are friends but because of their disguise
can't identify each other and both vie for Angellica's favour. Antonio lets drop a hint that he
is more interested in the courtesan than in Florinda, a disclosure that Pedro considers to be an
act of betrayal.
Angellica sings a song of Damon and Caelia and then she bows to Antonio who pulls off
his mask and blows up kisses. Pedro's fears that his rival is Antonio are confirmed. The
latter's offer to pay a thousand crowns leads to a quarrel between the two and they draw and
begin to fight. Willmore and Blunt enter and part them. But Pedro challenges him to a duel at
the Malo the next day in the same disguise. Antonio agrees and speculates that his rival could
be no one else but the English colonel Belvile so often mentioned by Don Pedro.
Willmore all entranced by Angellica's picture takes down one of the little ones. A bravo
and Antonio protest and Angellica also appears but Willmore is firm at which he and Antonio
start fighting. Angellica tries to intervene and permits Willmore to keep the little picture but
Antonio says he must seek his permission first and resumes the fighting. Belvile and
Frederick also join the fray and beat the Spaniards away. Angellica wants to have a word
with Willmore who as she says appears “a gentleman.” Willmore agrees at once and though
Belville and Frederick try to stop him, he goes in to see the courtesan.
Comments
1. The scene
i) begins with Blunt's boast of his triumphant affair with his girl [Lucetta who is
a jilt];
ii) presents two quarrels between Pedro and Antonio about Angellica's favour and
then between Antonio and Willmore Angellica's little picture; and
iii) converges on to Willmore's going in to meet the courtesan.

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 2. Complications have already begun:
i) Willmore is drawn to his little gipsy but is also more immediately attracted to
Angellica.
ii) The disguise also causes complications. Pedro and Antonio are initially
unaware of Se each other's fancy for the courtesan. But Pedro discovers
Antonio's identity and feels let down by Antonio.
Questions
1. Name the characters who appear in disguise.
2. Why is Willmore not disguised?
3. What function does disguise play in this scene?
4. Why has Angellica spread her nets for Don pedro/Don Antonio only?
5. Who sings the Damaon-Caelia song? What is the intent of the song?
Act II.ii
Summary
The scene opens in Angellica's chamber. Angellica begins by asking Willmore why he
had pulled down her picture. He in turn asks her how she had dared to tempt people like him
and put such an exorbitant price on herself. The courtesan then tells him that instead of
apologizing he was making his crime worse. Willmore clarifies that he had come to rail at her
vanity which had made her put such a high price on her sinful favours. It was a sin, he adds,
because sexual favours are meant to be conferred for love and not sold for money. Angellica
laughs and tells him that his doctrine would not mean much to her and asks her maid to bring
him a glass for him to see his face. But gradually Angellica finds herself weakening and
growing soft towards him.
When Willmore offers to buy Angellica's favour piecemeal, he has only some money
with him, she declines saying that they sell by the whole piece.
Willmore plainly tells Angellica that it is base to sell her sexual favours but he strangely
admires her beauty and as a slave to love and beauty, he would sacrifice whatever he had to
enjoy her. Angelica is touched. Willmore continuing his censure of her says that he still does
not hate her and that what he feels for her is lust, not love. If it had been love, he should have
pined and languished at her feet.
Moretta finds her mistress bewitched and when she asks Willmore to go away, she stops
him. Angellica then accuses men of being mercenary because when looking for a mate they
look to the dowry the girl will bring and not her appearance or her virtues. Willmore at once
agrees. At this Angellica offers him all her love without any other consideration. Willmore
finds himself believing her, though outwardly he still frowns at her. It is now Angellica who
turns away with pride at such distrust, but he holds her and asks her to throw off her pride and

14
show the power of love. Angellica's submission to Willmore is complete. She again asks for a
price but a different price for her love – his love.
The scene ends with the lovers going away leaving a disappointed fuming Moretta.
Comments
1. The focus in this scene is on Willmore's frankness and honesty in acknowledging
his feelings and the effect they have on the courtesan.
2. The scene ends ironically, particularly for Angellica. Ironically it is not Willmore's
praise of Angellica but his censure that wins her.
Questions
1. Read the following lines:
Pray tell me,
sir, are you not guilty of the same mercenary crime? When
a lady is proposed to you for a wife, you never ask how fair,
discreet, or virtuous she is, but what's her fortune; which,
if but small, you cry. “She will not do my business," and
basely leave her, though she languish for you. Say, is not
this as poor?"
Now answer the questions that follow:
i) Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii) Who is the character spoken to?
iii) The first line shows that the speaker is replying to some accusation made
earlier? What was the earlier accusation?
2. In what way is this scene ironical?
3. Do you see any complication arising out of Willmore's fascination for Angellica?
Act III.i
Summary
This large scene opens with the entry of women characters in masks and their
speculations about the possibilities of love for them.
Hellena finds that she cannot but be angry and afraid if her lover should be in love with
someone else. But she will love only if she loves as well as she is loved. In contrast to
Florinda's more thoughtful love, love for her is a thrilling, pleasurable experience.
At this point Belvile, Frederick and Blunt enter and the girls withdraw and eavesdrop.

15
 The men are at Angellica's looking for Willmore. The latter comes out and is ecstatic
about his victory over the courtesan who has even given him gold for his love.
Lucetta's pimp Sancho comes and takes Blunt away for his 'adventure' with her.
Willmore frankly admits that he had almost forgotten his little gipsy. Hellena who has
heard Willmore's admission comes forward. Willmore tries to cover up his escapade by
pretending to having been melancholy in her absence. Hellena winking at his dissembling
tells him that she is as inconstant as he is. To wheat his love for her she pulls off her wizard
leaving Willmore entranced about her beauty.
Hellena then teases him about his visit to Angellica and she says she will see him again
the following day if he kneels and swears not to see her (Angellica) her again, which he does.
Angellica who has seen this meeting between Willmore and another woman is sorely
disappointed and asks her bravo to find out who the woman is and to tell him to see her.
Florinda in disguise gives Belvile her picture and asks him to wear it, which since he
does not know her true identity, he accepts only reluctantly.
When he discovers that the lady in question was Florinda herself, he rues his mistake.
The scene closes with Willmore proposing that they drink a bottle.
Comments
1. The focus throughout is principally on Hellena and Willmore, first on each of them
separately, and then on both of them together, and secondarily on Florinda and
Belvile, and Frederick and Valeria.
2. The women characters, Hellena and Florinda know their men but the men don't.
And this irony leads to a lot of fun.
3. Hellena says she will be angry if her lover Willmore is unfaithful to her but when
faced with an example of his unfaithfulness finds that she cannot.
4. Willmore lives from moment to moment.
Questions
1. Pick out the lines from the scene that you think are memorable.
2. Point out the irony in the relations between Angellica and Willmore.
3. Pick out the lines that present a woman's point of view about man-woman
relationship.
Act III. ii, iii & iv
Summary
The three scenes focus on Blunt's total discomfiture at the hands of Lucetta.

16
 Lucetta leads him to believe that she has been captivated by him completely and that she
will undress and come to him. Sancho the pimp comes and leads Blunt to what he calls her
chamber.
He hastily undresses himself and she puts out the light to avoid detection. At this the bed
descends leaving Blunt groping to find where he is. In the process he lights upon a trap and is
let down to the common shore.
From Lucetta's conversation with her gallant Phillipo we learn that they have robbed him
of most of his money and his clothes.
The last of the three scenes finds Blunt creeping out of a common shore all dirty and
naked and cursing himself for his foolishness. He recognizes that he is a dull believing
English country fop," and fears that his friends, Frederick and Belvile will laugh at him.
Comments
Like many comedies on love, this comedy shows a variety of loves. This includes a
character who fondly believes that a woman he fancies has fallen for him and is in love with
him. The conceited Blunt is one such character. Such scenes are full of humour.
Act III.v
Summary
The scene is laid in the garden at night. Florinda in a state of undress is waiting for
Belvile. But as she is waiting, Willmore who is roaring drunk stumbles upon the scene and
mistakes her for a common whore, offers her money and asks for her sexual favour. When he
tries to force himself upon her, she shouts for help. Belvile and Frederick come and Belvile
recognizes Florinda's voice and asks the villain to let go the lady. Florinda for fear of
detection asks Belvile to go and walk under her chamber window.
Florinda's brother Don Pedro comes with Stephano and other servants. He sends
Stephano to see if his sister is safe. Stephano finds that she is but wonders how the garden
gate was open. Masquerading cannot be the reason, according to him.
Comments
This scene is another proof that Willmore is a creature of the moment and is ever ready
for a sexual adventure. In his efforts to persuade the woman (who is Florinda) he redefines
sin. Love making for him would be no sin because it was "neither designed nor
premeditated.”
Act III.vi
Summary
The scene laid in the street shows Belvile angry with Willmore who is melancholy.
Frederick holds Belvile back. Willmore is unrepentant and blames only the drink.

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 "Belvile is unhappy that he will lose Florinda to Antonio the following day and wishes if
he could meet his rival. He then goes and stands near Florinda's window.
Since they are in front of Angellica's house, Willmore offers to go in for he has promised
to be with her that night.
Antonio enters and makes sure that he has paid a thousand crowns to Angellica. The two
rivals, Willmore and Antonio fight and the latter is wounded. Belvile rushes in to help and is
mistakenly arrested for murder. Antonio mistakes him for his hated rival and and orders for
him to be sent to his apartment.
Comments
The irony is that while Willmore is lucky and gets away with his sexual liaison with
Angellica and later his attempted rape of Florinda, Belvile is distinctly unlucky and gets into
trouble for trying to do good. His wish to encounter his rival Antonio is fulfilled in a strange
way.
Questions
1. Read the following lines:
Tomorrow! Damn it,
The spiteful light will lead me to no happiness.
Tomorrow is Antonio's, and perhaps
Guides him to my undoing. Oh, that I could meet
This rival, this powerful fortunate!
Now answer the following questions:
i) Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii) Why is “Tomorrow” so full of dread for him?
iii) Is his desire to meet his rival fulfilled? If so, how?
5. Summing Up
The progress of The Rover so far shows that the play revolves round the relationship
between hellena and Willmore and that the relationship between Florinda and Belvile is
subsidiary to it. The alternative suggested by the country squire Blunt who is a ubiquitous
figure in the comedy of the period also stands rejected.
6. Glossary
Anglese : Englishman
Bona roba : courtesana
Bravo : a hired ruffian or killer

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 Buff : leather military coat
Carnival : the festivities usually during the period before Lent in Roman
Catholic countries; any festivities, merrymaking, revelry.
Chapman : merchants
Jeptha's daughter : Before sacrificing her in fulfillment of a vow, Jeptha allowed her
four days to lament her virginity.
Masking habit : costume for masking or concealing identity.
Masquerade : a ball at which masks are worn.
Visor, vizor, vizard : face mask or disguise.
In fresco : in cool refreshing air.
7. Questions
Questions have already been given after the summaries and comments.
8. Further Reading
The text used in this study material is the following:
The Rover by Aphra Behn edited by Frederick M. Link (Regents Restoration Drama
Series), University of Nebraska Press, 1967 reprinted by Doaba Publications 2000.
Another available edition Worldview Critical edition edited by Asha Kanwar and Anand
Prakash. It contains, besides the introduction, four critical essays by Shymala A. Narayan,
Anannya Dasgupta, Elin Diamond and Anand Prakash.

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 Part-III : The Rover : Summary and Comments (contd.)

Contents
1. THE ROVER – Summary and Comments with Questions
(a) Act IV scenes i to v
(b) Act V
2. Summing Upon
3. Glossary
1. Act IV.i
Summary
Belvile finds himself a prisoner in Antonio's room. The two admire each other's bravery.
In order to repay Antonio's generosity, Belvile offers to replace the injured Antonio in his
duel with an unknown challenger over Angellica at the Molo. Belvile will go dressed as
Antonio.
Comments
Belvile's ill luck continues.
Act IV. ii
Summary
At the Molo Florinda mistaking Belvile for Antonio is relieved to find that her brother's
challenger is not Belvile but Antonio.
When in the duel Belvile disarms Pedro, the latter is satisfied that he loves Florinda and
gives her hand to him and asks them to marry immediately in St. Paul's Church or else their
father would come.
Belvile draws the grieving Florinda aside and reveals his true identity to her. Willmore's
entry however leads to the discovery of Belvile's identity, which makes Pedro as adamant as
before. He suspects that there was a plot between his sister and Belvile. Belvile angry with
Willmore runs after him with his sword. Willmore doesn't know his offence.
Angellica is very angry at her love for Willmore not being returned. Willmore tries to
mollify her suspicions but to no purpose. Hellena enters dressed as a young man and in order
to vex him tells Angellica an invented tale of his treachery. Willmore wants to get away to
meet his little gipsy but Angellica wouldn't let him go. Eventually he discovers the young
man to be his little gipsy and turns the tables on her. Don Antonio is announced and Hellena
runs away for fear of discovery.
Angellica is still angry and vows revenge.

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Comments
1. The complications and fun resulting from the use of masks continue. So irony is in
plentiful use.
2. Florinda's assumption that her brother's challenger is not Belvile is mistaken. Note
the use of double irony here.
3. Belvile's unmasking takes place because of the blunderer, Willmore.
4. Belvile comes so near to possessing Florinda but is still far off.
5. Hellena's disguise as a young man foxes Willmore long enough to vex him. But the
discovery of her identity (to him only) leads to a turning of the tables on her. There
is thus a see-saw in their relationship.
6. The gayest part of the scene belongs to Willmore and Hellena whose coming in
wollolan always adds aparkle to the play.
7. Inevitably there is a contrast between the two pairs, Florinda and Belvile and
Hellena and Willmore.
Questions
1. Pick out sentences that are ironical.
2. Read the following lines.
Entire, as dying saints' confessions are!
I can delay my happiness no longer.
This minute let me make Florinda mine."
Now answer the questions that follow:
i) Who is the speaker of these lines?
ii) Point out the context in which these words are spoken?
iii) Does the speaker succeed in making Florinda his immediately? If not, why not?
3. Pick out an example to show that (a) Willmore is a blunderer, (b) that he lives from
moment to moment.
4. Assign the following speeches to their speaker:
i) Pox o' this whining; my business is to laugh and love
ii) False man! I see my ruin in thy face.
How many vows you breathed upon my bosom
Never to be unjust
iii) Well, something I'll do to vex him for this.
iv) If he swears that, he'll be revenged on me indeed for all my rogueries.

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 v) Then since I am not fit to be beloved,
I am resolved to think on a revenge
On him that soothed me thus to my undoing.
Act IV.iii
Summary
Florinda had been confined to her room as a punishment for the plot between her and
Belvile. She runs away from home with her cousin Valeria in company. They wish Hellena
were with them. Valeria tells her cousin that she shut up their guard Callis in her room. And
also that she has informed Belvile of her decision to escape or else to die than marry Antonio.
She also tells her that Belvile has decided to go in search of her brother Pedro to undeceive
him about any conspiracy between Florinda and him.
At the entry of Don Pedro, Belvile and Willmore, the ladies put on their masks.
The latter walk boldly by one by one so as not to arouse the men's suspicion.
Willmore ever ready for an adventure with a woman thinks Valeria has given him an
inviting look and follows her.
Frederick enters bursting with the news of Blunt's cheating and gives the news to Belvile.
Florinda finding that she is followed goes off. Willmore re-enters and goes out with Valeria
following him. Hellena also enters and spying Willmore, vows to find his haunts and plague
him everywhere. When she sees Pedro, she runs off.
Comments
1. There is a lot of activity in the scene with lots of characters entering and going away.
2. We have yet another instance of Willmore being a creature of the moment.
Act IV.iv & v
Summary
Florinda fearing that she is pursued by her brother seeks shelter in a place that turns out
to be Blunt's and his friend's.
Blunt is full of anger at being cheated by a woman and is meditating revenge against all
women. Florinda appeals to him for help but Blunt threatening vengeance proceeds to molest
her. She implores him for kindness and tries to resist him. Frederick enters the scene and is
ready to join Blunt in wreaking a revenge that has a double pleasure in it. Florinda now
desperate appeals to them to treat her with kindness for the sake of Belvile. She also gives
Blunt a diamond ring. They reluctantly agree to reprieve her till they see Belvile.
A servant comes saying that Belvile and a Spanish gentleman have come. Blunt however
doesn't wish to see them and asks Frederick to lock the woman up in his chamber. Blunt then
tells the servant to say that he is not at home.

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Comments
1. Like her lover Belvile, Florinda keeps getting into trouble for no fault of her own.
2. Belvile seems to have made up with Florinda's brother, Don Pedro. This
complicates the situation for Florinda.
3. The complications are now coming to a head.
Act.V
Summary
Act V deals principally with four things.
i) Blunt's attempt to prevent Belvile and friend (Pedro) from entering his room fails as
they break open the door. Valeria saves Florinda from her brother by sending him
on a hunt for her. The mystery regarding her is cleared as her erstwhile persecutors
apologize for their behaviour
ii) Florinda is married off to Belvile and Valeria is paired off with Frederick.
iii) Angellica threatens to shoot Willmore down with her pistol for his treachery but
after Antonio has vowed his passion for her forgives him. Pedro also forgives
Belvile.
iv) Willmore agrees to go through the ceremony of marriage in order gain the love of
his little gipsy Hellena. Both Pedro and Belvile are surprised but Pedro again
forgives the lovers. Before the end Blunt appears dressed in a Spanish dress looking
very ridiculous.
Details
(i) Blunt unsuccessfully tries to bar the entry of Belvile and his Spanish companion
to his room. He offers several excuses but Belvile has the door broken. All the
English friends and Pedro are there. They all have great fun at Blunt's expense and
at Lucetta's treachery.
Blunt shows them the ring that Florinda has given him to escape molestation.
Belvile at once understands that his [Blunt's) captive is no other than Florinda and
vainly tries to save her.
The friends are all eager to see the woman. They draw lots. The wench falls to the
share of Pedro since he has the longest sword. Valeria enters and saves Florinda
from discovery by Pedro by sending him on a hunt for her.
(ii) Florinda is thus saved but her identity comes as a surprise to Willmore, Frederick
and Blunt. They all apologize for their misbehaviour.

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 Valeria suggests immediate marriage for the lovers. A priest is sent for. She
herself is paired off with Frederick. The two couples go for the marriage
ceremony.
(iii) Angellica comes wearing a disguise. Willmore runs to her thinking that it is his
little gipsy. But Angellica calling him a base villain draws a pistol and holds it to
his breast.
She pulls off her vizard. But Willmore tries to laugh the whole matter off. Angellica
charges him not only with undoing numerous foolish believing girls but also with teaching
her to love. This love, she says, has robbed her of her pride, and given her a mean submissive
passion and enslaved her. What is more, he has forsworn all his vows.
Willmore counters this by saying that every one breaks vows and adds that her lover, the
old general, had spoiled her and made her excessively vain.
Angellica charges him with destroying her innocent security and made her aware that
nothing could compensate her for the loss of her honour.
Willmore replies by saying that he doesn't value constancy and says: “I must, like
cheerful birds, sing in all groves, and perch on every bough.” He returns her gold.
Antonio comes looking for Angellica and takes her pistol away. When he comes to know
that it was Willmore who had taken down the little picture (Act II.i), he is happy to get the
opportunity to shoot him. He professes love for Angellica, something that surprises Pedro,
and pleases her. She gives him his life and goes out.
Pedro is finally reconciled to Belvile and his sister.
(iv) Willmore follows Belvile and Pedro but Hellena dressed as before in boy's clothes
stops him.
He at once recognizes his little gipsy. Hellena asks him if he would be a faithful friend to
a maid that trusted him. Willmore replies that her form and face and humour are too good for
cold dull friendship. He adores her for her good nature and invites her to a feast of love
making. But Hellena wants him to love her only and also to go through the ceremony of
marriage before consummation of their love.
Willmore declines saying that love and beauty have their own ceremonies and that they
will have no norms but love and no witness but the lover. However, he finds her so
invaluable that he is ready to go through the ceremony of marriage.
Willmore suggests that they disclose their names to each other. Ironically he calls
himself Robert the Constant. In the same vein the calls herself Hellena the Inconstant.
When the two of them are thus pledged together, enter Petro, Belvile, Florinda, Frederick
and Valeria. Both Pedro and Florinda are surprised to see Hellena there. When Pedro asks her
what business she has there, she replies that it is to love and be loved, like everyone else of
her age. Pedro charges her and Belvile with deception. The latter replies that he too is

24
surprised but stands up for Willmore by saying that though he is a rover of fortune, he is a
prince aboard his little wooden world. Hellena too says that she had changed her mind and
that the three hundred thousand crowns that her uncle had left her will be better spent in love
than in religion. Most of the characters support her in this. Finally, Pedro relents and gives
her to Willmore.
At this point Blunt enters dressed in a Spanish dress looking very rediculous.
Finally, gay people in masquerade enter with music and start dancing. Belvile invites
them all to a small feast. Willmore meanwhile asks Hellena to go inside for the ceremony.
Comments
1. This large scene could be studied in four parts, the first part dealing with the
business left unfinished in the last scene of Act IV.
2. Apart from poking fun at Blunt, this part serves the purpose of bringing Florinda
and Belvile and all other characters under one roof.
3. The contrast between the two main couples in the play is highlighted.
4. The love between Belvile and Florinda is traditionally romantic but the couple is
brought as low as it can be.
5. The other couple which obviously meets with Aphra Behn's approval tries to
reconcile joy and gaiety and freedom with marriage. It is a match in which the
mutuality of love is the best guarantee of its continuance.
6. The love between Belvile and Florinda is a settled fact whereas the relationship
between Willmore and Hellena keeps evolving almost till the end.
7. Angellica's disappointment and anger at Willmore's treachery provides a discordant
note in a play that is otherwise gay and joyous. Her threat to shoot him down with
the pistol which she keeps pointed to him adds a melodramatic touch to the play.
8. The end of the comedy is traditional. Like other comedies there is reconciliation all
round and there is communal festivity in which everyone joins.
Questions
1. Pick out the lines that you think are memorable.
2. Read the following lines:
I with I were that dull, that constant thing
Which thou wouldst have, and nature never meant me.
I must, like cheerful birds, sing in all groves,
And perch on every bough,
Billing the next kind she that flies to meet me;

25
Now answer the questions that follow:
i) Identify the speaker of there lines.
ii) In which content are these lines spoken?
iii) What kind of love does the speaker desire to have with women?
3. Read the following lines:
Ha! My brother! Now, captain, shoe your
love and courage; stand to your arms and defend me
bravely, or I am lost forever.
Now answer the questions given below:
i) Identify the speaker?
ii) Who is the captain?
iii) Who is he being asked to defend the speaker against?
4. Identify the speaker of the following lines:
i) 'Tis true; he's a rover of fortune,
0 yet a prince aboard his little wooden world.
ii) Perfidious maid, hast thou deceived me too, deceived thyself and heaven?
iii) Faith, sir, I am of a nation that are of opinion a woman's honor is not worth
guarding when she has a mind to part with it.
iv) Ladies and gentlemen, since you are come so a propos, you must take a small
collation with us.
v) Good heaven defend me from discovery!
vi) Death, would I might; 'tis a surprising beauty.
vii) By all that's holy, I adore you so,
That even my rival, who has charms enough
To make him fall a victim to my jealousy,
Shall live;
viii) No, we'll have no norms but love, child, nor witness but the lover: the kind
deity enjoins naught but love and enjoy. Hymen and priest wait upon portion
and jointure love and beauty have their own ceremonies.
5. Draw two lists that compare and contrast the love between Belvile and Florinda, and
between Willmore and Hellena.

26
 Love between Belville and Florinda Love between Willmore and Hellena
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3
4. 4.
5. 5.
Summing Up
I hope you have enjoyed reading the play. There are disguises and mistaken identities
and numerous surprises in the play. There is also a duel in it. The dialogue is sparkling. A
major attraction of The Rover is the rover, the rake who is said to have made vice alluring to a
good part of the audience. I wonder if you also react to the play in the same way. Do spend
sometime thinking of the play. Do you find any improbabilities in the play? Is some of the
action insufficiently motivated?
3. Glossary
antipodies : antipodes, opposite points in the earth
clapped : infected with gonorrhea
cogging : wheedling
discounting : reducing
flea a man : play a man
He's a cormorant at whore : he has great sexual appetite
I'll warrant her prize : I believe her to be a legitimate prey
morris dancer : fantastically dressed
motion : puppet show

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