Yueng 1

Yueng Oi fung

Semester 3

English honours

UID: 0304200251

Roll No: 203879

Course: CC7

The Rover as the Restoration Comedy

Restoration Comedy, like any other Literary genre, was greatly influenced by its

historical context. This genre refers to English comedy written and performed during the

Restoration period from 1660 A.D to 1710 A.D. It is entertainment from which satirises the

manners and affections of social class. The Rover was one of the most popular comedies of

the Restoration age.

After the abolition of the monarchy, England entered an era of puritan known as

commonwealth governed by Oliver Cromwell. In 1653, Cromwell dissolved Parliament,

appointing himself as Lord protectorate but soon after Cromwell’s death in 1658, the army

invited Charles I’s son, Charles to become the king. In 1660, the restoration of the exiled

Charles II to the throne of England, putting an end to the Commonwealth period. The King

had several mistresses and illegitimate children and loved racing and gambling which was

considerably influenced by the art and literature at that time. During restoration, the theatre

reflected the political and social changes brought by the return of King Charles II. The

evident elements at that time were sexual promiscuity, systematic trifle and unleashed

materialism during the restoration period. Great emphasis was laid on taste and cultural

refinement, with men from all sections of a society striving to prove themselves as “wits”. All
 Yueng 2

these are evaluated in the writing, especially Restoration comedy plays with Aphra Behn‘s

The Rover cleverly subverting and confirming to the genre.

Change in socio-economic in England led to the rise of writing as a career, with more writers

becoming free agents, who wrote for the market. This largely influenced their writing as the

text became a commodity. Aphra Behn was not only the first professional writer but the

earliest woman writer. Behn herself was a subversive entity, a woman operating the world of

literature, the domain of men. She exercised her wit and made her woman characters do the

same in a time when the predominant mindset decreed that women were sentimental

elements, “antagonist to intellect”. The Rover accepts too many Restoration comic tropes but

also flouts them, by setting the text within the carnival, a space characterised by licensed

licentiousness. This aggravates the feeling of Carpe Diem-seize the day and the flouting of

rules in true Restoration style but also serves to problematic behaviours as all acts can be

explained away as a part of the masquerade. In Florinda and Helena, the stock figures of the

aristocratic virgin and the witty heroine. Florinda is afraid to fight against her brother and has

to retreat entering the carnival to achieve her desires. She is aware of the value of her

virginity and protects it to the very end for her beloved in marriage. The view of the youthful

lady getting repelled by a rich decrepit old man(entreat by her refusal to marry suitors upheld

by her brother) is rather typical of the comedies of the time. Florinda is in the garden,

standing undressed with a box of jewels in her hands is her moment of empowerment where

she not only asserts that she will not settle for less than what she is ‘worth’.

Helena’s wit is a crucial tool for settling up the battle of wits. By her intelligence, she

becomes the sole match for Willmore, despite his Casanova nature, he is drawn to her.

Helena is passionate, her power is based not on her sexuality but her wit. It is fact that women
 Yueng 3

in the play return to the folds of society towards the end by seeking legitimacy from

marriage. Angelica Bianca’s romantic longing and gifting her sexuality as well as money to

Willmore does disrupt the usual transaction in the space of the courtesan’s house. Many

Restoration Comedy consists of a character “ disappointed in love or fortune” particularly to

view the extreme passion of despair(Angelica Bianca in The Rove is an example for this). The

rich prostitute Angelica Bianca, believes that it is her right to seduce whosoever she wishes.

The radical awareness of the double standards of morality of Behn’s, by which men and

women are enjoyed living, points out clearly when Angelina pinpoint that men prostitute

themselves when they marry a woman for her money in the marriage market. She tries to

claim equal status with men by using sex as her power.

Willmore roves outside the conventional Restoration fears of cuckoldry and material poverty

by accepting Helena without her fortune and despite her warnings of intended instability. It is

this impulsiveness and honesty that Aphra Behn loved in him. The two rovers, Helena and

Willmore share the same frankness about their personality. Helena’s protest against her

father's decision to send her to a life of a nunnery makes her be the real rover than Willmore

who is a Cavalier and flirts with women without any conscience.

The romance of Belvile and Florinda although very generic and typical of comedies is an

issue through the repeated attempts at the rape of Florinda to which Belvile reacts evidently,

considering he has been set up as the ‘knight in showing armour’. Belvile’s friend mocks his

love for Florinda, claiming that women could only be used for sexual needs, a stock figure

one often found in Restoration Comedies. He is rich but foolish, ‘a country bumpkin’ but

later he becomes violent, horrific misogyny and he threaten Florinda to rape her, beat her and

hangs her from a window disrupts the bumpkin stereotype.

 Yueng 4

The play ends conventionally, with the virgins being granted marriage and a prostitute

returning to her trade. However, all men and women and institutions that pass through the

marketplace are valued. Through the carnival, Behn gives freedom to her characters to

explore their true self, hidden behind the mask. As Anand Prakash in his essay, “Designing”

women socially and market-wise: Glimpse of the restoration strategy in The Rover’, “ Behn is

not attempting in The Rover a typical Restoration comedy with food and wits in the fray out

to merely titillate us but a representation that focuses upon serious issues of freedom, identity

and physically, particularly concerning women.”

.
 Yueng 5

Works Cited

Behn, Aphra. The Rover, ED.Kanwar, Prakash, Worldview Publications, Delhi(2000), app.3-

107.print

Dobree, Bonamy, Restoration Comedy, 1660-1720, Oxford University Press, 1924.print

Prakash, Anand, “Designing” Women Socially and Market-Wise: Glimpse of the Restoration

Strategy in The Rover, ED. Kanwar, Prakash, Worldview Publications, Delhi, 2000, pp. 162-

177. Print

Wikipedia contributors, “The Rover”, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The

Free Encyclopedia, 22Nov. 2021. Web.26 Nov.2021

Shmoop Editorial Team. “Aphra Behn, The Rover(1677).” Shmoop. Shmoop University, inc.,

11 Nov.2008. Web.26 Nov.2021.