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The Rover
Increasingly Aphra Behn―the first woman professional writer―is also regarded as one of the most important writers of the 17th century. The Rover , her most famous and most accomplished play, is in many ways firmly in the tradition of Restoration drama; Willmore, the title character, is a rake and a libertine, and the comedy feeds on sexual innuendo, intrigue and wit. But the laughter that the play insights has a biting edge to it and the sexual intrigue an unsettling depth. As Anne Russell points out in her introduction to this edition, there are three options for women in the society represented in The Rover : marriage, the convent, or prostitution. In this marriage economy the witty and pragmatic virgin Hellena learns how to survive, while the prostitute Angellica Bianca can retain her autonomy only so long as she remains free from romantic love. It seems that in this world women can only be free by the anonymity of disguise―yet the mask is also the mark of the prostitute. And, paradoxically, disguise is the device that in many ways drives the plot towards marriage. Enormously popular through the eighteenth century, The Rover is now once again widely performed. Filled with the play of ideas, it is one of the most amusing, entertaining―and unsettling―of comedies.
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1681
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1670 people want to read
About the author
Aphra Behn
317 books246 followersAphra Behn, or Ayfara Behn, of the first professional women authors in English on Britain wrote plays, poetry, and her best known work, the prose fiction
Oroonoko
(1688).
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the female. Her contributed to the amatory genre of literature. People sometimes refer to Delarivier Manley, Eliza Haywood, and her as part of "the fair triumvirate of wit."
In reckoning of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, more important total career of Behn produced any particular work. Woolf wrote, "All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn … for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." Victoria Mary Sackville-West called Behn "an inhabitant of Grub Street with the best of them, … a phenomenon never seen and … furiously resented." Felix Shelling called her "a very gifted woman, compelled to write for bread in an age in which literature … catered habitually to the lowest and most depraved of human inclinations. Her success depended upon her ability to write like a man." Edmund Gosse remarked that "the George Sand of the Restoration" lived the bohemian life in London in the 17th century as Paris two centuries later.
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the female. Her contributed to the amatory genre of literature. People sometimes refer to Delarivier Manley, Eliza Haywood, and her as part of "the fair triumvirate of wit."
In reckoning of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, more important total career of Behn produced any particular work. Woolf wrote, "All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn … for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." Victoria Mary Sackville-West called Behn "an inhabitant of Grub Street with the best of them, … a phenomenon never seen and … furiously resented." Felix Shelling called her "a very gifted woman, compelled to write for bread in an age in which literature … catered habitually to the lowest and most depraved of human inclinations. Her success depended upon her ability to write like a man." Edmund Gosse remarked that "the George Sand of the Restoration" lived the bohemian life in London in the 17th century as Paris two centuries later.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 386 reviews
November 29, 2021
I was really enjoying it until the last three Acts, where nearly all of the men at one point or another almost rape one of the female leads...but it's all okay! Because by the end, everyone gets married. Well, that's oversimplifying things. Part of what Behn appears to be doing is showing how males categorize and value women based on their class and chastity. Women are either virtuous ladies or they're whores. Behn frustrates that dichotomy though, by having the courtesans (Angellica) act like a noblewomen and having the noblewomen (Florinda) act like courtesans, with the men having no clue how to identify one from the other. By the end, though, none of the men seem to learn a damn thing.
October 29, 2013
I thought if I had to read 'Adshartlikens one more time I would barf. Oh these are obnoxious characters. I couldn't find a single one to like or root for. I just wanted them all to die so the "story" would end! I don't know why I finished reading it.
November 14, 2016
Lo leí para la universidad. Esperaba más. Está bien, pero la trama muy floja y superflua.
February 25, 2014
Aphra Behn mocking rape culture since 1600s.
November 25, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyed this witty play by Aphra Behn that cleverly explores the social and class dynamics of the time, as we are thrown into 17th century Naples.
I really enjoyed the cast of characters we follow, the tension that was built between the rival groups and the humour dispersed throughout it all with sharp dialogue and subtext.
I really enjoyed the cast of characters we follow, the tension that was built between the rival groups and the humour dispersed throughout it all with sharp dialogue and subtext.
November 3, 2022
pues me ha gustado muchísimo y creo que es porque iba con cero expectativas ya que nunca he leido nada de teatro, me llevo buen sabor de boca y ganas de leer más obras después de la tragedia que ha sido intentar leer othello
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August 12, 2017Even when we go looking to fill out the narrative by finding history’s great women, often the story still unavoidably hangs on the men in their life – the fathers who bequeathed them kingdoms or fortunes, the husbands who allowed them or impeded them or just died conveniently early. Aphra Behn is a rarity in that we don’t know for sure who her father was, or whether she even married. But we do know that – so far as the record states, anyway – she was English’s first professional female writer. Oh, and also a spy, because hey, why leave it at merely groundbreaking when you can be even more thoroughly badass? Beyond that I mainly know her life from a Faction Paradox novel, and I’m not saying they’re not unimpeachable historical sources, but I don’t want Behn’s oblique role in the Time War to distract us from her artistic endeavours. So – onwards!
First appearing in 1677, The Rover follows some Banish’d Cavaliers (its alternate title) who, fleeing the grim reign of King Oliver*, have ended up in Naples. Where, in the manner of British #ladsontour ever since, they’re looking to get laid and have a scrap. Oh, and it's Carnival - meaning plenty of opportunities for masks, misunderstandings, deceit and confusion. So far, so conventional – and indeed, the introduction explains that The Rover is a remix of Thomas Killigrew’s The Wanderer – not a play I’d ever heard of, but apparently Behn goes beyond even the normal freeness of the time with borrowing plots and characters, including much of Killigrew verbatim. But, crucially, always recontextualised, in a manner not unlike Pierre Menard's treatment of Cervantes. Most obviously, the female characters – as you might expect – are far more full-blooded than you’d normally get at that time, without ever tipping over into comedy wenchdom. And, again as you might expect, each of them finds her very clear ideas about what she wants to do with her life obstructed by men. The young woman who wants to marry for love is promised to another by her domineering hypocrite of a brother; their sister who wants to play the field is to be sent to a nunnery; the courtesan who prudently treats her charms as commodity is instead cozened into giving her heart away, by a man who next day proves faithless. And it’s this man, Willmore, who’s the rover of the title. He’s generally reckoned to be based on Rochester, and accurately captures both the charm we associate with the notorious libertine, and his more unpleasant qualities. Because it can be easy to forget, when considering the sexual outlaws of an earlier age, that they didn’t necessarily know to break only the laws we now consider outmoded or monstrous. So Wilde would still be in trouble on account of how many of his ‘panthers’ were underage; and Rochester…well, at best he would be felt a little lacking in his grasp of consent. But Behn, despite the fact she quite probably had to put up with Rochester in person, never makes his avatar a straightforward monster either. He’s annoying, entitled, overbearing – but compared to the other exemplars of toxic masculinity here (which is to say, all the male characters), he does at least have a certain something about him. The men in general, though... they're vile. If they see a woman, their first thought is to fuck her by any means necessary. If a man, they'll find any bullshit pretext for a fight, including but not limited to unwillingness to share a woman. Even with supposed friends, the humour tends easily to tip from joshing into bullying. More than anything it leaves a sense of how tiring life must have been among these swaggering arseholes, even closer to ape behaviour than the default man of our own time.
You can see why after its initial success this play rather faded out for some centuries - first tidied up, Nahum Tate-style, and then dropped altogether until a late 20th century rediscovery. Even now, it tends to be adapted, slanted or otherwise prodded at more often than played straight, and perhaps that’s because its take on sex and the sexes sits as uneasily with our sensibilities as it did those of the intervening centuries. And yet, Behn herself... I feel sure that, more than any author for a century either side, if she fetched up in the present she'd take it in her stride.
A note on the edition: the New Mermaid’s critical apparatus isn’t great – intro and notes draw attention to some fairly obvious stuff, while failing to point out quite how smutty (and at times, queer with it) the play is. Something which will be obvious to anyone with a developed sense for historical bawdy, or probably just anyone who reads Viz, but could easily escape the sober student, or anyone not raised with a British ear for smut.
*As I delight in calling Cromwell, not least to spite all those ahistorical anti-monarchists who see him as anything more than a murderous, hypocritical and fun-hating enforcer of the vast majority of the worst bits of the status quo.
First appearing in 1677, The Rover follows some Banish’d Cavaliers (its alternate title) who, fleeing the grim reign of King Oliver*, have ended up in Naples. Where, in the manner of British #ladsontour ever since, they’re looking to get laid and have a scrap. Oh, and it's Carnival - meaning plenty of opportunities for masks, misunderstandings, deceit and confusion. So far, so conventional – and indeed, the introduction explains that The Rover is a remix of Thomas Killigrew’s The Wanderer – not a play I’d ever heard of, but apparently Behn goes beyond even the normal freeness of the time with borrowing plots and characters, including much of Killigrew verbatim. But, crucially, always recontextualised, in a manner not unlike Pierre Menard's treatment of Cervantes. Most obviously, the female characters – as you might expect – are far more full-blooded than you’d normally get at that time, without ever tipping over into comedy wenchdom. And, again as you might expect, each of them finds her very clear ideas about what she wants to do with her life obstructed by men. The young woman who wants to marry for love is promised to another by her domineering hypocrite of a brother; their sister who wants to play the field is to be sent to a nunnery; the courtesan who prudently treats her charms as commodity is instead cozened into giving her heart away, by a man who next day proves faithless. And it’s this man, Willmore, who’s the rover of the title. He’s generally reckoned to be based on Rochester, and accurately captures both the charm we associate with the notorious libertine, and his more unpleasant qualities. Because it can be easy to forget, when considering the sexual outlaws of an earlier age, that they didn’t necessarily know to break only the laws we now consider outmoded or monstrous. So Wilde would still be in trouble on account of how many of his ‘panthers’ were underage; and Rochester…well, at best he would be felt a little lacking in his grasp of consent. But Behn, despite the fact she quite probably had to put up with Rochester in person, never makes his avatar a straightforward monster either. He’s annoying, entitled, overbearing – but compared to the other exemplars of toxic masculinity here (which is to say, all the male characters), he does at least have a certain something about him. The men in general, though... they're vile. If they see a woman, their first thought is to fuck her by any means necessary. If a man, they'll find any bullshit pretext for a fight, including but not limited to unwillingness to share a woman. Even with supposed friends, the humour tends easily to tip from joshing into bullying. More than anything it leaves a sense of how tiring life must have been among these swaggering arseholes, even closer to ape behaviour than the default man of our own time.
You can see why after its initial success this play rather faded out for some centuries - first tidied up, Nahum Tate-style, and then dropped altogether until a late 20th century rediscovery. Even now, it tends to be adapted, slanted or otherwise prodded at more often than played straight, and perhaps that’s because its take on sex and the sexes sits as uneasily with our sensibilities as it did those of the intervening centuries. And yet, Behn herself... I feel sure that, more than any author for a century either side, if she fetched up in the present she'd take it in her stride.
A note on the edition: the New Mermaid’s critical apparatus isn’t great – intro and notes draw attention to some fairly obvious stuff, while failing to point out quite how smutty (and at times, queer with it) the play is. Something which will be obvious to anyone with a developed sense for historical bawdy, or probably just anyone who reads Viz, but could easily escape the sober student, or anyone not raised with a British ear for smut.
*As I delight in calling Cromwell, not least to spite all those ahistorical anti-monarchists who see him as anything more than a murderous, hypocritical and fun-hating enforcer of the vast majority of the worst bits of the status quo.
November 2, 2025
2.5 ⭐️
i hated every man in this play
i hated every man in this play
January 20, 2018
The most famous woman writer of the Restoration's most known play is a helluva commentary on male female relations in these that gets at some elements missed in the men's. There's a near rape scene in this that goes far away from comedy as you can get and the male characters act as though it were no big thing, showing how little things have changed (and also how much they have as well).
April 24, 2023
I want Aphra Behn to have my babies.
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November 20, 2008I really enjoyed this book. I read it for an English Lit class this semester. I can't remember every detail, but what I took from the book was that Aphra Behn was one of the many women writers who used writing as a way to be free, as women didn't have rights back then. Many women used their wit in literature to get men's attention to see that they were more than just a pretty face. The whole play was very humorous to me. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in British Lit, plays, Shakespeare or Feminist Writers.
January 19, 2018
Swashbuckling libertine rogues what’s not to love?!
December 12, 2021
if i hear "'adsheartlikins" ONCE MORE i will SCREAM
February 10, 2016
A great contrast to the previous/other Restoration plays. Draws the raw nature of the rake and fop character out of their environment, and strips them of the 'amiable' qualities. The Rover allows audience members to see fault in the treatment of women and sexual culture of the time. I enjoyed this play because of all the disguises it presented and the business/commerce power that the character of Angelica Bianca held.
May 19, 2016
This was my least favourite out of the three plays I read for my English course. It dealt with topics that I wasn't expecting and I think that's why I didn't like it as much.
November 7, 2020
IM FREE
November 26, 2021
So much fun in a play set during a carnival, but it's all so bleh
February 27, 2020
I enjoy Behn’s writing a great deal, and as a figure of Restoration femininity and authorship she is certainly enjoyable. But I think Woolf’s glowing endorsement of her had led me, as is often very tempting with historical female writers, to expect her to be a formidable and radical thinker in line with 60s style feminism. It is an amateurish thing to do but none the less tempting. It left then a bad taste in my mouth, seeing her almost excuse the near-rape of Florinda, due to Wilmor (an expertly satirised Rochester I found) as a sort of ‘whoops i didn’t realise she was a rich virgin, if she had been a poor maid it would’ve been okay though’. This is of course not Behn’s fault, past is a foreign country and all that, but I think the fact Greer and Woolf champion her as a feminist response to Rochester led me to expect a more vehement stance against sexual violence at women. This is not to say it’s a text in any means close to the vitriol and venom Rochester uses—however satirically, it is still violently misogynistic— against women, but it still left me feeling somewhat lacking.
That said, Behn’s satirical tone and stylistic talent come across. I look forward to reading her colonial pieces and see how style differs from city comedies.
That said, Behn’s satirical tone and stylistic talent come across. I look forward to reading her colonial pieces and see how style differs from city comedies.
February 15, 2009
The Rover just never got interesting for me. It was really long, really slow and the jokes weren't funny. I kept stopping to wonder why I was still reading the thing. If there's a story that can make you hate reading, this might be it.
October 21, 2016
I found once I got the hang of the speech in this play it was a wonderful read, it had a fluency of language which was breathtaking.
It had be giggling and also shock it the behaviour of are so called Gentleman and how hard to must have been for women in this era.
It had be giggling and also shock it the behaviour of are so called Gentleman and how hard to must have been for women in this era.
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January 22, 2024I loved how Viola Davis was in this as Angelica Bianca at the Guthrie Theatre in 1994! Was able to picture her while reading this which made it so much more fun!
It would be cool to see this play with a modern adaptation
It would be cool to see this play with a modern adaptation
February 6, 2017
"The banished cavaliers!A roving blade!
A popish carnival! A masquerade!"
A popish carnival! A masquerade!"
February 9, 2018
my first impression is that i didn't like it very much
September 10, 2020
damn i get that it’s a parody but uh... wow these dudes suck
October 14, 2021
Never thought I would ever say this about a 17th century play I had to read and annotate for class but this was so entertaining the story was so fun and omg the amount of drama this has
January 27, 2024
naming the first cat i get florinda
December 5, 2024
big fan of when angellica pulled a gun on willmore, as I'd been wanting someone to do it for the past five acts
January 9, 2025
i want to kill every man in this play. to death.
November 1, 2023
Tiiill skolan, ännu en pjäs. Den var tråkig och ointressant utan den historiska kontexten och vetenskapliga texter vi läste om den, för först är det bara ett våldstäkts drama där alla gifter sig i slutet (buuu) men samtidigt var den väldigt revolutionerande i och med att hon faktiskt visade våldstäkts försöken på scenen, så att kvinnorna sågs som människor, inte bara offer som utnyttjades emellan scener vilket tydligen var väldigt vanligt. Hon var kritisk mot mäns våld mot kvinnor och sexuells övergrepp vilket många inte var på denna tid (buuu)
January 12, 2024
I enjoyed this play way too much. It felt like a period drama and I genuinely enjoyed every second of it. While a few parts felt over-dramatized (because it is a drama play), they made for interesting scenes. I wish I could see this play live.
All the men suck in it and the women aren't fantastic, but those characters add a lot to the play. I do hate Willmore with a passion though.
All the men suck in it and the women aren't fantastic, but those characters add a lot to the play. I do hate Willmore with a passion though.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 386 reviews