Hello everyone,
This blog is based on Aphra Bhen's restoration comedy The Rover.
1) Angelica considers the financial negotiations that one makes before marrying a prospective bride the same as Prostitution. Do you agree?
Ans
Angelica is a prostitute character in Aphra Bhen's The Rover. A prostitute with admirable beauty, everyone in the play wants to have her as a possible partner, including Don Pedro and Don Antonio, one of the richest Spaniards. Angelica charges a thousand crowns for a month, and they both agree to pay her.
Wilmore, one of the four English men and rover of the play, who came into the carnival for entertainment, gets in touch with Angelica, is instantly attracted to her beauty, and starts flirting with her. While Angelica falls in love with Wilmore without knowing that he is a mere bee flying from one flower to another.
Angelica wanted to marry Wilmore and started giving him free services out of love. While we consider marriage, we often make comments on the financial aspects of marriage, which is of course a pivotal aspect of our society. Dowry is one such example.
On the other hand, prostitution revolves around a commercial transaction for sexual services. It's a transactional exchange, typically lacking the emotional and commitment components integral to marriage. While both may involve negotiation, the underlying dynamics and the nature of the relationships are vastly different.
Thus, both things run parallel; financial negotiation is a more practical aspect of marriage, and Angelica, while in love with Wilmore, couldn't give justice to her profession as prostitution and felt betrayed at the end of the play.
2) "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Bhen, for it was she who earned them right to speak their minda", Virginia Woolf said so in 'A Room of One's Own'. Do you agree with this statement? Justify your answer with the reading of your play 'The Rover'.
Ans
Virginia Woolf's tribute to Aphra Bhen in her work 'A Room of One's Own' is very appropriate and significant.
Aphra Bhen is the one writer who inagurated the important role of women in literature. She is the one who tried to express the voice of women through her work "The Rover", and questioned and challenged the gender norms of society through characters like Helena, Florinda, and Angelica. Women actors started acting on the stage in the restoration period.
Her contributions indeed opened doors for future generations of women writers, fostering a space for diverse voices in literature.
3) Which female character best represent the playwright, Aphra Bhen? Consider the characteristics and beliefs of each female character, and make an argument that relates these distinctive attributes to what you know about Bhen.
Ans
In the play "The Rover", there are many female characters such as Florinda, Helena, Veleria, Angelica, Lucetta, and Moretta, but one that best represents the character of Aphra Bhen is the character of Helena.
Aphra Bhen is considered a pioneering female playwright in English literature. She was writing her plays during the Restoration period, along with other literary geniuses like Congreve and Dryden. She often depicted the plight of women and their role in society.
The Rover is one such play where she portrayed the difficulties faced by women in Restoration time. In the character of Helena, who is spirited and bold, Bhen portrayed her struggles and conventions, asserting her desires and agency in a male-dominated world.
Hellena's journey in "The Rover" could be seen as a metaphor for Behn's own struggles and triumphs, carving a space for herself in a literary landscape dominated by men.
Video resource for further understanding,
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