A prostitute as the unsung heroine in Aphra Behn’s The Rover

Abstract

Aphra Behn, a Restoration playwright of unprecedented success, lived by her pen and therefore was obliged to conform to the other literary production of that time (written mostly by men): comedies featuring libertines, coarse morals, debauchery and fortune-hunting protagonists. Behn wrote in this manner, yet adding a satirical spin to her work, by presenting the character of Angellica Bianca, a prostitute (actually a very ladylike companion to older wealthy men). Paradoxically, Angellica is presented as the most upright and generous person among the cast; lamentably, she believes in oaths, of which Wilmore, the double-dealing eponymous rover of the play, cures her mercilessly and swiftly, as soon as he meets a virgin, who comes with a large fortune attached. By this, Behn introduces a dark undercurrent to an ostensibly comic play. This paper pays homage to the elaborate ways Aphra Behn employed to present a prostitute as the most intriguing character of the play.