Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. This was not the only abbreviation applied to Behn's original work. While the concealed Hellena, meanwhile, rather than angrily dismiss Willmore sees the love he has for another as a personal challenge. As Willmore begins to flirt with her again, Angellica enters, masked, and sees Willmore betraying the vows he made to her. BELVILLE, an English Colonel deeply in love with Florinda despite the disapproval of her brother, Pedro. Willmore: By Heaven Angelica: Hold, do not damn thy self Hellena: Nor hope to be believd. Drama. The titular character is a raffish naval captain, Willmore. Willmore enters triumphantly, revealing that Angelica has given him a great deal of money. Meanwhile, Lucetta begins to seduce Blunt. Willmore and Belville almost fight, but Frederick intervenes. When she turns out to be a prostitute and thief, he is humiliated and attempts to rape Florinda as revenge against all women for the pain and damage that Lucetta has caused him. Bing Theatre, University of Southern California (2009) Directed by Stefan Novinski. Willmore appears to switch his focus from Angelica back to Hellena, while Belvile yet again does not realize that he has been talking all along to his beloved. Click here to see the first, or here to see a brief bibliography of Aphra Behn. The mention of this liaison reminds Hellena of Willmore. How full of Questions! A masked Florinda arrives at the Molo to watch the fight. Florinda is dismayed at the prospect of marrying Antonio, but Belvile reveals himself to her. For another madcap adventure including the character of Willmore, read The Rover, or the Banished Cavaliers, Part Two, which Behn wrote in 1681 in response to the massive success of the first play, and which continues her exploration of gender, violence, and comedy. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. The other men, unaware that the girl is Florinda, decide to let her out and have their way with her. The Englishmen are astounded by her beauty, but leave when they realise they do not have the money to buy herone thousand crowns a month. Simultaneously, Frederick courts Valeria, while Florinda attempt to discern whether or not Belvile is faithful to her by tempting him with jewels. Virginia Woolf praised Aphra Behn in the book A Room of Ones Own, whom she believed earned [women] the right to speak their minds, and paved the way for all female authors who followed her. Although Angelica was reluctant to love, she now has strong feelings for Willmore. Hellena, who has seen and heard everything Willmore said, comes out of hiding and pretends as if nothing has transpired. Valeria, meanwhile, reveals that she fancies the English stranger (Frederick) whom she met earlier. This Aphra's adaptation was a truly creative effort. Belville, furious at being thwarted yet again, turns on Willmore and chases him away. Fordham Theatre Company, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (2008) Edited and directed by Michael Goldfried. They draw swords to see who has the longest. For a rakish man like Willmore, marriage is the ultimate defeat, because it would force him to be faithful to only one woman. << Loveday Ingram directed this masterpiece of Restoration comedy. What, go in Masquerade? The action redeems him in Pedro's eyes, so he gives his sister to the man he believes to be Antonio, demanding that they get married at once. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. Hellena asks what Willmore was doing in Angellica's house; he denies that anything transpired. She struggles as he attempts to assault her. Butler, Sally. 2014. Hellena: A Maid so young, so innocent Willmore: Ah, young Devil! The Rover Act 3, Scene 1 Summary & Analysis | LitCharts The Rover by Aphra Behn Upgrade to A + Intro Plot Summary Summary & Analysis Themes Quotes Characters Symbols Theme Wheel Teachers and parents! Please enable Javascript, for help please visit. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. Department of Theater, University of Minnesota, BFA Seniors Production, 2012, Directed by Joel Sass. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of the play The Rover by Aphra Behn. With the introduction of actresses came the breeches role, in which a plot twist required a female character to disguise herself as a boysuch a twist takes place in The Rover when Hellena disguises herself as a servant boy in order to spy on Willmore. Pedro enters. Hellena then attacks him, quoting to him what he had just said about Angellica. The men resolve to draw their swords, deciding that whoever carries the longest sword will determine whether Florinda is noble. As this plot unravels, Hellena's older sister, Florinda, attempts to avoid an unappealing arranged marriage to her brother's best friend, and devises a plan to marry her true love, Colonel Belvile. After miscommunications and jibes, Angelica and Willmore admit that they have feelings for each other, and Angelica tells the cavalier that the only payment she wants is the exchange of his heart for hers; he agrees, and they rush to Angelicas bedchamber. When she resists he attempts to rape her, but when Belville and Frederick enter, Florinda runs off. An extraordinarily popular example of Restoration comedy, the play earned an extended run, enabling Behn to make a fair income from it, receiving the proceeds from the box office every third night. Florinda ducks into a door to avoid Willmore; it turns out to be Belville's house. Pedro believes that this is a sign of Antonios love for Florinda, and gives his now unmasked sister to his opponent. Kindle Edition. The three of them encounter Willmore, the Rover for whom the play is named; he is overjoyed to see Frederick and Belvile, and the two introduce him to Blunt. Angellica enters with her servants Moretta and Sebastian, furious that Willmore loves Hellena. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989. A group of soldiers enters, believing that Belvile has hurt the Spanish nobleman. Angellica enters, pointing a pistol at Willmore; she rages at him while threatening him with the gun. Joyful and victorious, Willmore still seems to have forgotten about his seemingly strong feelings for Hellena. When he enters Lucettas chamber, she uses the darkness to slip out and open a trapdoor, through which Blunt falls. Blunt hides in his room as his friends and Pedro besiege the door, finally breaking it down. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Struggling with distance learning? Willmore offers to pay her for her services; she refuses. VALERIA, a Kinswoman to Florinda who helps Florinda scheme and hide from Pedro. WITS, like Physicians, never can agree, When of a different Society; And Rabel's Drops were never more cry'd down By all the Learned Doctors of the Town, Than a new Play, whose author is unknown: Nor can those Doctors with more . Our Teacher Edition on The Rover can help. Angelica: And use me so inhumanly? Don Antonio, also masked, enters and decides to purchase Angelica despite his betrothal to Florinda. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. 'For when the act is done and finish't cleane, what should the poet doe, but shift the scene?': propaganda, professionalism and Aphra Behn Virginia Crompton; 8. It is a revision of Thomas Killigrew's play Thomaso, or The Wanderer (1664), and features multiple plot lines, dealing with the amorous adventures of a group of Englishmen and women in Naples at Carnival time. Belvile grows despairing, remembering that Florinda will marry Don Antonio tomorrow. Lucretius, . Blunt enters in a Spanish habit, looking ridiculous. Pedro challenges Antonio to a duel the next day over Angellica. Edited and introduced by Simon Trussler. Angellica is moved by the story, Willmore is only excited and impatient to find out who the woman in question is. Carnival continues, and so too do the adventures of the noblewomen. The Rover, published and first produced in 1677, was Aphra Behn's most successful play. most subsequent Behn studies and supported the view of Behn as a "public woman" whose role is structured by the logic of the marketplace and her own commodification.3 However, this focus on Behn as performer and public commodity neglects the countervailing theme of private retreat in Behn's self-portrayal. As they exit, Belvile draws his sword on Willmore, who runs away just as Angelica enters with her servants. Belvile realizes his mistake while Frederick, ever practical, rejoices in the value of the jewel that Florinda has left. Belville and Frederick leave to find Florinda. Unlike Hellena, Angelica cannot react carelessly and wittily to Willmores promiscuity because she has already given herself to him. Shotgun Players, Berkeley, California (2015). Angellica's servants hang up a portrait of her outside of her house. "Sooo much more helpful than SparkNotes. As they tease him, he reveals that he has taken a woman prisoner, showing off her jewel, which Belvile recognizes. 2023 Everything you need for every book you read. An anarchic restoration comedy rich with seduction, intrigue and danger. Willmore tries to persuade Angellica to sleep with him for free. ?:0FBx$ !i@H[EE1PLV6QP>U(j He exits, still enraged. Stephano reveals that the duel is for her honor and she becomes upset, believing that Pedro is fighting against Belvile. No reviews. Teachers and parents! Willmore, enraged, draws his sword, challenges Antonio to a duel, and wounds the Spaniard. Angellica enters just in time to see another fight break out. The Mask of Marriage: Virtue, Honor, Reputation and Female Identity in the Sexual Economy of The Rover, The Use of the Fantasy Genre in Behn's The Rover and More's Utopia, The Mythic Archetype of Don Juan in The Country Wife and The Rover. MORETTA, the "lady in waiting," or personal assistant, of Angellica Bianca. While Angelica grieves, he begs Hellena to reveal more about her mistress. As shown by her most well-known play, The Rover, Aphra Behn was not only the first female dramatist to make a career from her work but also one of the funniest. Premiering in 1677, The Rover was an immediate success and withstands the test of time as a hilarious and, in many ways, extraordinarily progressive play thats still popular with theater companies today. LitCharts Teacher Editions. The cavalier, meanwhile, remains convinced in his love for Angelica. Among Behn's sources was the Italian commedia dell'arte (improvised comedy), which she used in her farce 'The Emperor of the Moon' (1687), forerunner of the modern-day pantomime. xwTS7PkhRH H. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Willmore (who may have been a parallel to Charles II or John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester) proved to be an extremely popular character, and four years later Behn wrote a sequel to the play. [1], Derek Hughes and Janet Todd critiqued the play in The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn.[4]. Although she died poor, and suffering terribly from rheumatoid arthritis, her fame was so great that she was buried in Westminster Abbey. The Rover by Aphra Behn March 8th Three young women seeking liberation abandon their conventional lives. Despite adaptations by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1986 (Swan Theatre) and 1987 (Mermaid Theatre in London), where the play's setting was altered to take place in the West Indies, most performances of the script in the past 25 years have been by experimental or smaller troupes. The Rover The Rover Research and teaching Departments and schools English About Us TeacherHub>English Teaching Resources The Rover The Rover Share Professor Judith Hawley on Aphra Behn's The Rover Key points Quotations Suggested passages Further reading Web links Other works Downloadable resource Department English Modern Critical Views. The way the content is organized, A concise biography of Aphra Behn plus historical and literary context for, In-depth summary and analysis of every scene of, Explanations, analysis, and visualizations of. Despite his seeming love for Angelica, Willmore remains attracted to Hellenas wit and vivacity. Hellena also exits, and Willmore vows to find her. Hellena's speech on rape and unwanted marriage was left out, and the part of the plot relating to the near rape of Florinda by Willmore is only implied. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Hellena takes advantage of her disguise and the freedom it gives her, using it to learn about Willmores antics. Frederick comes in and relates Blunt's misadventures to Belville and Pedro. On a street in Naples, Belvile enters, melancholy with love for Florinda. The Rover overview. Wilmore greets him by embrace. Despite temptation from all sides, Belvile refuses to be unfaithful to Florinda, proving his nobility. The Rover or The Banishd Cavaliers is a two part Restoration Comedy written by British playwright.