I’ve been reading essays for my Restoration and 18th Century Couples Comedy class and, as always, am finding new dimensions in the works as I look at them through the students’ eyes. Aprha Behn’s comedy The Rover has proved particularly illuminating.
Three essays written on the play focused on its romantic relationships. Florinda and Belvile have a fairy tale relationship—he has saved her in the midst of a battle and now they are determined to run away together so that she won’t have to marry the man designed for her by her father and brother. Angelica is a high-priced courtesan who falls in love with Wilmore, the rover of the title, and then is shattered when he leaves her. Hellena, Florinda’s sister and the play’s heroine, is a spunky woman who decides that she wants Wilmore, dresses up as a gypsy and then as a page boy to woo him, and manages to get him to propose to her by the end of the play.
For Jessica Garner, the play is about forging an egalitarian relationship in a culture that treats women as objects in a mercantile exchange. Women may dream of a Florinda-Belvile relationship but end up instead as Angelica, who wields power only to the extent that she withholds her favors. (Once she gives herself over to Wilmore and becomes clinging, he loses interest.) Jessica sees Wilmore and Hellena redefining marriage as a bantering exchange where each is strong in his/her independence and therefore able to keep the relationship fresh. They won’t fall into the staid trap of traditional male and female roles.
For Jennifer Burroughs, by contrast, this “egalitarian” relationship lacks heart. There is a tragedy at the core of this comedy, she writes, and that is Angelica’s broken heart. Hellena and Wilmore’s bantering exchange is just a way to keep themselves from getting hurt. Their relationship is not so much egalitarian as defensive. Aphra Behn may be playing along with her male audience by giving them a comedy and appearing to favor Hellena. Jennifer believes, however, that her female vulnerability can be seen in the Angelica story, which subtly qualifies and undermines the happy ending.
Finally, for Cat Holland, the play is about lovers who place each other upon pedestals. Florinda sees Belvile as the knight on the white horse, he sees her as the beautiful damsel in distress. Their relationship lacks the vitality of Hellena-Wilmore, however, which Cat sees as more real.
The danger of allowing oneself to be put on a pedestal can be seen in Angelica, who places herself above men and advertises her services through her portrait (a bit like a photo on e-Harmony). When she encounters Wilmore’s earthy sexuality, however, Angelica becomes dissatisfied and descends from her “angelic” heights. She promptly gets hurt. Hellena, by contrast, is realistic, doesn’t desire to be elevated in the first place, and is therefore is able to handle Wilmore. She knows her man.
What strikes me about these interpretations is that each of these smart and sensitive women is reading the play in a way that will help her negotiate her own relationships. The dance of love, passion and intimacy isn’t any easier now than it was in the 17th century, but the play provides images that help Jessica, Jennifer, and Cat bring clarity and imagination to the process.
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