Challenging Patriarchy and Claiming Voice: Women, Desire, and Economic Exchange in Aphra Behn’s The Rover

Introduction :

Aphra Behn, one of the most remarkable figures of the English Restoration, disrupts the boundaries placed upon women in both life and literature. Her play The Rover not only portrays the spirited chaos of carnival Naples but also directly confronts the patriarchal frameworks governing gender, sexuality, and economic dependency. Two pivotal concerns emerge from the text. First, the play raises a provocative question through Angellica Bianca, a celebrated courtesan: is marriage, when negotiated in financial terms, merely a socially sanctioned form of prostitution. Second, Virginia Woolf recognized Behn’s literary courage in A Room of One’s Own, declaring that women “ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn” because Behn earned women “the right to speak their minds.” Through The Rover, Behn voices female desire and agency in a manner that challenged a deeply patriarchal society.

This essay will explore these two intertwined themes: Angellica’s critique of marriage as a commercial exchange and Behn’s revolutionary legacy in giving women narrative space and autonomy. Together, these perspectives reveal that The Rover is not simply a Restoration comedy but a radical rethinking of what constitutes power, dignity, and freedom for women.

1. Angellica Bianca and the Commodification of Women: Is Marriage a Form of Prostitution

Aphra Behn’s portrayal of Angellica Bianca is strikingly modern. She is not depicted as a fallen or disgraced woman but as an economically independent courtesan who negotiates her own value. Her agency lies in her ability to treat her beauty and companionship as commodities in a male-driven marketplace. Yet she also exposes the uncomfortable truth underlying aristocratic marriage.

Financial Negotiation of Women’s Lives :

In the Restoration era, marriage was rarely about love. Women were traded for property, alliances, status, and dowries. Fathers arranged marriages to improve wealth or social rank. Women entered marriages with little autonomy.

Angellica confronts male characters by questioning why society condemns her while endorsing the very system that objectifies women under a respectable name. When she asks:

Why is it prostitution if she bargains for herself, but marriage if a man bargains for her?

she exposes hypocrisy. Her argument implies:

• A wife’s economic dependency resembles a prostitute’s transactional reality.

• Society romanticizes marriage to mask women’s commodification.

• Being purchased through dowry negotiations does not make a woman less a commodity.

Behn challenges the audience to confront patriarchy’s double standards.

Love Versus Market Value :

Angellica’s crisis deepens when she falls in love with Willmore. Until then, she has been emotionally detached and in control of her finances. Love removes her power. Ironically, the pirate Willmore refuses to pay for her as other men do. He wants pleasure without financial responsibility. Angellica begins to feel humiliation, jealousy, and heartbreak because she is treated merely as an amusement once she lowers her guard.

Her suffering reflects a universal truth affecting women across classes:

Women are valued only as long as they remain useful to men.

Angellica exposes that:

• Marriage promises stability but not necessarily respect.

• Prostitution offers financial independence but lacks social legitimacy.

• Neither system prioritizes the woman’s emotional fulfillment.

Angellica as Behn’s Radical Voice :

Behn’s bold choice to position Angellica as a sympathetic character disrupts the virgin–whore binary typical of the period. She is financially independent, emotionally complex, and morally introspective. Her argument invites the audience to rethink ethics:

• Who has the right to judge a woman’s choices

• Why women must pay the price for male desire

• How society masks exploitation under honorable labels

Angellica suggests that women’s bodies are consistently subjected to commerce. The only difference is whether the transaction is publicly acknowledged.

Do I Agree with Angellica :

Yes, I agree with Angellica’s argument in the context of the play’s depiction of Restoration marriage. When women are denied agency and traded like property, marriage becomes a “sanctioned” form of prostitution. Behn does not attack marriage itself but the patriarchal framework controlling it. She insists that any union should be founded on equality, mutual choice, and emotional autonomy, not economic dependence.

Angellica’s critique is not outdated. Even today, dowry practices, financial negotiations, and transactional expectations within marriage persist in various forms around the world. Behn’s insight remains a challenge to societies where women’s lives are still valued through monetary or material standards.

2. Aphra Behn and the Freedom of Women’s Voices: Analyzing Virginia Woolf’s Tribute Through The Rover

Virginia Woolf’s homage to Aphra Behn in A Room of One’s Own recognizes Behn as the first Englishwoman to make a living by writing. Woolf stresses that the economic independence gained through writing opened the door for women to think, write, and speak freely:

“All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn…”

Woolf’s words honor Behn not only for her profession but for her audacity to portray women as thinking, desiring individuals. The Rover exemplifies this transformation.

Women Who Act and Desire :

The female characters in The Rover refuse silent obedience. They desire love, sexual freedom, and autonomy. The carnival setting symbolizes a temporary suspension of strict gender roles. Women take on disguises and become active pursuers rather than passive objects.

Characters like Hellena and Florinda reveal:

• Women have sexual desires equal to men.

• Women can strategize, plot, and pursue what they want.

• Women are not merely guardians of virtue, but individuals with identity and passion.

Hellena, for instance, openly refuses the convent life forced upon her. She engages Willmore in witty debate, proving intellectual equality. She says she wants love, pleasure, and adventure. Through Hellena, Behn declares that women should define their own lives.

Exposing Sexual Violence:

The play includes multiple attempted assaults on Florinda. Behn does not romanticize these scenes. She reveals the constant threat women face when male desire is unchecked.

By making the audience uncomfortable rather than entertained, Behn exposes:

• Men’s sense of entitlement over women’s bodies

• The terrifying fragility of female safety

• Patriarchal complicity in violence against women

Her messaging remains powerful and relevant. She forces society to acknowledge issues it prefers to ignore.

Critiquing Male Hypocrisy :

Willmore, the charming rover, encapsulates male privilege:

• He pursues pleasure without emotional accountability.

• He excuses his behavior as “natural.”

• He believes women should forgive and desire him regardless of his conduct.

Through him, Behn satirizes a system where men enjoy freedom while women face consequences.

Angellica’s heartbreak and Florinda’s danger stem from the same unequal framework. Behn’s critique demands a transformation of power structures, not just individual relationships.

Financial Independence and the Female Writer :

Behn’s own life mirrored Angellica’s struggle for independence. Writing was her profession. She lived by her pen at a time when women were not considered intellectually capable. That courage made Woolf declare her a great liberator of women’s voice.

Behn’s legacy includes:

• Proving women deserve economic freedom

• Encouraging other women to enter public, intellectual spheres

• Challenging moral judgments on female desire and labor

Her characters speak directly against silence.

Do I Agree with Woolf :

Yes, I fully agree with Woolf. Behn’s work provided a foundation from which later female writers could emerge. She broke barriers not only through her writing career but through the bold content of her plays. The Rover gave women voices that were witty, passionate, and intelligent. Through characters like Hellena, Florinda, and Angellica, Behn rewrote the narrative of femininity.

Woolf’s tribute acknowledges that women writers today inherit a legacy rooted in Behn’s rebellion against silence and subjugation.

Conclusion :

Aphra Behn’s The Rover remains a groundbreaking text because it dares to question the foundations of gender and power. Angellica Bianca reveals that marriage, devoid of female agency, resembles prostitution wrapped in social approval. Her resistance forces audiences to confront uncomfortable truths about women’s commodification.

Simultaneously, Behn’s portrayal of outspoken, self-guided female characters received recognition centuries later through Virginia Woolf’s tribute. Behn deserves honor not simply for being a woman writer, but for being a writer who made women visible, articulate, and complex at a time when patriarchy tried to silence them.

Through The Rover, Aphra Behn earned women the right to speak their minds, to desire, to critique, and to live on their own terms. Her work is not only a literary achievement but a revolutionary act that continues to resonate with contemporary struggles for gender equality. Women today still fight for economic autonomy and freedom of voice, making Behn’s writing as relevant as ever.

Her contribution demands acknowledgment. The flowers Woolf asked us to place upon her tomb are symbols of gratitude. They remind us that every woman who writes, studies, and speaks boldly follows the path Aphra Behn fearlessly carved.

.