Gender Roles In The Rover

The play The Rover by Aphra Behn is unique in the fact that it was written in the seventeenth century where Behn, a woman, was looked down upon and not thought of as an equal to men, wrote a successful play in a time of a male dominated theater and acting. In The Rover, Behn accurately addresses delicate issues of that time such as men’s and woman’s rights, and duties and privileges in a society where male dominance was taken for granted. It is seen many times throughout the play where women are referred to as nothing more than just prostitutes or assets of pleasure. Also, there were several instances where themes like rape were promoted in that society where most people ignored it and turned a blind eye to it happening. Behn depicts her female …show more content…
Aphra Behn tried exposing the fractures and flaws in the normal traditions of defining female identity. In those times, distinctions between virgins and prostitutes were blurred because of the society that they lived in, but Behn tried to show these distinctions and further more to question gendering of human qualities. Hellena acted according to her own sexual drive, which went against the norm of her society. Hellena also tries to show Wilmore that they are on an equal level of intelligence when she says, “our business as well as our humours are alike” (Act III). Wilmore agrees with her when he says that she has “so much wit” (Act III), but Hellena’s honor is considered worthless in Willmore’s eyes, because or her eagerness for sexual and emotional satisfaction, which goes against her only meaningful value, her …show more content…
This shows that they lived in a time where it was acceptable to have meager and foolish competitions to see who gets to do something very serious with women. Men are portrayed to be superior and very dominant whereas women are shown to be a just a prize or an award for having a longer sword. Women are shown to be nothing more but property because they themselves sell their body to the highest bidder for marriage. This is why the women of the play and of that time period are depicted to be prostitutes regardless of whether or not they are virgins. This is how the gender roles and identities are shown in The Rover. Overall, many themes were tackled by Aphra Behn to humorously show the problems of the society that she lived in. Marriage of that time was only for financial and sexual benefit and had nothing to do with love. Men were dominant over women, even though both human, men were shown to be much higher and superior to the females who were nothing more than just property and prostitutes. By the end, there were marriages made out of love and also relationships shown to embody the norm of marriage as an asset rather than a