Convent, Home, or Brothel: Female Power and Sexuality in The Rover Josie Reynolds College

In periods of history characterized by male dominance, it was easy to overlook the complex role of women. Often given little explicit agency in major avenues of their lives, such as whether or who to marry, women often forewent their own desires in order to be in accordance with other expectations of them. Aphra Behn’s The Rover explores the often overlooked female desire and ability to affect change in their own lives. Through the juxtaposition of the cavaliers with the female characters and the satirization of the sexual categories available to women, Aphra Behn’s The Rover suggests that while women should not attempt to take on traditionally male roles for courtship, they should capitalize on their ability to transcend the restrictive sexual ideology that attempts to define them.

Aphra Behn takes a harsh look at the male cavaliers in The Rover by highlighting their lack of intelligence and foresight with the women’s plan to outwit them. The men are confident that they will not be taken advantage of, with Blunt stating, “Why, ’sheartlikins, I love a frank soul — when did you ever hear of an honest woman that took a man’s money? I warrant ’em good ones — But, gentlemen, you may be free, you have been kept so poor with...