The Rover

The Rover

This passage belongs to a restoration comedy titled The Rover. It was written by the first female playwright in the English restoration, Aphra Behn (1640-1689). This dialogue is exactly located in the Part I, Act V, Scene I.

What happens in this part is that Angelica enters grabbing a pistol, with the intention of killing Willmore. She roars and tries to intimidate him in a very threatening way. Moreover, the reader can also glimpse the rage, strength and brevity of her actions by the use made of the verbal language. In this passage, the actress is definitively intended to perform it with aggressive gestures and with a high tone of voice, as if yelling or shouting; to appellate the spectators. Thereupon, Willmore offers her money so as to be paid for her services (they had had sex previously), yet she refuses. When she is about to press the trigger, Don Antonio enters with his arms in a scarf and immediately takes the pistol away from Angelica. Then, he realizes it was Willmore the one who committed the robbery of Angelica’s picture. Being very angry, Don Antonio offers himself to shoot Willmore. This second attempt of killing the English gentleman is frustrated by Don Pedro, who enters in the room as a fallen start (for Willmore’s luck).

What happens afterwards, but does not appear in this fragment, is that Angelica decides finally to forgive Willmore and she leaves the scene. The newcomer Don Pedro goes directly to Don Antonio so as to know the sake why the latter missed the duel. Finally, he gets informed about the events and in revenge, he decides to give Florinda to Belville in marriage. However, Willmore reveals him the marriage has already occurred. Don Pedro leaves the room being even more furious.

The spectator/reader can clearly appreciate that the two most important characters of the conversation are Angelica and Willmore. The other two, Pedro and Antonio, are not so relevant. Angelica Bianca is a famous prostitute in Naples. She is described as a dreamer and as a seeker of men with a good position in the hierarchy, who will pay her on exchange of sexual favours. She is mesmerized by Willmore’s charm, who breaks her heart. Basically, this is what leads to the occurrence of this scene. She is an overpowering, beautiful and independent woman. In my opinion, I think this character uses her beauty as a mere source to earn money. Although she seems to love Willmore, her real love is wealth and the latter is above the former.

Willmore is the most important character as he is the rover. His name is indicative of his desire; he wills more, regardless all what he has. He just focuses on counting the conquests he achieves during his life. He can represent the male sex drive. The major female conquer he accomplishes could be Hellena’s one. This is his main goal and he carries it out without thinking he can hurt someone’s feelings. He seems to believe what he does, can not be considered morally reprehensible.

The two who take less part in this passage are the Spanish Don Pedro and Don Antonio. Don Pedro represents the best example of primitive masculine patriarchy. He believes he is the one in charge of deciding with whom his sisters should marry; in general, what are their commands in life. For example, he orders Hellena to be a nun, not taking into account his sister’s opinion.

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