Strauss 1

Meg Strauss
Professor Aparna Gollapudi
English 331
4 October 2016
The Importance of Gender Roles and Male Dominance within The Rover

In Aphra Behns play The Rover, traditional gender roles are fully evident, especially in

regards to the male characters. These characters often exhibit behavior that can easily be deemed

as rather typical, such as their keen desires for dominance, sex, and violence. Due to this clear

and defined male role, it would be easy to classify Behns work as being clich; however, upon

truly analyzing the text, it becomes very apparent that Behn purposely exaggerates customary

male characteristics in order to illustrate the harm and negative aspects that can result from an

adherence to traditional gender roles. In other words, Behn ultimately uses inflated and

stereotypical masculine traits in order to highlight flaws that can occur when society heavily

tolerates male dominance.

This exaggeration of masculinity can first be seen in the start of the play as two of the

main characters, sisters Florinda and Helena, discuss Florindas future life and marriage. Pedro,

Florinda and Helenas brother, walks into the scene and begins to talk about how Florinda must

marry Don Vincento, a wealthy and older man whom Florinda has no interest in marrying. Pedro

states to Florinda, You must consider Don Vincentos fortune (Behn, 161). As the scene

progresses, it becomes apparent that Pedro has no respect for Florindas own life and love, but

instead he strictly is concerned with obtaining financial stability and dominance for his family,

constantly referring to Vincento as a man of so vast a fortune (Behn, 160).

 Strauss 2

In an essay titled Gender Roles in Aphra Behns Society, Life, and Work, author Katie

Saggs states that Behn was particularly disdainful of the concept of arranged marriages

(Skaggs, 9). For Behn, arranged marriages was just one of the many problems that arises from

traditional gender roles, specifically in regards to male dominance. Solely because Pedro was a

man, he had complete control in deciding who Florinda would marry. Behn clearly did not agree

with this concept and uses the inflated character of Pedro to further display her dismay towards

the idea that males get to choose a womens fate.

The character of Pedro is in no way ordinary. He does represent many standard male

characteristics, such as his thirst for dominance and money and the way he treats females;

however, his character is exaggerated in the way that he seemingly has no caring or likeable

qualities. The fact that Pedro is not at all likeable correlates with Behns exaggeration on male

characteristics. Most men, in all actually, are rarely ever completely uncaring like Pedro.

However, by using an utterly unlikeable male character to represent arranged marriages, Behn

allows the reader to feel pity towards Florinda as her own brother does not seem to understand

her repulsion towards her arranged marriage, and that she will likely be forced into a loveless

marriage. By feeling this pity, readers are more inclined to feel a hatred toward arranged

marriages. In return, a hatred towards the male dominance present in traditional gender roles also

arises. In all essence, Behn uses the unfortunate character of Pedro to further instill her personal

views onto the reader, and consequently enables the reader to see the faults in tradition through

emotion, as well as a universal disgust for Pedro.

Behn also uses male character exaggerations to convey her dismay in traditional gender

roles and male dominance in regards to sex. Within this play, sex plays a huge role in the themes

present, both from male and female standpoints. While Behn does goes outside of tradition and
 Strauss 3

makes the female characters very sexual, she sticks to a very stereotypical and overemphasized

view of men and their constant ache for sex.

Just like how Behn uses negative aspects of Pedro to display her abhorrence of male

dominance in arranged marriages, she uses the character of Willmore to represent her disgust of

the way women were sexually treated and dominated by men. Willmore is the rover that the

author is referring to within the title. During the era in which this play was set, roughly around

the seventeenth century during the Restoration era, a rover would modernly be referred to as a

player. The text states that Willmore had just gotten back from a long trip at sea, thus he is

sexually starved and is on the lookout for sexual partners. The first women he sees is Hellena,

Florindas sister who is destined to be a nun. Knowing not of this, Willmore approaches her and

states, For I have come from sea, child, and Venus not being propitious to me in her own

element: I have a world of love in storewould you be so good-natured and take some of it off

my hands (Behn, 169).

By telling this to Hellena, the fact that Willmore does not view her more as a sexual

object becomes evident. Willmore does not try to woo her; rather, he simply attempts to seduce

her. Clearly, this is an exaggeration on the characteristics present in man, considering most men

would at least somewhat attempt to hide their immediate lust. Willmore does not do this. Within

the first few sentences spoken to Hellena, it is already clear what Willmore is after. While

Willmores character does seem to be an inflated clich, Behn nevertheless came from a society

where most women were treated strictly as objects. For instance, in her essay titled Role of

Women in the Restoration Period, author Rosa Musumeci states that during the restoration era,

Women [were] props, background objects, prizes. They are often viewed simply as aesthetically

pleasing, sexual beings (Musumeci, 1).

 Strauss 4

Understandably, Behn was insulted and tired of the way women in her society were being

treated by men. By creating an overly sexually-obnoxious character like Willmore, Behn puts an

emphasis on the wrongness of this standard of male dominance. It is strongly apparent that

Willmore wants to use Hellena solely for sex. Most readers, especially readers of the same time

period, would clearly become upset by this fact. By having a character that is completely

exaggerated in his thirst for women, Behn simultaneously points out the harm and hurt that can

come from this gender role. Men were supposed to chase women, and women were eventually

supposed to eventually give in to the harassment. Behn ultimately correlates the absurdity of

these gender roles through the absurdity of Willmore. The author uses a grotesque character to

represent an aspect of a male dominated society that she finds extremely revolting.

While the constant verbal and emotional harassment was an issue during Behns time, so

were the issues of violence and rape. Within the play, Behn describes two separate scenes in

which Florinda was about to get raped.

The first time happened with Willmore. Willmore was walking home drunk one night and

saw Florinda standing in a dark garden. He tries to seduce her, much in the way that he did with

her sister, and then grabs ahold of her. She tells him, Sir, let me go, I conjure you, or Ill

callmurder! Rape! Or anything! If you do not instantly let me go (Behn, 202). To this,

Willmore responds, A rape! Come, come, you lie, you baggage, you lieWhy at this time at

night was your cobweb door set open dear spiderbut to catch flies (Behn, 202).

As previously mentioned, Behn made Willmore a sexually-hungry character. By

exaggerating Willmore as not only a flirt, but also as a rapist, Behn shines light on that fact that

women are subject to rape when it comes to all different types of men, even ones that seemingly

identify as harmless. The male dominance is on full display as Willmore has complete ability and
 Strauss 5

control to rape Florinda. Willmore also stresses his dominance through emotional manipulation

as he calls her a liar for accusing him of harassing her, even though that is exactly what he is

doing. Behn negatively describes traditional gender roles though this scene. Because Florinda

was by herself, she was seen as weak and looking for trouble. To Willmore, as well as many men

in the Restoration era, this was considered to be somewhat of an invitation to sex. By

exaggerating the character of Willmore into someone who is both flirty and sexually dangerous,

Behn highlights the harm that is created by a male dominated society, essentially claiming

women are never safe.

The second time in which Florinda is about to get raped is when she accidently stumbles

into Blunt, another characters, headquarters. Blunt, after previously being robbed by a

prostitute, decides to take out his frustrations on Florinda, in order to get [his] dire revenge

(Behn, 226). Blunt justifies his actions by stating to Florinda, [You] will be revenged on one

whore for the sins of another. I will smile and deceive thee, flatter thee, and beat thee, kiss and

swear, and lie to thee, embrace thee and rob thee, as she did [to] me (Behn, 226). If it were not

for other people walking into Blunts home, Florinda could have very well been raped, purely

because she accidently went into another mans hiding.

The character of Blunt, like the characters Willmore and Pedro, is also an exaggerated

character. Blunt does not seem to be too terribly intelligent, as he was easily tricked and robbed

by a prostitute. However, Behn exaggerated his stupidity in order to also convey the idea that

women are always in danger, regardless of how stupid or innocent a man may seem. Just like

how Willmore in the start of the play did not seem like a dangerous threat, neither did Blunt.

Also like Willmore, when Blunt first got the change to be alone with a women, he immediately

threated to rape her.

 Strauss 6

In a time era where sexual harassment and rape were more than common, Behn took to

using exaggerated characters to portray the danger that was prominent in Restoration womens

lives. By using stereotypical male characteristics and exaggerating them to the brink of clich, on

top of using innocent female characters, the author displays the harm that can form when society

adheres to male dominated societies. Behn indirectly claims that whenever a women is left alone,

she is at risk to be sexually assaulted.

Overall, Behn does not use original male characters. However, what makes her male

characters different is the fact that she exaggerates stereotypical male characters in order to

provide in emphasis on the dangers that can arise from traditional male dominance and gender

roles.

There are various examples that Behn uses within her play to show this. To start, Behn

uses an exaggerated unlikeable character, Pedro, to evoke emotion from the reader or viewer

disgust in regards to Pedro and pity in regards to Florinda. Once this emotion is established, the

audience is more likely to understand just how harmful arranged marriages and male dominance

within society can bean issue that Behn strongly agreed with. Throughout the story, Behn also

tackles the hurtfulness of sexual harassment and violence within the Restoration era through the

characters of Willmore and Blunt. Both Willmore and Blunt are exaggerated in the way that they

are both almost comical. Willmore is abnormally sexually thirsty, and Blunt seems vividly

unintelligent. However, when analyzing why Behn makes these characters have extreme

personalities, the play loses it sense of comedy. Behn ultimately exaggerates these characters to

prove that women are not safe within their society, for even the most outlandish men are capable

of violence and harm.

 Strauss 7

Through these three male characters, Behn not only exhibits the harms that can come

from male dominated societies, but also provides insight on the direct issues that women of the

Restoration had to face: extreme dominance, arranged marriages, sexual harassment, and rape.

By using standard gender roles and clear male dominance, Behn exaggerates the characters in

order to further identify her political and feminist beliefs in society.

 Strauss 8

Works Cited

Behn, Aphra, and Janet Todd. Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works. London, England:
Penguin, 1992. Print.

Musumeci, Rosa. "Role of Women in the Restoration Period." (2010): n. pag. Web. 4 Oct. 2016.

Skaggs, Katie. Gender Roles in Aphra Behns Society, Life, and Work. Thesis. University of
Idaho, 2011. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-18. Print.