She wants to marry the English colonel Belvile, but must obey the patriarchal orders of her father and brother to marry who they see fit for her. Before arriving at carnival, Florinda is trapped in the midst of a battle between following her own desire and the desires of her family.
Each of these character types represents a different aspect of a woman’s struggle to define herself during the Restoration.įlorinda’s character encompasses the Restoration woman’s struggle to gain agency in marriage. Through the stories of Florinda, Hellena, and Angellica, Behn integrates strong elements of feminism and libertinism by focusing on issues of marriage, self-identity and representation. Behn places the action of her play in Spanish Naples, just before Lent in the midst of carnival, which is a setting fit for emphasizing the urge to break free from societal constraints. Behn’s play debuted during the height of the Restoration period, which for theater meant more female agency on the stage because women were allowed to take on female roles for the first time. In 1677, she penned one of her most notable plays, The Rover or The Banished Cavaliers. As a playwright, she wrote plays that reflected historical and cultural aspects of the Restoration from a female perspective.
In late seventeenth-century London, Aphra Behn was the first woman to earn her living as a writer.
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