Aphra Behn - Gender Economics in the Rover
TERM PAPER
Gender Economics of Restoration and Aphra Behn
INTRODUCTION
The Restoration era allowed women to step into what was historically an essentially masculine space, that of literary and theatrical production. As women stepped on stage, they entered a market- they were commodities displayed to attract a larger crowd towards the theatre. Thus even though through writing or acting a woman could gain financial independence, unlike men they weren’t selling their work, they were ostensibly selling a part of themselves.
A woman could not escape commodification even if she didn’t enter this particular market – matrimony and the nunnery were also means of buying and selling of women’s ‘wares’. The hymen itself was a commodity, as a woman could only marry if she was a virgin. In fact arguably in Restoration Comedy no witty unmarried was without ‘property and a maidenhead’.
Thus, arguably, a woman could not escape being a prostitute in the Restoration Period. As a woman author who thus reflected the trend of women actors entering the world of theatrical production, Aphra Behn was continually negotiating the dichotomy of economic freedom and control of women in this market-space. Thus her work would be the ideal case study to understand the gender economics of the Restoration Period.
In this context, I would like to position Aphra Behn’s works, The Rover Part I and II, The Feign’d Curtizans, The Luckey Chance, The Forced Marriage: or The Jealous Bridegroom and ‘The Golden Age” to understand the place of women in the economics of the Restoration Era and how they negotiated in the market-space they were now stepping into.
WOMEN’S PROBLEMATIZED INTRODUCTION IN THE MARKET
The restoration of Charles II to the throne brought a almost deliberate reversal of the previously prevalent Puritan ethic. There was a new kind of apparent sexual freedom.
He introduced the practice of actresses playing female roles. However, actresses earned far less than
Gender Economics of Restoration and Aphra Behn
INTRODUCTION
The Restoration era allowed women to step into what was historically an essentially masculine space, that of literary and theatrical production. As women stepped on stage, they entered a market- they were commodities displayed to attract a larger crowd towards the theatre. Thus even though through writing or acting a woman could gain financial independence, unlike men they weren’t selling their work, they were ostensibly selling a part of themselves.
A woman could not escape commodification even if she didn’t enter this particular market – matrimony and the nunnery were also means of buying and selling of women’s ‘wares’. The hymen itself was a commodity, as a woman could only marry if she was a virgin. In fact arguably in Restoration Comedy no witty unmarried was without ‘property and a maidenhead’.
Thus, arguably, a woman could not escape being a prostitute in the Restoration Period. As a woman author who thus reflected the trend of women actors entering the world of theatrical production, Aphra Behn was continually negotiating the dichotomy of economic freedom and control of women in this market-space. Thus her work would be the ideal case study to understand the gender economics of the Restoration Period.
In this context, I would like to position Aphra Behn’s works, The Rover Part I and II, The Feign’d Curtizans, The Luckey Chance, The Forced Marriage: or The Jealous Bridegroom and ‘The Golden Age” to understand the place of women in the economics of the Restoration Era and how they negotiated in the market-space they were now stepping into.
WOMEN’S PROBLEMATIZED INTRODUCTION IN THE MARKET
The restoration of Charles II to the throne brought a almost deliberate reversal of the previously prevalent Puritan ethic. There was a new kind of apparent sexual freedom.
He introduced the practice of actresses playing female roles. However, actresses earned far less than
Bibliography: Behn, Aphra. "The Rover." Prakash, Asha S Kanwar & Anand. The Rover : Worldview Critical Edition. Delhi: Worldview Publications, 2000. 6-108. Diamond, Elin. "Gestus and Signature in Aphra Behn’s Rover." (1989). JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. Gallagher, Catherine. "Who was that Masked Woman? The Prostitute and the Playwight in the Comedies of Aphra Behn." Women 's Studies (1988). Pancheco, Anita. "Rape and The Female Subject in Aphra Behn’s The Rover" (1998). JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. Prakash, Anand. "Designing Women Socially and Market-Wise : Glimpses of the Restoration Strategy in The Rover." Prakash, Asha S Kanwar & Anand. The Rover. Delhi: Worldview Publications, 2000. 162-177. Spencer, Jane, ‘The Rover and the Eighteenth Century’, Aphra Behn Studies, ed. Janet Todd, (Cambridge, 1996). Stephen, Szilagyi. "The Sexual Politics of Behn’s Rover: After Patriarchy" (1998). JSTOR. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.