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The Rover (Play)''The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers'' is a play in two parts written by the British author Aphra Behn. Behn had famously worked as a spy for Charles II against the Dutch. However, Charles was slow to pay her for her services and slow to meet his promises, if he ever paid her at all, and Behn sought to make money first with her poetry, and then with plays and novels. The Rover appeared on the stage in 1677, and it was popular enough that a second part appeared in 1681. The play appeared for a long run, enabling Behn to make a fair income from it (the author received the proceeds from the box office on the third nights). Plot Behn's work should always be read with an eye toward her contemporary political world. She was a Royalist, and her works frequently treat Puritans and democracy roughly. The subtitle's "Banish'd Cavaliers" is a reference to the world of exile that the cavalier forces experienced during the interregnum. Behn based her plot on Thomas Killigrew's The Wanderer (1664), and it concerns two sets of lovers. One is a lady pretending to be a prostitute, and the other is a rake who falls in love with her. The play presents many instances of women vulnerable to rape, and one courtesan character gets jilted with tragic results. Therefore, contemporary feminist scholars have focused on this element of the plot most of all and seen in it a protest of the powerlessness of women in the Restoration era. In another plot, an exiled British naval captain on leave comes ashore to enjoy carnival, while at the same time a young woman named Hellena sets out to experience love before being sent to a convent by her brother. The officer, Captain Willmore (who may have been a parallel to Charles II), and Hellena meet and fall in love. This second plot appears to have been the more popular at the time of production, as Charles II enjoyed the play enough to have a private showing of it. Selected Quotes "There is no sinner like a young saint." "Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand." "Come away, Poverty's catching!" External Links and Sources
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