If you order your custom term paper from our custom writing service you will receive a perfectly written assignment on Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage. What we need from you is to provide us with your detailed paper instructions for our experienced writers to follow all of your specific writing requirements. Specify your order details, state the exact number of pages required and our custom writing professionals will deliver the best quality Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage paper right on time.
Out staff of freelance writers includes over 120 experts proficient in Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage, therefore you can rest assured that your assignment will be handled by only top rated specialists. Order your Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage paper at affordable prices with !
Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage
"The Rover" by Aphra Behn is a playwright that was published in 1677. Aphra Behn was one of the first female writers in a male world. She wrote her play in an entirely new perspective. All the characters rail against the selling of female flesh, whether in marriage or in prostitution. This play reinforces themes of the fool who cannot tell, the difference between whores and ladies.
The plot allowed women to have acknowledged intelligence and an opinion. It is set in Madrid in Late November around Carnival time, which would have appealed to restoration audiences because of the emphasis on sexual freedom that carnivals at the time had. The play is mostly themed on love. It highlights a complicated network of lovers and friends that physically fight for each other's affection. Don Pedro wants his sister Florinda to marry his friend Don Antonio, who is the viceroy's son, but there father wishes her to marry Don Vincentio who is an elderly rich man, who would provide Florinda with money and status. Florinda herself wishes to marry Belville, an English Colonel who is poor but showed his love and loyalty for Florinda by taking the side of Florinda against his own men. Hellena, Don Pedro's other sister, is about to become a nun on her brothers and fathers orders. She herself does not want this, especially when she meets Willmore, the Rover who fights for her attention.
Florinda is a worldly and strong character. She is slightly more reserved then Hellena and therefore more dignified. Her character is full of mischief, this is shown by her willingness to disobey her brother and go to the carnival with Hellena, e.g. "Thou see'st my brother's gone already, thou shalt attend and watch us". She has a higher status then Hellena; this is shown by the way that their brother Don Pedro talks to her differently than he talks to Hellena. For instance to Florinda her talks more as an equal, e.g. "I both believe and trust you". This quote shows that he respects Florinda. When he talks to Hellena, he shows little respect e.g. "Have you done yet?" and he also shows the power he has over Hellena by saying " You shall be a nun". He has the status and the right to make these demands and this emphasises how different men and women roles were to how they are this day.
Hellena is a particularly rebellious character; she disobeys her brother at the first opportunity and has little concern about doing so. She wants to experience life before becoming a nun and flirting with Willmore seems a great way to do this. Her exchange with Willmore might also have to do with the fact that she is curious about love and wants to explore the meaning of the word. Her lively and fun loving personality is perhaps a contrast to Florinda's more subtle and dignified manor. Behn wants to show the difference between these women and this is why she has her first scene focused upon these two women.
Florinda's farther makes it clear from the start that he wishes her to marry Don Vincentio. His reasons for this are linked to the fact that Don Vincentio has money and status, which would reflect onto Florinda and then back onto her family. Another reason could be the fact that Don Vincentio is much older than Florinda, so therefore when he dies somewhat earlier than her, she would inherit all of his estate. Although he never actually appears in the play himself, his son Don Pedro fights his battle against Florinda and Hellena who are both determined that marrying Don Vincentio would be a terrible mistake. Once Don Pedro has put his fathers view across he moves on to putting his own personnel view across. He wants Florinda to marry his friend Don Antonio who is the viceroy's son. Evidence to support this is when he says "I've only tried you all this while and urged my father's will but mine is that you would love Antonio; he is brave and young and all that can complete the happiness of a gallant maid." Hellena is dead against Florinda marrying Don Vincentio but doesn't seem to really express an opinion on her marrying Don Antonio.
In the second scene of the first act, the plot is focused upon on two English gentlemen; Frederick and Blunt, Belvile; who is an English Colonel in love with Florinda and Willmore who is the rover, a sea captain come to shore for the carnival. They are all presented in a very masculine and chauvinistic manor. Frederick, Willmore and Blunt all come across as self-opinionated and quite arrogant. Their attitudes to women vary considerable. Frederick seems to think women are great for the night but only cause trouble the next morning. Willmore also seems to have very little respect for women, he sees them as a challenge, and this is how he first encounters Hellena. They both are a compete contrast to Belvile, who's attitude is some what more caring. He feels sad and depressed about the situation with Florinda, who he loves very much. It comes across that he has more respect for women than Frederick does.
Blunt feels that women are only useful for sexual relationships and have no other use.
In this way he is similar to Frederick. This is emphasised by his immediate interest and then departure with Lucetta, who is a jilting wench. He seems to see prostitutes as part of his everyday life and doesn't se any shame in paying a lady for sex. When Lucetta first sees Blunt, she assesses him as a typical English gentlemen who she would have little trouble conquering. Evidence to support this is when Lucetta says, "I know by his gazing; if he be brisk he'll venture to follow me, and then if I understand my trade, he's mine." This shows how easily lead men were in these days and how prostitutes such as Lucetta have little trouble finding clients.
When Hellena meets Willmore for the first time, she is in costume and therefore disguised. He is immediately drawn to her and starts flirting straight away. She also seems very interested in him and enjoys teasing him and letting him know that she is interested in him but he is going to have to do and be something special to stop her becoming a nun, e.g. "What think you of a nunnery wall? For he that wins me must gain that first." This seems to only intrigue him more and make her more of a challenge. She sees him as a way out from the world that she doesn't want to enter i.e. becoming a nun. Hellena is also delighted to explore love and wants to express to Willmore that she has not yet loved but is curious about it. He in exchange tells her that he'd like nothing better than for him to be her first love and feels impatient for their love affair to begin. There exchange is definitely one that will be a major story line in the rest of the play.
Florinda's attitudes to love and marriage seem similar to those of Belvile's. She believes that marriage should be for love and not for money and status. This is perhaps why they both want to be together. This is a complete contrast to the lady courtesan that the English gentlemen were discussing earlier on in the play. She was a mistress to general up until he died. She was now back on the market to rent for a large amount of money. Her name is Angellica Bianca and she perhaps sees marriage as in appropriate and undesirable which is backed up by the way she chose to earn a living. Hellena and Willmore both see love as something that needs to be explored. This is backed up by Hellena's lively out going character and Willmores instant attraction to her.
Overall in the play so far, the men seem to have a very disrespectful attitude towards women and seem to regard marriage as something that can be done to gain the respect of other men. There are exceptions to this such as Belvile, however this could be because of his lack of wealth. Sex seems to be part of every day life. Prostitutes were perhaps more common and men had no shame in paying for sex. It was seen as a normal thing to do. The more upper class ladies such as Hellena and Florinda seem to have a more dignified opinion about sex and do not hand them selves out on a plate, instead they play hard to get.
Behn encourages people to sympathise with Hellena. She expresses how she is being forced by her father and brother to become a nun and shows how much Hellena doesn't want this but seems to have little choice. She also encourages the audience to sympathise with Belvile. She shows that although he is a good man, he is not considered marriage material by Florinda's farther, as he is not wealthy. His qualities don't seem to be appropriate.
From the play so far, I feel that men's attitude to ladies and sex is very arrogant and they seem to have little respect. I also do feel sorry for Florinda and Belvile as they obviously want to be together, but her farther will not allow it. Overall it seems a very sexist period in time.
Please note that this sample paper on Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage is for your review only. In order to eliminate any of the plagiarism issues, it is highly recommended that you do not use it for you own writing purposes. In case you experience difficulties with writing a well structured and accurately composed paper on Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage, we are here to assist you. Your cheap custom college paper on Discuss The Ways In Which The Male And Female Characters Are Presented In The First Act And Their Attitudes To Love and Marriage will be written from scratch, so you do not have to worry about its originality.
Order your authentic assignment from and you will be amazed at how easy it is to complete a quality custom paper within the shortest time possible!
