Antagonistic Discourses And Royalism In The Rover

Aphra Behn's The Rover,a canonical Restoration play modeled on the Cavalier exile during the Interregnum,achieved unexpected popularity both with the Stuart court and the heterogeneous populace.More ironical was that it was later staged in William III's court as birthday celebration after he won victory in the Glorious Revolution and put his father-in-law,the Stuart King,Jame II in exile.Although William's wife and James' s daughter Mary banned the play from the court for her dissatisfaction with its political tropes,it became a regular feature at the Drury Lane and in Queen's theatre during the first half of the eighteenth century.Since the play presented Chares II in negative light and was accepted by both Stuart and Whiggish court,some critics assert that it takes an ambiguous attitude towards the Stuart ideology.However,this play is never ambiguous in its political stance.All her life,Behn was a staunch Royalist and did not change her stance even when William came to the throne,so it was nearly impossible for her to write a play to undermine the Stuart ideology in a time of grave crisis.The possible explanation for the popularity of The Rover among different forces is that the play includes oppositional discourses which allow for the critique of the Stuart monarchy,but these discourses are so well contained that they finally serve to reinforce authority's hold on power.To prove this idea,it is necessary to put the play in its historical context.The Rover was published a year before the Exclusion Crisis when the myth of Restoration became thin and the country was religiously and politically divided.Overseas England was facing the threat of Catholic countries and the military rivalry with Holland.Inside the country the conflicts between different religions,political cabals and classes were simmering to a boiling point.Firstly,the King's repeated pro-Catholicism acts led Protestants worry that their long-cherished faith would be overwhelmed by popery.Secondly,over the issue of royal executive and Parliament,the Cavalier Parliament was divided into two great parties with the Court(predecessor of Tory)supporting the rule of crown over Parliament and the Country(predecessor of Whig)upholding a constitutional monarchy.What worsened the matter was Charles' s licentious lifestyle.Because the Stuart ideology was essentially patriarchal,family was regarded by the Stuart people as a microcosm of the country,so the royal misbehavior was associated with the bad monarchical government.As the conflicts between the WhiggishParliament and Charles II escalated,there was a widespread rumour that 1640 was coming soon.Pressured by the highly-charged atmosphere,Behn,as a staunch Royalist,must align the unruly audience with the Stuart monarchy and meantime give ideological affirmation to Charles' s reign in order to show her continuing support to the court.Behn records two types of subversive discourses in The Rover,which respond to the accusations against Charles II in real life: his pro-Catholicism tendency and the libertine lifestyle.These charges are dissolved by Behn in the way of political tropes.The titular rover,Willmore,is a representative of cavalier or in a more specific way,Charles II;and another character,Blunt,is associated with Puritans.By presenting the difference between them,Behn delivers the message that the King has no passion for Catholicism and it is not the King who abandons England for a foreign courtesan but the Puritan.The play also contains Behn's disapproval of Charles' s libertinism by presenting the havoc wrought by libertine behaviors.She wants to persuade the King to give up his promiscuous actions and embrace the image of a good father both to the family and the country.At last,all the subversive thoughts are directed to a positive acceptance of king's rule rallied by the nationalistic Royalism which are associated with the imperial glory of the Elizabethan Golden Age.