Hellena’s character in Aphra Behn’s The Rover could be described as outspoken, witty and rebellious. This article will focus on Helena’s rebellious nature and explore the deeper meanings of it. We find Helena rebelling against her brother Pedro’s wishes to send her to a convent, against the conventional honor system expected of seventeenth-century women, and against women’s traditional roles in society. These three areas will be studied in depth to reveal the reasons and results of Helena’s rebellious nature.
Helena’s personality is exposed almost immediately in the play when she says to Florinda, “Now hang me, if I don’t love you for that dear disobedience. I love mischief in a strange way…”. The Rover creates an image of a male-dominated society, and Helena is clearly not a woman who wants to be controlled.
In the first scene, we find out that Helena and Florinda’s future has already been determined by their father, and their brother Pedro plans to carry out his wishes. Florinda humbly submits to her brother: “Lord, I will do my best to do what is right for her sister.” But the outspoken Helena openly rebels against her sister’s obedience: “As befits her sister! That’s being as resolute in your way as he is in his.” In this way, Florinda is a foil to Helena because she is presented as the “ideal” subservient woman, while Helena is much more of a free spirit. Presumably, one of Helena’s main concerns as a future nun should be her chastity, but she is much more concerned with expressing her sexual desires. Pedro scolds Helena by pointing out that she “isn’t designed for lovers’ conversation.” However, it is Helena’s conversation with Pedro that sheds light on Florinda’s desire to marry Belvile. In this way, Florinda is also a parallel to Helena because men force both of them to repress her desires. Helena’s rebellion against her brother and the convent is clearly a stance against male control.
This brings us to our second point regarding Helen’s rebellion against the conventional honor system expected of women of her time. While this is closely related to the first area we explored, it has specific qualities that need to be looked at.
The ideal seventeenth-century woman was one who ate very little, fainted easily and often, and blushed every time she was looked at. Her honor code was primarily influenced by her duty to obey men and remain chaste. This code is activated early by Helena and is exemplified when she and Willmore first meet. We found out that neither of them is looking for a permanent relationship, they are just looking to “move on”. Once again, we see Florinda serving as a foil to Helena. While Florinda has been portrayed as a virtuous maiden, this is in stark contrast to Helena’s outspoken sexuality.
Hellena also breaks the code of honor by relying heavily on deception, specifically, by disguising herself as a man. Deception is involved throughout the play, and Helena’s disguise is a means of concealing her identity and thereby freeing her from the restrictions imposed on her by a patriarchal society. The ideal woman of this period would certainly never break her code of honor by challenging a man’s authority, but not only does Helena break the code, she proves to have the same wit as the most outspoken man in the play: Willmore.
The third point refers to the traditional role of women. This point encompasses the first two that we have seen, but it also serves to put an exclamation mark on one of the main themes of the work. With Hellena’s rebellion, Behn resists the double standards applied to women, as well as the idealization of what a “proper” woman should be.
A good place to start would be to point out that Angelica Bianca is introduced as a second complement to Helena. This can be hard to see at first because, as a prostitute, Angelica certainly falls outside the guidelines of an ideal or proper woman. But on closer examination, the contrast will come to light.
Angelica has sworn that “nothing but gold will cast a spell on my heart.” By stating this, she has repressed her natural desires to market herself as a prostitute. Romantic love, in the traditional sense, is not a possibility for a woman whose identity is defined and devalued as a prostitute. That is why she must try to let go of the identity that is imposed on her when she begins to fall in love with Willmore. As long as she is locked in the stigma that accompanies prostitution, she will never be able to pursue her “natural” desires. Likewise, Florinda’s natural desires are also captives of her idealized maidenliness. By showing the limits of self-expression and sexuality in female identities, the “unnaturalness” of these roles is revealed, be it nun, servant or prostitute.
When Hellena breaks out of the traditional female stereotype of her time, her contrast to the other two women comes to life. Rather than being jealous of finding Willmore with another woman, she teaches Helena a lesson from herself by matching him in wits and beating him at her own game. Thus, she finds herself in direct opposition to Angelica who, out of her jealousy, threatens Willmore’s life. Angelica has physical beauty, but Helena has that extra wit and humor to match Willmore’s.
In conclusion, we have examined how Helena rebels against her brother and the convent to avoid being controlled. We’ve also seen how her rebellion against the conventional honor expected of women of her time not only frees her from restraint, but ultimately gives her the main character of her. And finally, we have explored how her rebellion against her traditional female roles sets her in contrast to other women and yields a positive outcome. As the female characters push the boundaries of the identity assigned to them, we come to see that a woman’s nature is not contained within one label, be it nun, prostitute, or servant. However, Behn shows that living “happily ever after” in a patriarchal society is no easy task, and only Helena’s courage to rebel makes it possible.