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Aphra Behn: Libertine? Or Marital Reformer? Aphra Behn: Libertine? Or Marital Reformer? A History, with an Examination of Several Plays and Fictions By Florence Irene Munson Rouse in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master ofArts in English May 12, 1998 Thesis Adviser: Iit. William C. Home Aphra Behn: Libertine? Or Marital Refiormer? A Histqry with an Examinjation ofSeveral Prays and Fictions This Thesis for the M.A. degree in English by Florence Irene Munson Rouse has been approved for the Graduate Faculty by Supervisor: Reader: Date: Aphra Behn was an important female vliter in the Restoration era. She wrote twenty or more plays which were produced on the London stage, as well as a dozen or more novels, several volumes ofpoetry, and numerous translations. She was the flrSt WOman VIiter tO Cam her living byher pen. After she became successful, a concerted attack was made on her, alleging a libertine life and inmoral behavior. Gradually, her life work was expunged from the seventeenth-century literary canon based on this alleged lifestyle. Since little factual information is available about her her life, critics have been happyto invent various scenarios. The only true understanding ofher attitudes is found in the reading ofher plays, not to establish autobiographical facts, but to understandher attitudes. Based on the evidence inher many depictions oflibertine men in her satirical comedies, she disliked male libertines and foundtheir behavior deplorable. in plays and poetry, her longing for a new social order in which men and women micht love andrespect one another in freely chosen wedlock is the dominant theme. Far from being libertine, Aphra Behn is an early pioneer for companionate marriage. Aphra Beta: Libertine? Cir Marital Reformer A Hstory, with an Examination of Several Plays andFictions Aphra Behn was bom in 1640, almost midwaythrough one ofthemost intellectually tempestuous centuries inhistory. scientific discovery with its empirical knowledge collided with religious value systems thathad been in place for a millenium. Early in the century, Galileo was imprisoned as aheretic for publishinghis observations ofthe stars and planets. A chticnotes that the scientist was heardto mutter even as he was led away, clhe earth stillrevolves aroundthe sun." Francis Bacon arguedthat the study ofthenatural WOrld should be separated from the traditional studies ofrelialon, andthat perhaps it was a mistaketo base all knowledge ofthe physical world on the flrst chapter ofGenesis and other biblical scriptures. As Bacon was pleading for scientific observation in an age dominated by religion, the scientific thinker, Thomas Broune, pleaded in his ReJz'gr-a MecJJ-CJ' for religion in an age he saw beginning to be dominated by SCience (Willey 19-42). As theologians argued with the scientists, other forces Were at WOrk--the Weakening Of the monarchy andthe landholding classes, therise ofparliamentarypower, andthe gradualrise of a mercantile class. The Reformationhad split Christianity into several large denominations and numerous splinter sects. Many ofthese, such as the Scoiety ofFriends, encouraged literary among their adherents, including women (Hobby 26-53). Milton shows himselfto be in themain curent ofseventeenth-Gentrythought whenhe argues that scripture, having been vlitten dOun, translated andre-translatedby many vliterS, Can be an unreliable guide tO thewill ofGee, but insteadthe individual must look withinhinselffor the ¢cSpiritwhich is given to us all, andWhich iS Our dutytO follow." (De DoctrI'#¢ CfrJ'is,J'¢7acX", Cited in Willey (19-42). Many thinkers were influenced by Descartes who placedhis faith inthetruths Of mathematics, but believed, as well, in thereality ofmind and soul. Willey credits Descartes with encourachghis ageto throw off ccits awe ofantiquity99 and begin to look to the future when humankind willmake inevitable progress. It was Descartes who planted in our minds the possibility ofhuman perfedibility (76-92). 2 Rouse 2 perhapsthephilosopher whohadthemost profound effect onthe life andreputation of Aphra Bdr was Thomas Hobbes, whowas very influential during the Restoration period. Hs great work, zevJ-CIfhaJ4 Was whtten during the Civil War in England. He abhoITed Civil disorder and believed in a strong govemment. Hs philosophy could be summed up in the following quotation: ccThe universe, that is, thewhole mass ofall things that are, is corporeal, that is to say, body, and haththe dimeusious of magnitude, namely length, breadth, and depth; also, every part ofbody is likewise body, and haththe like dimeusious, and consequently every part ofthe universe is body, andthatwhich is not body is no part ofthe universe; and because the universe is all, thatwhich is no pat ofit is nothing, andcousequeutly 7,OwheJle. " (Chap. xlvi, cited in Willey 93). Hobbes believed only in thethings he could see, and consequently denied the possibility ofan immortal soul. Forhim, the death ofamanwas the end ofthat man. AphraBehn read Hobbes, but so far as we know, she professed Christian beliefs, andwas apracticing Anglican. Butmany ofthe gallants inthe court of Charles H readHobbes and found in his philosophyan excuse for perfect freedom, since apparentlythere would be no punishment in an afterlife. John Wilmot, the Earl ofRochester, andmany ofhis friends became knorun as cclibertines," for their senlal license andwild hedonism. However, there were other meanings of the word in use during the seventeenth century. For centuries Aphra Behnhas been called a cTemale libertine" by critics andmisogynists, who labeled her bawdy, sexuallypermissive, and whorish because ofher writing, or, perhaps more aptly, her daringto write for a living. We shall see that thepejorative tem has been one cause of her virtual obliteration from the canon ofseventeenthulcentury literature. But what exactly was a libertine? lThat other meanings might there have been? The 3 Rouse 3 chorfordEJ,gJz'sfr a,'cfz'o#cnyhas anumber ofdefinitions. one derives from Roman antiquity where a libertine was aperson manumitted from slavery, anewly free man. inthe seventeenth centnytheterm began to be used byhistorians describingtheological andreligious issues, mostly in Greek and Roman times. Traditional religionists usedthe term to describe various ccheretica199 sects, such asthe antinomians in France. Later, the definition was broadened to describe 6¢free thinkers," or, as the dictionary states, Cthose who held free or loose opinions." V`that a 6Clcose99 opinionmight be is left to the imagination. Bulkeley, one seventeenth-centurywriter, used the term to describe a christian who believed in the doctrine offaith, rather than works. In our own day, many christians believe a docrine offaith to be far more inportantthan a dcotrine of works, and they would certainly be hoITified tO hear themselves described aS CClibertine." Shakespeareused theterm in describing the movement ofair, because it was free-flowing (ffe#ry y, I, i, 48). Naaman Rogers describes strict biblical Pharisees who saw in Christ9s message evidence ofcclibertinism," because his teachings were untraditiona1. Another a.E.D. definition is ccone who follows his arm inclinations or goes his arm way; one who isnot restricted or confined.99 Finally, we come to this definition: A "c,# (italics mine) who isnot restrained by moral law; esp. in his relations to the female sex; one who leads a dissolute, licentious life. *Rarely applied to a woman. (Asterisk supplied by a.E.D.). strangely, the dictionary has not a single citation for the term cclibertine" from the literature ofthe Restoration period. I began with many questions about the work ofWOmen Writers in the Seventeenth century. All my life I hadheardmenjeer at women9s literary ambitions. It was true that we had Virginia Wcolfand Willa Cather, George Eliot, the Brontes, and Jane Austen, but where was our shakespeare? Thatwas apopular put-dour in certain derisive male sets, I found. So I was amazedtohear ofthemanywomen writers from the seventeenth and eichteenth centuries, who were begirming to be read and whtten about inthis century. Chiefamong them was the mys- terious writer named Aphra Behn, who was bom in 1640 and achieved remarkable success 4 Rouse 4 withher writing duringtheyears ofthe Restoration. It seemed unbelievable to me that Ihad not heard ofher in all theyears I had reed widely in English literature. I decidedto hunt for answers, andto tryto discover what indeedhadhappened to virtually eraseher name from the Canon. Fewpeople I know haveheard ofher, but I was fortunate thatarecent spate of scholarship in women9s studies hasprovided an enonous body ofcontemporary critical material. I plarmedto study a play or two, but it developed that there Were at leasttwenty authenticatedplays, all produced in London at atimewhen there were buttwo theaters in which to present them. There werenovels and short stories andmanypoems, as well. Thework included essays, criticalreviews, translations, and pamphalets. To understand Aphra Behn9s work, I realized I wouldhave toread across the various genres, instead ofsettling for a few plays. I concluded she was not a Shakespeare, but she gave her contemporaries Wycherley, Etherege, and ftyden anm fortheir money. Cinly Itryden hadmore successful dramasproduced in London than Aphra Behn. I decided on an interdisciplinary essay, considering the various facets ofher career, and the unique contributions she made, andthen, why, over time, thehad been erased. The charge of c61ibertinism" seemed to be the deciding factor, but, was she, in fact, a libertine at all? The more
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