The character of Hellena in Aphra Behn’s The Rover could be described as outspoken, witty, and rebellious˳ This article will focus on Hellena’s rebellious nature and explore the deeper meanings of it˳ We find Hellena rebelling against her brother Pedro’s wishes to send her to a nunnery, against the conventional system of honor expected of 17th century women, and against the traditional roles of females in society˳ These three areas will be studied in depth to reveal the reasons for, and the results of, Hellena’s rebellious nature˳
Hellena’s personality is set forth almost immediately in the play when she says to Florinda, “Now hang me, if I don’t love thee for that dear disobedience˳ I love mischief strangely…”˳ The Rover creates a picture of a society dominated by men, and Hellena is clearly not a woman who wants to be controlled˳
In the first scene, we discover that the futures of Hellena and Florinda have already been determined by their father, and their brother Pedro plans to carry out his wishes˳ Florinda humbly submits to her brother: “Sir, I shall strive to do as shall become your sister”˳ But the outspoken Hellena openly rebels in the face of her sister’s obedience: “As becomes his sister! That is to be as resolved your way as he is his”˳ In this way, Florinda is a foil to Hellena because she is portrayed as the “ideal” subservient woman while Hellena is much more of a free spirit˳ Presumably, one of Hellena’s chief concerns as a prospective nun should be chastity, but she is much more concerned with expressing her sexual desires˳ Pedro scolds Hellena by remarking that she is “not designed for the conversation of lovers”˳ However, it is Hellena’s conversation with Pedro that sheds light on Florinda’s desire to marry Belvile˳ In this way, Florinda is also a parallel to Hellena because they are both being forced, by men, to suppress their desires˳ Hellena’s rebellion against her brother and against the convent is clearly a stance against being controlled by men˳
This brings us to our second point regarding Hellena’s rebellion against the conventional system of honor expected from the women of her time˳ While this is closely tied to the first area we explored, it has specific qualities that need to be examined˳
The ideal 17th century woman was one who ate very little, fainted easily and often, and blushed whenever she was looked at˳ Her code of honor was primarily influenced by her duty to obey men and to remain chaste˳ This code is turned on its ear early by Hellena and is exemplified when she and Willmore meet for the first time˳ We discover that neither is searching for a permanent relationship — they are just looking to “get it on”˳ Once again, we see Florinda serving as a foil to Hellena˳ While Florinda has been portrayed as a virtuous maid, this stands in stark contrast to the frank sexuality of Hellena˳
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 Hellena’s disguise is a means of hiding her identity and, thus, liberating her from the restrictions placed on it by a patriarchal society˳ The ideal woman of this period would certainly never break her code of honor by defying the authority of a male, but Hellena not only breaks the code, she proves to be an equal wit to the most outspoken man in the play — Willmore˳
The third point regards the traditional role of females˳ This point encompasses the first two that we have looked at, but it also serves to put an exclamation point on one of the main themes of the play˳ With the rebellion of Hellena, Behn is resisting the double standard 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 foil to Hellena˳ This may be difficult to see at first because, as a prostitute, Angelica certainly falls outside the guidelines of an ideal or a proper woman˳ But on closer examination, the contrast will come to light˳
Angelica has vowed that “nothing but gold shall charm my heart”˳ In declaring this, she has suppressed her natural desires in order 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˳ This is why she must attempt to cast aside the identity imposed on her when she begins to fall in love with Willmore˳ As long as she is locked into the stigma that goes along with prostitution, she will never be able to pursue her “natural” desires˳ Likewise, Florinda’s natural desires are also held captive by her idealized maidenhood˳ By showing the limits on self-expression and sexuality in the female identities, the “unnaturalness” of these roles are revealed, whether it be nun, maid, or prostitute˳
When Hellena steps out of the traditional female stereotype of her day, her contrast with the other two women comes to fruition˳ Instead of being jealous of finding Willmore with another woman, Hellena teaches him a lesson by matching him in wit and beating him at his own game˳ In this way, she stands in direct opposition with Angelica who, because of her jealousy, threatens Willmore’s life˳ Angelica has physical beauty, but Hellena has that plus wit and humor to match Willmore’s˳
In conclusion, we have examined how Hellena rebels against her brother and the nunnery in order to avoid being controlled˳ We have also seen how her rebellion against the conventional honor expected from women of her era not only liberates her from restrictions, but ultimately wins her the title character himself˳ And finally, we have explored how her rebellion against traditional female roles places her in contrast with the other women and yields a positive result˳ As the female characters push at the boundaries of identity allotted to them, we come to see that a woman’s nature is not contained within a label, whether it be nun, prostitute, or maid˳ However, Behn does show that living “happily ever after” in a patriarchal society is not an easy task, and it is only Hellena’s courage to rebel that makes it possible˳
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