Introduction
When professional actresses entered upon the English stage for the first time in 1660, their appearance marked a profound change in theatrical activity in Restoration England under Charles II.
During the Protectorate (1642-1660), Charles II and his court had been in France and when they returned, French influence was brought onto the theatre stage. One of these influences was the introduction of actresses. Although women had already been acting before the Interregnum, they had done so only in the privacy of the court. Charles II, returned to England, supported the public theatre and because the "Restoration spectators were ... exc1usively aristocratic..., favoured the court and shared its attitudes and interests", actresses were easily accepted. Thus, by 1661, actresses were a regular part of the English Restoration stage. It also became a law that exc1usively "women should play women's parts".
Although actresses were now an accepted feature of the stage, their status within a company and within theatrical activity was still inferior to that of male actors. This inferiority included lower wages and only few roles with actua1 speaking parts. Women were rather asked to look beautiful and "to do no more than pose... to be gazed upon and desired by male characters in the play and ... by male spectators". In fact, the Restoration theatre aimed at attracting larger audiences by showing
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Different manners of speech of different characters
2.1 Hellena, the female rake
2.2 Willmore, the male libertine
2.3 Angellica Bianca, the courtesan
2.4 Florinda, the virtuous woman
2.5 Blunt, the fool
3. Language and sexual domination
3.1 The female rake meets the male libertine
3.2 The male libertine meets the virtuous woman
3.3 The male libertine meets the courtesan
3.4 The fool meets the virtuous woman
4. Conclusion
Bibliography
1. Introduction
When professional actresses entered upon the English stage for the first time in 1660, their appearance marked a profound change in theatrical activity in Restoration England under Charles II.
During the Protectorate (1642-1660), Charles II and his court had been in France and when they returned, French influence was brought onto the theatre stage. One of these influences was the introduction of actresses. Although women had already been acting before the Interregnum, they had done so only in the privacy of the court. Charles II, returned to England, supported the public theatre and because the "Restoration spectators were . exc1usively aristocratic..., favoured the court and shared its attitudes and interests",[1] actresses were easily accepted. Thus, by 1661, actresses were a regular part of the English Restoration stage. It also became a law that exc1usively "women should play women's parts".[2]
Although actresses were now an accepted feature of the stage, their status within a company and within theatrical activity was still inferior to that of male actors. This inferiority included lower wages and only few roles with actua1 speaking parts. Women were rather asked to look beautiful and "to do no more than pose... to be gazed upon and desired by male characters in the play and . by male spectators".[3] In fact, the Restoration theatre aimed at attracting larger audiences by showing actresses wearing few or no clothes on-stage and by making them sexually available off-stage. Hence, a woman's popularity did not depend on her acting ability but rather on her sexuality.[4]
Nevertheless, exceptions existed. Certain actresses were able to gain more popularity, power and even more material success than their male colleagues. Elizabeth Harry was one of them. Although her career was set in motion by an affair with the Earl of Rochester, Harry became a highly successful tragic actress, who also functioned as a company manager. Despite her reputation as a "mercenary prostitute",[5] Harry exemplified what female actors were able to gain in a society where libertine beliefs and rakish ways of behaviour had become fashionable.
Another example of a female gaining success during Restoration theatre was Aphra Behn, "Britain's first woman playwright".[6] To save herself from poverty, she began to write professionally and could successfully compete with the male playwrights. Like Barry's, Aphra Behn's career was facilitated by her various relations with men. Thomas Killigrew, the manager of the King's Theatre,[7] helped her to establish her playwright activity. Thomas Betterton, the Duke's Company manager, employed her to write plays for his theatre. Behn also had good contacts to male playwrights such as John Dryden or the already mentioned Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot, the latter probably functioning as the model of the rakish character in many of Behn's plays.
Whatever professional activity women in the theatre performed – whether playwright or actress - they soon lost their good reputation.[8] It was seen as immoral to be an actress and thus, an actress was always assumed to be a prostitute when she displayed herself on-stage. This meant that women in the theatre were regarded as sexually available and no actress had "effective protection against male advances".[9] In fact, many of the actresses during the Restoration period were actual prostitutes off-stage. In this way, they tried to handle the libertine belief of men that all theatre women were fair game and to retain at least some kind of reputation. If they were not prostitutes, actresses could achieve a good position through sexual patronage.[10]
Female playwrights, however, were considered to be intruders on male territory as literature and poetry were exclusively meant for men. Women's writing existed but was rather restricted to writing letters in private. As soon as a woman published her works, she violated a woman's virtue of modesty, i.e. to be passive, quiet and cautious. Modesty was equated with chastity.[11] Thus, women who published literary works were seen to making themselves public and therefore shameless, characteristics which were assumed as leading to eventual sexual excess and promiscuity.[12] Being a female playwright was even worse because drama represented the most public literary genre,[13] which meant that whatever opinion the playwright had it was made known to the public as soon as the play was shown on-stage. Hence, displaying a woman's opinion in public was the highest violation of modesty and therefore it was not worth regarding that woman as being respectable.
As we have seen, during the Restoration period, women were allowed to participate more in public life than before. Nevertheless, their status was still inferior to that of men and they had to be "outstandingly talented and successful".[14] Aphra Behn represents such a talented and successful female playwright. One of her best comedies is The Rover (1676), in which she confronts male inconstancy and libertine beliefs with new concepts of female strategy to resist sexual repression.
On the Restoration stage, the contemporary male behaviour was shown in order to criticise what women had to cope with. As already mentioned, male spectators were free to go behind the scene to meet the actresses in any way they wished. Women were considered as sexual objects to satisfy male lust. Such libertine beliefs - to lead an immoral life being interested mainly in sexual pleasures - aroused the male concept of the rake, the inconstant man who is driven by his sexual appetites. Aphra Behn introduced the witty female rake in her play The Rover in order to represent the female counterpart to male libertinism and to show what women at that time can do to tame such behaviour. Language plays an important role in achieving this goal.
Aphra Behn's play The Rover subverts the traditional concept of women as the property of men and as being modest and thus, presents a new type of woman - the female rake. The following chapters will show how language manifests sexual domination. The next chapter presents different characters of the play and also looks at the characters' way of speaking and behaving. The third chapter then will examine how those different characters act when they meet. Finally, a conclusion will be drawn as to whether there is a relationship between language and sexual domination.
2. Different manners of speech of different characters
2.1 Hellena, the female rake
The first scene of The Rover introduces Hellena, the female rake, the new type of woman that Behn uses to show that desire is not only exclusive to men. Females seek to satisfy their desires as well. Behn believes that they should therefore have the right to do everything to accomplish the satisfaction of this desire. As we know, men in the form of libertines or rakes already pursue sexual pleasure with no restrictions. So, why should not women do the same?
Hellena is supposed to be chastity personified because her brother wants her to spend her life as a nun. She rebels against this wish and we get the impression that her rebellion takes place thanks to the carnival atmosphere:[15] everyone is disguised, can wear masks and thus is able to act against his or her usual behaviour without being recognized. Hellena wants to use the carnival to search for a man to flirt with and eventually to satisfy her desires, both mental and physical. She is determined never to become a nun and she hopes that whatever man she finds will spoil my devotion" (1.1.40). It will be her who chooses the man and not the other way around as tradition would have it. Hellena explains, “I'm resolved to provide myself this carnival, if there be e'er a handsome proper fellow of my humour above ground, though I ask first." (1.1.41-43). She feels herself sexually desirable and wants to have it confirmed by a man. She knows “how all these [youth, humour, beauty, well-shaped body] ought to be employed to the best advantage" (1.1.50-51). The way Hellena speaks shows no traces of chastity. She is very self-confident and knows exactly what she is doing and why. This is for instance shown when she argues with her brother about the future husband that her brother has chosen for her sister Florinda. Aphra Behn employs her character Hellena with very erotic language. Examples of this would be her aside “ I have a saint of my own to pray to shortly, if I like any that dares venture on me."(1.1.165-166) and the orders to her sister: “We'll outwit twenty brothers, if you'll be ruled by me." (1.1.201), “let's ramble" (1.1.204) which clearly show her intentions.
[...]
[1] Elizabeth Howe, "The arrival of the actress", in: Howe, The first English actresses. Women and Drama 1660-1700 (Cambridge,
1992), p. 23.
[2] Ibid, p. 25.
[3] Elizabeth Howe, "Sex and violence", in: Howe, The first English actresses. Women and Drama 1660-1700 (Cambridge, 1992),
p. 39.
[4] See Howe, "The arrival of the actress", p. 35.
[5] Howe, "Sex and violence", p. 30.
[6] Simon Trussler, “The Restoration Theatre", in: Trussler, The Cambridge Illustrated History of British Theatre (Cambridge,
1994), p. 127.
[7] Only two theatre companies were allowed to stage in the Restoration period: the King's Theatre and the Duke's Company.
[8] See Cathrin Brockhaus, "Zum künstlerischen Selbstverständnis der Autorin Aphra Behn“ (Kap. III) in: Aphra Behn und ihre
Londoner Komödien. Die Dramatikerin und ihr Werk im England des ausgehenden Jahrhunderts (Heidelberg 1998), p. 27:
Professionelle weibliche Tätigkeit am Theater - ob als Dramatikerin oder Schauspielerin - zog unweigerlich den Verlust des
guten Rufes nach sich.
[9] Howe,'“The Arrival of the Actress“, p. 33.
[10] See Tmssler, “Restoration Theatre", p. 123. For instance, Charles II functioned as patron for the tragic actress Nell Gwyn;
Elizabeth Barry was the protégée of John Wilmot.
[11] See Cathrin Brockhaus, „Chancen und Probleme weiblicher Autorschaft im England des 17. Jahrhunderts" (Kap. II) in: Aphra
Behn und ihre Londoner Komödien. Die Dramatikerin und ihr Werk im England des ausgehenden Jahrhunderts (Heidelberg
1998), p.17: Im Bezug auf Frauen erhielt modesty die spezifisch sexuelle Bedeutung im Sinne von Keuschheit".
[12] See Brockbans, p. 17: Eloquenz, Phantasie, Wissbegierde und die geistige Beweglichkeit einer "roving mind“ –
Voraussetzungen dichterischer Begabung - bargen in sich... bereits den Keim sexueller Ausschweifung und Promiskuität.
[13] 13 See Cathrin Brockhaus, "Zum künstlerischen Selbstverständnis der Autorin Aphra Behn" (Kap. III) in: Aphra Behn und
ihre Londoner Komödien. Die Dramatikerin und ihr Werk im England des ausgehenden Jahrhunderts (Heidelberg 1998), p. 27:
...das Drama als öffentlichster aller literarischen Gattungen. . .
[14] Howe, "The arrival of the actress", p. 32.
[15] The play The Rover takes place during Carnival in Naples, Italy.
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