The play “The Rover” written by Aphra Behn refers to the period of restoration comedy based on the contemporary events in the political world in England. Her work opposes the puritan streams, and instead, the author treats the amorous adventure of Wilmore in Naples in the late seventeenth century.
The story is about the battle between two women who fight for the love of one man. The play reveals the romanticism of sexual relations and eroticism; it gradually withdraws the Christian and puritan motives about the women’s chastity. The play is also the manifestation of the feministic views of the author; in this work, Behn opposes the powerlessness of women, thus fighting for gender equality.
Being placed in Naples, the play evokes the notes of exotic, as the setting and places where the event happens are foreign. Hence, the protagonist of the story is a comic and romanticized figure, a cavalier who lives in the era of poverty and interregnum during the reign of Tories in England. Anyway, despite the oppressive political atmosphere, the play is filled with light and romantic motives.