Behn's Source
Behn based The Rover on Thomas Killigrew's comedy Thomaso, or The Wanderer, a two-part, ten-act closet drama first printed in 1664. In a postscript to the published play, Behn claims that the plot was her own, but that "hints" were taken from Killigrew's work. Here, however, Behn was being "disingenuous about her indebtedness to Thomaso," since in reality "Almost the whole of the plot, as well as many details, were borrowed" from Killigrew's work.
Behn is widely credited with a vast improvement in Killigrew's "indulgent and inert" drama. "Behn is right to claim that her play is wittier, and literary history has endorsed her belief in her work."
Selected Quotes
"There's no sinner like a young saint."
"'adsheartlikins."
"And this man you must kiss, nay you must kiss none but him too - and nuzzle through his beard to find his lips - And this you must submit to for threescore years, and all for a jointure!"
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The Rover - Summary
HumorThe Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers is a play in two parts written by the English author Aphra Behn. It was a very popular Restoration comedy. Behn had famously worked as a spy for Charles II against the Dutch. However, Charles was slow to pay her f...
