Aphra Behn, The Rover, or The Banish't Cavaliers

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The Rover

:

or, The Banish't Cavaliers

was Aphra Behn's most popular play and was one of the first to be revived in the twentieth century. Although it may have been shown earlier it is known to have been performed on 24th March 1677, in front of Charles II, by the Duke's Company at Dorset Gardens theatre. The plot was loosely based on Thomas Killigrew's closet drama

Thomaso: or the Wanderer

but Behn cut down the original material, reducing Killigrew's long discursive scenes, and combining others to make a faster pace. She also changed much of the characterisation, and added an entirely new heroine in Hellena. She defended charges of plagiarism but made no real secret of her debt to Killigrew. Thriftily Behn later used some of the material she had discarded in

The Rover Part II.

The Rover is

2771 words

Citation: Lewcock, Dawn. "The Rover, or The Banish't Cavaliers". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 November 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7622, accessed 19 March 2024.]

7622 The Rover, or The Banish't Cavaliers 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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