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Rae Long
Professor Adriana Streifer
ENLT 2524-002
28 March 2014
Loyalty and Faithfulness as a Gender Divide in The Rover
When examining the relationships in The Rover, whether they are romantic, familial or
amiable, there are a variety of expectations regarding loyalty and trust among the characters.
Throughout the play, there is a distinction between the males’ definition of loyalty as opposed to
the females’, which becomes clear as the conflicts of the play unfold. There are certain
characters that value loyalty more highly than others, which thus results in a web of conflict
among many relationships. The different reactions of males and females to infidelity are
indicative of the assumptions that each gender makes about the opposing one. The implicit
gender divisions in The Rover determine the character’s definitions of loyalty and, likewise,
whom they feel is worthy of their faithfulness.
Valiant actions taken by characters in defense of the ones they love are one of clearest
markers of loyalty and they do not go unnoticed, particularly in the case of Florinda and
Belvile’s relationship. Belvile and Florinda have a history together and Florinda makes it clear
that she holds him in the highest esteem from the very beginning of the play. In making a case
against her brother’s disdain for Belvile, Florinda recounts how she became acquainted with
Belvile: “When I was exposed to such dangers as the licensed lust of common soldiers
threatened, when rage and conquest flew through the city, then Belvile, this criminal for my
sake, threw himself into all dangers to save my honor” (1.1.78-82). Even though her brother
wishes her to marry for financial security, she makes the case to be allowed to marry Belvile
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because he defended her honor. Despite knowing her efforts are futile, Florinda vehemently
defends Belvile to Pedro. To Florinda, the act of valor that Belvile demonstrated is enough for
her to support her loyalty towards him which Florinda makes clear to her sister: “how near
soever my father thinks I am to marrying that hated object [Don Vincentio], I shall let him see I
understand better what’s due to my beauty, birth, and fortune and more to my soul” (1.1.23-26).
Here, Florinda proves that she is willing to go defy her family’s wishes--however ineffective her
efforts may be--because she knows Belvile is an honorable man and therefore, he is the one she
is meant to be with. Florinda and Belvile’s relationship acts as a model for all others in the play
in that they exemplify what it means to be loyal and, because of this, all other conflicts can be
seen in full view. Their situation sets up a contrast in how the different thought processes and
emotions of males and females regarding love will directly influence loyalty.
As opposed to Belvile’s honorable actions, Willmore gives empty promises and
proclamations of affection in order to woo Angellica and Hellena, but these women sill have a
certain expectation for him to remain true to his intentions. When he first encounters Hellena,
Willmore makes it clear that he sees her as merely a conquest by saying, “I have been bred in
dangers, and wear a sword that has been employed in a worse cause than for a handsome kind
woman. Name the danger; let it be anything but a long siege and I’ll undertake it” (1.2.181-184).
When Willmore says this last phrase, not only is he turning her into some sort of prize, but he
makes it evident that he holds no interest in having a prolonged relationship with her by warning
her that he cannot dare not face a “long siege”. Later on, when Hellena is aware that Willmore
has pursued another woman, she still has feelings for him and remains conflicted as to why he
shouldn’t either. She acknowledges her confusion saying, “Hum, he has not kept his word with
me here, and may be taken up. That thought is not very pleasant to me. What the deuce should
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this be now that I feel?” (3.1.24-26). She knows he has significant character flaws and that it is
inevitable that he would be unfaithful, yet she still hopes amorous feelings will overcome his
indiscretions. Despite Hellena’s little experience with men, she creates an expectation for this
relationship with Willmore in her mind because, in a way, she cannot help it. She develops
faithfulness towards him that springs directly from her feelings.
Angellica shares this assumption that Willmore will stay true to his word, but to a much
greater extent. Willmore cannot pay a thousand crowns to sleep with Angellica and she initially
criticizes his efforts stating, “were thy fortune as large as is thy soul, thou shouldst not buy my
love” (2.2.105-106). She also makes it clear that she is particularly on her guard when it comes
to her pride: “I never loved before, though oft a mistress. Shall my first vows be slighted?”
(2.2.121-122). Willmore captures her heart in a way that will affect her honor by telling her to
“throw off this pride, this enemy to bliss, and show the power of love” (2.2.135-136). Thus
Willmore is able to convince Angellica to sleep with him without paying her by calling her
dignity and true feelings into question rather than her career. When Angellica later finds him
conversing with Hellena, she is shocked. Once Moretta, her kinswoman, asks her what she
expected from a man like him, Angellica replies, “Expect? As much as I paid him: a heart entire,
which I had pride enough to think when’er I gave, it would have raised the man above the vulgar,
made him all soul, and that all soft and constant” (3.1.186-189). Angellica feels betrayed and
genuinely heartbroken that she let herself develop feelings where they were not reciprocated. Not
only did she let him sleep with her, but she gave him her “heart entire” which means that she
took her vows of love seriously when he clearly did not. There a certain presumption that
Angellica is not capable of such feelings since she is a courtesan, but her reaction to Willmore’s
indiscretions prove that she has standards for loyalty and does, in fact, value faithfulness just like
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any other woman in the play. Her vows are as important to her as her reputation and Willmore
has shattered both for her, which is the ultimate offense.
Willmore is a quintessential libertine in that he has no moral compass and he revels in the
company of women, but his actions have negative consequences for a number of people close to
him, and not just the women he is involved with. For instance, Belvile must save Florinda from
Willmore’s drunken attempts to sexually assault her. After learning her identity and witnessing
Belvile’s understandable anger, Willmore has little concern for his friend or his lady: “Though
egad, y’are very free with me, methinks. I was in good hopes the quarrel have been on my side,
for so uncivilly interrupting me” (3.6.5-7). Willmore’s infidelity goes beyond sexually
objectifying women and transcends into blatant disrespect for his friends claiming that he
“mistook [Florinda] for an errant harlot” (3.6.24). This displays that Willmore’s only loyalty lies
to his own self-interests. In other words, by trying to justify his egregious actions, he is
deliberately showing that his loyalty does not lie with his friends or those who his friends care
for. Belvile criticizes his senseless actions by remarking, “If it had not been Florinda, must you
be a beast? A brute? A senseless swine?” (3.6.2-3). However, Willmore is even supported by
their comrade, Frederick, after the debacle with Florinda: “Prithee, dear colonel, forgive him;
he’s sorry for his fault” (3.6.20-21). This is representative of where the males’ loyalties lie, apart
from Belvile, as it clearly not with women. If turmoil exists among their friendships, then a
resolution takes precedence over consequences for the wrongdoings they commit.
There are number of representations of what it means to be loyal in The Rover and it’s
almost impossible to ignore the how gender plays a role in these interpretations. Opinions and
actions vary from character to character, but they all intermingle to create an interesting
commentary on the different degrees to which members from each gender value the importance
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of loyalty. Florinda and Belvile act as a model that is consistently contrasted by the chaotic
relationships of which Willmore is usually the center. While Hellena intentionally enters into a
mere flirtation with Willmore and Angellica takes his vows much more seriously, they both have
certain expectations as to how he will feel about them since the object of their affection carries a
lot of weight for these women. Willmore and his comrades demonstrate the popular male
opinion: that women are not worthy of their loyalty and, if need be, their male comrades take
precedence. In many ways, The Rover creates divisions within established gender boundaries and
complicates the question of how certain characters are meant feel about faithfulness when much
of their belief is based in many other complexities and circumstances of the characters.
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Works Cited
Behn, Aphra. The Rover Or, the Banished Cavaliers. The Norton Anthology of Drama.
Ed. J. Ellen. Gainor, Stanton B. Garner, and Martin Puchner. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2009.
1387-463. Print.