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This paper purposes to examine Aphra Behn’s challenge to patriarchy in The Rover, Part I and II through the investigation of her heroines’ various attempts to frustrate their objectification in patriarchal society. In part I, despite their efforts, Angellica and Florinda fail to become ‘desiring subjects,’ for Angellica cannot devise a way out of her status as a commodified courtesan while Florinda acquiesces to her status as a prized property under male protection. However, Hellena seems to succeed to become a subject in her attempt to lure Willmore the libertine into a marriage that is free from the conventional constraints of patriarchy and in which she and Willmore both act as equal agents. Hellena achieves this through creating a new identity whore/virgin and by refusing to give her over to her lover once and for all. This success seems to be repeated in Part II in which the courtesan La Nuche wins against Ariadne in the battle over Willmore’s love and the two promise to love each other outside the oppressive social institution that is marriage. However, this paper points to the enduring power of patriarchy latent in The Rover. In Part I, despite her creation of a new identity, Hellena only succeeds in deferring her becoming finally a wife, for she cannot imagine her life with Willmore outside marriage. In Part II, La Nuche gets her union with Willmore only through her self-exile from society and as a result ends up being totally dependent upon Willmore’s faith for her happiness, losing her subject status in the relationship with Willmore. In this respect, Aphra Behn inadvertently affirms male authority in patriarchal society paradoxically through her challenge to it. This paper argues that, at the end of each part, the eventual winner is not Aphra Behn’s heroines but Willmore who never abandons his instinct as a libertine and succeeds in winning the hearts of innumerable women and bedding them without any punishment. In this respect, contrary to Aphra Behn’s intention, The Rover confirms the fatal attraction of male body and the enduring male authority in patriarchal society.
