1) We get an
early view of the title character, The Rover, Willmore. What is your initial
sense of this character from the action in act 1? (You might pay close
attention to his treatment of Hellena in disguise, for example.)
Or
2) The Rover deals frankly and at length
with prostitution, especially with Italian so-called “courtesans.” Does
anything surprise you in the depictions of the courtesans, and of the men’s
reactions to them? (Pay especial attention to the plot surrounding “Angellica
Bianca.”)
Or
3) How are
prose and poetry juxtaposed in the opening acts? Scene 2.2 is a good place to
look.
Or
4) Discuss another part of today’s reading that
seems to be in need of exploration, elucidation, or comment.
I will open with a brief point: why is there never any linguistic differentiation between romantic and/or familial love/affection and sex/sexual attraction? It’s a neglect and lack of clarity that has always grated on my nerves. Not that there are many positive romantic or familial relations here (with the possible exception of Florinda and Belvile?) but the constant repetition of the baser meaning of a very complex emotive word cheapens all other instances in which it’s used in the context of the play.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I turn to Willmore, who so aggravates me in the nature of my above complaint, but is also so interesting to me in terms of character. That is, the man doesn’t exactly have a character, but he is a partner with Horner in “TCW” in that he is appears to be the technical “hero” of this story due to his driving of the plot and savviness in the genre. Willmore is quite obviously meant to be charismatic to a certain degree (as much of a degree as a rapist can be charismatic…), like Horner, although the latter has all of his relations with willing participants; but there is a repulsive aspect to that charisma as well. Even the name “Willmore” is somewhat cringe-worthy, although an accurate moniker. .
Back to the savvy and wit and wordplay: there are some rather fabulous puns in this text (although not all of them are contributed by Willmore), my favourite being one that might be unintentional (? unlikely, as everything seems to be intentional, but); in III.v [the rape scene, ugh], Willmore uses the word “lie” in two different ways-- he refers to verbal misinformation and sex. At one point, he says, “you lie” twice in succession, and although textually it can read as if he’s simply angry that she says that she’ll call him out on rape, but when acted out he could also be continuing to physically force her to lie down. And in this sense, I can see that the play can be coded as “comedic,” although I don’t find the subject matter all that funny-- there are masques and revels, and love/marriage/sex plots, and comprehensibility is clearly dependent on seeing this play performed as there is so much physical action involved here. Often those actions are left undescribed; the “men and women” are just cued to enter and say a few lines, but what they specifically do onstage visibly can shed light on so many aspects of the spoken plot.
At first glance, Willmore is just another guy in his pack of friends (except that he gets to make an entrance). Very quickly, though, he distinguishes himself as the epitome of everything his friends seem to be trying for: wit, charm, and a complete lack of a moral compass. His delightful wit makes it easy to understand how he wins friends and women so quickly. How he keeps them is another question - he's great with words, but his actions speak for themselves. I guess he just skips town when things start to crumble (he is, after all, The Rover), or he makes sure to associate only with poor promiscuous men and prostitutes, who are less likely to get him killed. Which makes his survival after his attempt to woo Angellica all the more puzzling.
ReplyDeleteIn his first scene, he didn't strike me as much worse of a person than his friends. He just wanted to flirt with everyone in sight, like everyone else in the scene. I was a bit surprised at that point that he was the title character - until the shenanigans started. After reading this play, I think he would get along just fine with Horner, another annoying central character who (annoyingly) escapes unscathed. I don't think I like this morals-suspended literature phase very much.
I feel, with regards to the courtesans, that this is a whole new level of immorality for the society. The Country Wife was bad enough with people cheating on their spouses left and right, yet there was maybe a smidgen of shame left in the people. There was the scene about the pottery (?) that was a (badly) covered discussion about licentious actions. In The Rover, as the courtesans walk through town, there is music playing, and a whole parade/ welcome celebration for bringing them into town. Yes, late the men use roses as a pretty weak metaphor, but I feel that this is the first time we, as a class studying this time period, seeing blatant immorality, with no shame. In addition, when Blunt doesn't even care about his prostitutes name, it seriously makes my skin crawl (not that it would be any better if he did, but it maybe would not be as objectifying.)And Angellica, them hanging her picture on the door has made her into the star of the time, very similar to other STARS we have nowadays... For me its just hard to believe that in such a short span of time we have gone from not being allowed to swear in plays, to this.
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ReplyDeleteIt seems that the men's treatment of the women in the Act II is quite appropriate for the way they are portraying themselves. The men aren't talking very respectfully of the women, ("Kind and obliging to inform us—Pray where do these Roses grow? I would fain plant some of ’em in a Bed of mine; A Pox of fear: I’ll be bak’d with thee between a pair of Sheets, and that’s thy proper Still, so I might but strow such Roses over me and under me"), but the women aren't demanding much respect. They're behaving as prostitutes would, and therefore are receiving that treatment.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Angelica Bianca specifically, she seems as though she is the "leader" so to speak of the rest of the prostitutes. Her house is full of paintings of her which makes her somewhat of a celebrity (even though she might have put those pictures up herself). But the fact that the men come in and are so preoccupied with looking at those pictures (i.e. Willmore, who even tries taking one of them down for himself) portrays Angelica Bianca as a different kind of prostitute, almost like she is in a different category than the rest of them.