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The Rover 2.1 lines 92- 146 (Angellica is self blazoning by her physical…
The Rover 2.1 lines 92- 146
Angellica is self blazoning by her physical portrait which caters to a male gaze and fuels their desire, which in turns fuels her vanity and the power that she wields over men
'and hang up a great picture of Angellica's against the balcony, and two little ones at each side of the door'
The portrait which advertises her chars is in part a sign of submission to the male spectator, flattering him, offering up the female figure as an eroticised subject that will serve at his pleasure.
She has an immense pride bred by her beauty and her experience of the power that it gives her over men
Behn shows that the process of inciting male desire reinforces the diminishment she is striving to erase - whilst being an object of desire, she is also just an object, a commodity, somewhere where any man may traverse. Reduces herself to the level of an object
Her beauty and its proportionately exalted pride come close to recreating the physical unattainability of the chaste Petrarchan lady. She sparks this ideology of unattainability through her high prices. However, a Petrarchan mistress must also be chaste.
'inconstancy is the sin of mankind' she is therefore afraid of losing her power over men once they have slept with her, and thus reducing her status as the Petrarchan mistress.
metaphor of her as a spider, trapping men - it is her conquest, and she gains gold 'I have spread my nets'
She has narcissistic pleasure - feeds the pride of a woman who desire chiefly to be desired.
'the first were admirers of beauty only' immense power that beauty wields, gives Angellica power, but also diminishes her worth to a commodity, an object that must be conquered and owned for money. Self destructive
'their wonder feeds my vanity'
Willmore starts by worshipping her beauty, like the other suitors,
'Willmore gazes on the picture' he terms the acquisition of her expensive wares as an ultimate display of her masculine prowess, a political territorial act of masculine aggression which reinstates the cavalier over the Spanish.
'How wondrous fair she is. A thousand crowns a month? By heaven, as many kingdoms were too little' territorial
Desire is beginning to be configured as a challenge in order to prove his masculinity - the unattainable object. He must have sex with her, other his masculinity will be diminished by her rejection of him.
sets up problematic dynamics of power, where Willmore cannot conceive of non-consent
ironic literal auctioning of Angellica and the condemnation of the cavaliers of prostitution, as patriarchal codes force all women in a way to auction themselves through marriage. Marriage also operates in a mercenary structure such as this one, 'Scold! What impudence is practised in this country' also very hypocritical coming from Blunt, who later jumps at the opportunity to sleep with a prostitute.
Behn mocks the cavalier, 'I'm sure we're no chapmen for this commodity' comedic critique
ironic also that Pedro immediately is involved within the auctioning, as he also auctions off his sisters