It has been sitting in my to-read pile (which hasn’t yet quite taken over the house) for a long time, but I’ve finally got around to reading Maureen Duffy’s The Passionate Shepherdess: The Life of Aphra Behn. It was published first in 1977, although I’ve been reading the preface-updated 2000 paperback. Since it is such a popular topic I’ve no doubt aspects of the account have been modified by subsequent research, but it is an excellent read, and a decent piece of what in 1977 was real recovery work.
I’ll share just a little part that appealed, talking about her play Sir Timothy Tawdry:
Dellmor: Gods what an odious thing mere coupling is!
A thing which every sensual animal
Can do – as well as we – but prithee tell me,
Is there naught else between the nobler creatures?
Flauntit: Not that I know of, sir – Lord he’s very silly or very innocent, I hope he has his maidenhead; if so and rich too, Oh what a booty were this for me!By introducing the brothel and Betty Flauntit’s attempts to get Bellmor for his money, Aphra Behn has made a parallel between prostitution and forced marriage …
Bellmor: Will you now show me some of your arts of love?
For I am very apt to learn of beauty – Gods –
What is’t I negotiate for? – a woman!
Making a bargain to possess a woman!
Oh, never, never!
You can see why later, more genteel generations had troubles with Aphra – suuch bluntness wouldn’t come back into fashion for centuries.
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