Aphra Behn

📷 Wikimedia Commons — domaine public — Peter Lely — 1670

1640 — 1689

royaume d'Angleterre

LiteraturePerforming ArtsDramaturgeEarly Modern17th century, the English Restoration period under Charles II, contemporary with French Classicism

Aphra Behn (1640-1689) was the first English woman to earn her living by the pen. A prolific playwright, novelist, and spy in the service of Charles II, she defied the conventions of her time by making her mark in the male-dominated literary world.

Famous Quotes

« Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand. »

« Each moment of a happy lover's hour is worth an age of dull and common life. »

Key Facts

Born around 1640 in Kent, England
Spy for Charles II in the Netherlands around 1666
Published Oroonoko (1688), one of the first English novels to condemn slavery
Wrote more than 19 plays, including The Rover (1677)
Died in 1689 and was buried in Westminster Abbey

Works & Achievements

The Forced Marriage, or The Jealous Bridegroom (1670)

Behn's first play, performed successfully for six nights. It marks her entry into the world of professional theatre and immediately establishes her signature themes: forced marriage and female freedom.

The Rover, or The Banished Cavaliers (1677)

Her dramatic masterpiece, following exiled Royalist cavaliers and their romantic adventures in Naples. The play was a triumph and remains the most frequently performed work in her repertoire.

The Lucky Chance, or An Alderman's Bargain (1686)

A bold comedy about mercenary marriages and women's freedom. In her preface, Behn asserted her equal right to explore 'masculine' subjects, sparking lively critical debate.

Poems upon Several Occasions, with A Voyage to the Island of Love (1684)

A poetry collection blending amorous, erotic, and political verse. It demonstrates Behn's mastery of a genre that had until then been dominated by men.

Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave (1688)

A proto-modern novel telling the story of an African prince enslaved in Surinam. Considered one of the earliest anti-slavery texts in English literature, it influenced the epistolary novel and the sentimental novel of the 18th century.

Love Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (1684-1687)

An epistolary novel in three volumes inspired by a real aristocratic scandal. It is regarded as one of the earliest prose novels in English literature.

Anecdotes

In 1666, Aphra Behn was sent to Antwerp by Charles II as a spy, operating under the code name 'Astrea'. Her mission was to monitor the plans of the Dutch enemy during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Despite her valuable intelligence reports, the Crown never reimbursed her expenses, and she was forced to borrow money to return to London — even risking imprisonment for debt.

Before becoming a writer, Aphra Behn spent time in Surinam (present-day Suriname), an English colony in South America, where she is said to have witnessed the revolt of an enslaved African prince. This experience directly inspired her novel Oroonoko (1688), one of the earliest works of English literature to condemn the slave trade.

Behn was the first woman in England to earn a professional living by her pen. She responded to critics who condemned her boldness with sharp wit: 'I value fame as much as if I had been born a hero.' She published under her own name at a time when women, at best, signed their work 'A Lady'.

Her play The Rover (1677) was an immediate hit on the London stages of the Restoration. Charles II himself attended several performances and enjoyed them greatly, which shielded Behn from her most zealous censors. The play was revived throughout the eighteenth century.

Upon her death in 1689, Aphra Behn was buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey — a rare honor granted to a woman of letters. Virginia Woolf, in A Room of One's Own (1929), would write more than two centuries later that 'all women together ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn.'

Primary Sources

Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave (1688)

I was myself an eye-witness to a great part of what you will find here set down; and what I could not be witness of, I received from the mouth of the chief actor in this history.

The Rover, or The Banished Cavaliers (1677)

Willmore: 'Faith, Child, I was born a Rover; and a Rover I'll die; unless thou canst give me reasons for being otherwise.'

Letter from Aphra Behn to Thomas Killigrew (spy correspondence) (1666)

I have done my duty to my King and country to the utmost of my ability, and I humbly request that my charges may be reimbursed, having received nothing to support me in so costly an employment.

Poems upon Several Occasions, with A Voyage to the Island of Love (1684)

Love in fantastic triumph sat, / Whilst bleeding hearts around him flowed, / For whom fresh pains he did create, / And strange tyrannic power he showed.

The Lucky Chance, or An Alderman's Bargain (Preface) (1686)

All I ask, is the Privilege for my Masculine Part the Poet in me… if I must not, because of my Sex, have this Freedom… I lay down my Quill, and you shall hear no more of me.

Key Places

London, Covent Garden

The heart of Restoration theatrical life, Covent Garden was home to the coffeehouses, theatres, and publishing houses that Behn frequented regularly. It was here that she built her reputation as a playwright.

Antwerp, Belgium

In 1666, Behn was sent there as a spy under the code name 'Astrea'. She gathered military intelligence on the Dutch navy on behalf of Charles II.

Suriname (Paramaribo), South America

Behn stayed in this English colony around 1663–1664. There she encountered enslaved Africans and indigenous peoples, an experience that directly inspired her novel Oroonoko.

Westminster Abbey, London

Aphra Behn's burial place since 1689, in the abbey's cloisters. This posthumous honour is a testament to public recognition of her literary significance.

Wye, Kent, England

The probable birthplace of Aphra Behn, around 1640. This village in the county of Kent represents her modest origins before her London life and overseas travels.