The Rover is Behn's reworking of Thomaso, a play written two decades earlier by Thomas Killigrew. The plot, characters, and many of the lines in The Rover are very similar to those of Thomaso. Behn chose, however, to change the setting. While Killigrew's play was set in Madrid, Spain during the Spanish Inquisition, her play takes place in Naples, Italy during Carnival season. Naples was ruled by the Spanish throughout the 17th century. In line with this, English stereotypes about both Italians and Spanish people from the time shape the characters and events of the play. In Roman Catholic countries like Italy and Spain, Carnival is a time of revelry and indulgence that precedes the restrictive period of Lent.
Although the play was written during the Restoration, the reference to the "Banished Cavaliers" in the play's extended title indicates that the play is set during the Interregnum. The Interregnum was the period after the English Civil Wars when England was ruled by various forms of republican government. Following the Parliamentarian defeat of the Royalists and regicide of King Charles I, the Royalists (also known as "Cavaliers") followed the court of Charles II into exile in Europe. Puritan values were heavily enforced in England throughout the Interregnum—theater performances, for example, were banned. The Restoration began in 1660, when Charles II returned from the Continent and was reinstated as king.
The language, plot, and characters of The Rover are significantly shaped by both the puritanism of the Interregnum and the carnivalesque atmosphere of the Restoration. Given that Behn published her play 17 years after the return of Charles II, her audience members understood the play from the vantage point of the Restoration. Nonetheless, the Interregnum was still recent enough that they would be aware of the political circumstances and puritan values that the Cavalier characters were in exile from. By setting her play during the Interregnum but also during Carnival, Behn challenges norms and values regarding sex, love, marriage, masculinity, and femininity. Throughout The Rover, Behn plays with the contrasting associations that her temporal setting and geographical setting would evoke for her English audience members in the 1670s.
