The Rover
by Aphra Behn

The Rover: Style 1 key example

Style
Explanation and Analysis:

As in much of her work, Behn's style in the The Rover can first and foremost be called anti-conventional—especially given that she was a female writer. Her language is clever and complex, and she does not shy away from filling the play with wordplay in the form of puns, double entendre, metaphors, euphemisms, and irony. Although this bold use of language is quite standard in Restoration comedies, it was unusual at this time for women to address sexual relationships, immorality, and debauchery as explicitly and playfully as she does in the play. Behn's gender doesn't deter her from writing explicitly about erotic themes and other topics that people would have found improper for women to address.