Reclaiming Restoration: Teaching Aphra Behn’s The Rover in the 21st-Century Classroom

What happens when you bring a 17th-century female playwright into a modern senior English classroom? Magic. Wit. Chaos. And more importantly—critical conversations about gender, power, and identity that feel as relevant today as they did in Restoration England.

This spring, I designed a full-length ELA unit on The Rover by Aphra Behn for my 12th-grade students. With its bawdy humor, masked identities, and rebellious women, The Rover offers a surprisingly accessible and engaging lens for exploring complex themes like consent, disguise, agency, and satire. And yes—students loved it.

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Why Aphra Behn? Why Now?

Aphra Behn is a name every student should know. As one of the first English women to earn her living as a writer, she paved the way for women in literature. Her bold voice and unapologetic wit push against the rigid gender roles of her time—making The Rover a natural entry point for modern discussions around feminism, freedom, and societal expectation.

In a literary canon still dominated by men, Behn brings something essential: a woman’s perspective on desire, control, and resistance. Her work doesn’t just deserve a place on the syllabus—it demands one.

Unit Highlights

• Essential Questions:

• How does Behn challenge traditional gender roles?

• In what ways does the play critique Restoration society?

• What role do disguise and performance play in identity?

• Core Text: The Rover, 1677

• Acts I–V explored in depth over 2–3 weeks

• Paired with contextual resources on Restoration theater, gender studies, and historical background

• Major Projects:

• Analytical essay on gender, deception, or satire

• Modern scene adaptations and dramatic performances

• Socratic seminars, debate (“Is The Rover a feminist play?”), and creative writing extensions

Outcomes and Impact

Students responded enthusiastically—many for the first time truly seeing themselves in classic literature. They were particularly drawn to Hellena’s refusal to be silenced, Florinda’s fight for autonomy, and the blurred line between comedy and critique in Behn’s dialogue.

We used the Carnival setting to dig into performance as freedom. We wrestled with uncomfortable moments, like Florinda’s near-assault, and unpacked the importance of context and satire in understanding Behn’s intent.

Most powerfully, we gave students space to compare The Rover to modern media—from Euphoria to Bridgerton—and to examine how gender expectations have (or haven’t) evolved.

Downloadable Resources

If you’d like to bring this unit to your own classroom, I’ve put together everything you need:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1mTBONrJkcVawIhUh1st3J61CC_Msf8_3

Final Thoughts

Teaching The Rover isn’t just an exercise in literary analysis—it’s an act of literary recovery. When students read Behn, they hear a voice centuries ahead of its time—a voice that challenges, provokes, and inspires.

And isn’t that what great literature is supposed to do?