Importance of Carnival in Aphra Behn's The Rover

"Masquerading! A lewd custom to debauch our youth. There's something more in this than I imagine." - Don Pedro Aphra Behn, the first female playwright to earn a living through her writing, was also one of the wittiest and entertaining as evidenced through her most well known play, The Rover. Set in 17th century Italy while under the colonial reign of Spain, a large cast of characters becomes embroiled in scenes of infidelity, seduction, misrepresentation, …

…The characters actions speak as much if not more than their words do and the speed of the play is determined by these actions. This could only have been achieved by the confusion and spontaneity inherent in the nature of carnivals. Thus, the importance of Carnival in Aphra Behn's The Rover was paramount to the success of the play. (1)As noted by Prof. Champ during a conference (2)http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~paradiso/vencarn.htm