Restoration Drama: The Rake and the Cavalier

Rakish cavaliers are often depicted as heroes in the plays during the beginning of the Restoration period, such as The Committee (1662) by Sir Robert Howard and The Rover; or, The Banished Cavaliers (1677) by Aphra Behn. The cavalier is the embodiment of the aristocracy, a model for one's behavior during the chaotic years of the Restoration. However, the actions and words of these heroes leave much to be interpreted about the Restoration playwright's attitude toward the rakish cavalier. By the very definition of hero, the cavaliers are celebrated as people to be emulated. Yet, these heroes are written with such flaws that one must question this somewhat ambiguous attitude that the playwrights have toward their own characters.

Point One: Celebrating the Rover

The cavalier is the aristocratic hero: aloof, charismatic, and infallible in all ways. He is the tragic hero with whom the audience cannot help but sympathize. The Committee comprises of a whole class of aristocratic cavaliers who have been wronged by the Puritans who had usurped power from their fallen king. The audience is able to emphasize with Colonel Blunt and Colonel Careless because their characters are highly reflective of the turbulence of those times. They are cavaliers made poor, not through any fault they may have committed, but by the corrupt confiscation of their lands by the Puritans in power: "'S'life man, this is that good of the Committee / family that I told thee of, the very clerk. How the / rogue's loaded with papers; those are the winding / sheets to many a poor gentleman's estate. 'Twere a / good deed to burn them all" (2.2.60-64). Moreover, the position of sorrowful cavalier is not limited to the males in the play; the female leads are both aristocrats who have suffered as the displaced colonels. Act one introduces the audience to Arbella, the "rich heir / of one that died in the king's service and left his / estate under sequestration" (1.1.188-190), who is being manipulated by the Puritan Days in an attempt to keep her lands within their family. The main protagonist of this play is called Ruth who was taken from her dying father by the Days to act as their daughter, so that her inheritance would go to them as well: "My name is not so godly a one / as Ruth, but plain Anne, and a daughter to Sir Basil" (5.2.89-90).

In The Rover, the cavaliers are much the same in having their lands wrongfully taken from them: "gentlemen, you may be free, you have been kept / so poor with Parliaments and Protectors, that the / little stock you have is not worth preserving. But / I thank my stars, I had more grace than to forfeit / my estate by cavaliering" (1.2.55-59). Willmore's plight is different in that he continues to serve with the deposed king and has only stopped for a break from such duties: "He's well, and reigns still lord of the watery / element. I must aboard again in a day or two, / and my business ashore was only to enjoy myself / a little this carnival" (1.2.75-76). The females, Hellena and Florinda, are forced by their brother to live their lives without the men with whom they have fallen in love: "Is't not enough you / make a nun of me, but you must cast my sister / away too, exposing her to a worse confinement / than a religious life?" (1.1.108-111). The cavalier is depicted as a charismatic and honorable creature whom men which to imitate and women wish to love. Colonel Blunt proves his mettle by placing his duty above his own person: "Our worships, then, are different. You make that / your idol which brings your interest. We can obey / that which bids us lose it" (2.4.205-207). He and Colonel Careless prove themselves so noble that Ruth and Arbella cannot help but fall in love: "'Slife Arbella, we'll have these two men. There are / not two such again to be had for love nor money" (2.4.237-238). Willmore is the charming rogue who easily attracts others' interests: "Sister, there's your Englishman, and with him a / handsome proper fellow. I'll to him, and instead / of telling him his fortune, try my own" (1.2.145-147). And Belvile's faithfulness attracts the heart of the romantic Florinda fancies "it very pretty to sigh, and sing, and blush, and / wish, and dream, and wish, and long and wish to / see the man, and when I do, look pale and tremble" (1.1.13-15).

Furthermore, the cavalier is assured his own victory by simply being in the right, always. He is the one who has been wronged and, so, it is inevitable that he will be victorious in the end, despite the costs made to others. The cavaliers of The Committee were cheated out of their land, but they were confident that they would come out victorious: "No, no, 'tis only to entreat the honorable persons / that will be pleased to be our housekeepers to keep / them in good reparations. We may take possession / again without the help of the covenant" (2.4.230-233). The cavaliers of The Rover, however, are more interested in the opposition of the sexes than that of estate. Willmore succeeds in claiming Angellica and her wealth despite her protestations that she is doing business as a man would: "It is a barbarous custom, which I will scorn to / defend in our sex, and do despise in yours" (2.2.105-106). Overall, these plays have depicted cavaliers in a benevolent light by portraying them as sympathetic, tragic, charismatic heroes who always win in the end (as good guys are wont to do).

Point Two: Critiquing the Lush

However, there are slightly disturbing words spoken and actions done by the cavalier, as written in these plays, which show him as a scoundrel to be scorned and not a hero to be adored. The cavalier is not infallible, but very human and, more often than not, an almost-villain whose deeds the audience must choose to ignore or the play may be spoiled. He often commits acts of casual cruelty that may entertain him and his friends but grossly hurts another. Colonel Careless intentionally has Obadiah made drunk in order to utterly humiliate him in front of his employers: "Look you Ned, that fellow is Mr. Day / the Committee-man's clerk, whom with wonderful / industry we have made drunk. Just as he is, pack / him up in thy chair and immediately transport / him to his master Day's house and in the very hall / turn him out" (4.2.197-202). Such actions are understandable to the audience because their relationship is extremely hostile.

Yet, in The Rover, the cruelty of the cavaliers goes further because they tend to target people almost randomly. In one scene, a drunken Willmore attempts to rape his friend's beloved simply because she was a woman standing outside in the garden: "Come, come take it or I'll / put it up again - for look ye, I never give more. / Why how now, mistress, are you so high I'th'mouth / a pistole won't down with you? Hah - why, what / a work's here - in good time - come, no struggling / to be gone - but an y'are good at a dumb wrestle / I'm for ye - look ye - I'm for ye -" (3.5.74-82). Under these same conditions, Willmore attacks Don Antonio and then goes off to sleep his drunkenness away: "How! A man killed! Then I'll go home to sleep" (3.6.66). Willmore continues his carousing by either attempting to rape his friend's girlfriend or ridiculing a high-priced courtesan for having fallen in love with him; he is completely nonchalant about the consequences: "Now thou art silent, guilt has struck thee dumb. / Oh, hadst thou still been so, I'd lived in safety (She turns away and weeps)" (4.2.314-315). Blunt is a foolish flop who is robbed by a prostitute whom he had mistaken for a lady of quality; he then decides to avenge himself on the next woman to come upon him: "to let / thee see I have ta'en deliberated malice to thee and / will be revenged on one whore for the sins of / another" (4.5.62-65). In the next scene, all the cavaliers gather in order to decide who would be the first to rape Blunt's captive: "Then we'll draw cuts...Come, the longest sword carries her" (5.1.109-111). Not a single one of them ever takes into account the fear or humiliation their victim may have felt, whose only crime was being there at the wrong time.

Another flaw of these heroes is that not one of them seems to be self-sufficient in the least. They are completely dependent on others. When Colonel Blunt is arrested, it is Arbella who frees him through Abel: "I have, according to your desires, given freedom / to your kinsmen and trustee. I suppose he doth / perceive that you may have power in right of me" (4.1.144-146). When Colonel Careless is arrested, it is Ruth who comes up with a plan to help him escape: "One thing more: I love you, it's true, but I love / you honestly. If you know how to love me / virtuously, I'll free you from prison and run all / fortunes with you" (5.2.60-63). In The Rover, all of the cavaliers are dependent on Blunt for money, though they care nothing for him: "A pox upon him, / he's our banker and has all our cash about him, and / if he fail, we are all broke" (1.2.336-338). Also, there are times when the image of the suave cavalier becomes a clumsy and naïve fool toward the woman of his choice. Colonel Blunt (The Committee) fears Arbella's rejection to the point of running away: "Did ever man get away so craftily from the thing / he liked? Terrible business, afraid to tell a woman / what she desired to hear" (4.2.1-3). And Blunt (The Rover) is not even aware that there are women of different ranks or that a rich woman with her own freedom (no husband upon her arm) and bodyguards is most likely a prostitute: "Give her! Ha, ha, ha! Why she's a person of / quality. That's a good one, give her! 'Sheartlikins, / dost think such creatures are to be bought? Or are / we provided for such a purchase?" (2.1.58-61).

Another glaringly obvious flaw in these cavaliers is that not one of them seems able to complete his goals by himself. Colonel Careless attempts to endear himself to his former-servant-turned-political-figure by sending the play's buffoon to carry his message; Teague only ends up enraging her further. He then attempts to escape his pursuers and ends up walking right into Mrs. Day's home, steadily moving from one bad situation to an even worse one: "I am quite out of breath, and the blood hounds / are in full cry upon a burning scent. Plague on 'em, / what a noise the kennels make. - What door's this / that graciously stands a little open? What an ass / am I to ask!" (3.3.41-45). The same ineffectiveness goes for Belvile who is constantly attempting to rescue Florinda from a marriage arranged by her brother. Every time he comes to a near success, Willmore shows up to ruin it all - a meeting in the garden, a sword fight for her honor, an escape from Blunt: "This rude man has undone us" (3.5.94-95). Belvile himself often fails because his actions are mistaken for aggression (also due to Willmore's escapades): "Do not mistake my charity for murder! / I came to his assistance" (3.6.71-72). Rather subtlety, these plays seem to indicate that the cavalier is not just a clean-cut hero but something a little darker. The cavalier engages in acts of excess as well as cruelty and can seem to be in constant need of others to defend them. He may have great intentions, but for some reason or another, is unable to fulfill them. Oftentimes, the cavalier is nothing more than a rake.

Conclusion

To conclude, the cavalier has been the main focus of Restoration plays, such as The Committee (1662) by Sir Robert Howard and The Rover; or, The Banished Cavaliers (1677) by Aphra Behn. However, Restoration playwrights seem to have a much more ambiguous attitude towards these supposed heroes. Although the cavalier is drafted as the classic hero, his faults are too numerous to be overlooked. The cavalier is written as a tragic hero to evoke emotion from the audience, yet there is much cruelty in his actions. He is depicted as a charismatic figure; in spite of that, there are instances when he proves both completely dependent as well as inept. There are moments of his triumph, but these are juxtaposed with his numerous failures. If anything, these plays are more of a soft critique than harsh appraisal. They are critical of certain cavalier attitudes but never of that position of cavalier. The plays incorporate the playwrights' personal experience among the social classes, where even those in favor have doubts of their own on whether they are capable of doing something or if it should be done at all.