The Wanderer is a Restoration comedy about three exiled Knights and their love affairs with a group of women in Naples during Carnival. It is clear from the start that the themes of the play are love and marriage, seen from a woman’s perspective. The opening scene introduces two sisters: the headstrong Florinda and the outspoken Helena, the former is in an arranged marriage with an old man named Don Vincentio but she loves Belvile, one of the Cavaliers. The latter is intended for a convent.
Conflicts immediately set in between the young women and their patriarchal society as neither Florinda nor Helena are content with their perspectives: ‘Indignantly; and how close my father thinks I am to marrying that hated object’ (I.1.17-18) and ‘And do you think I’ll ever be a nun? Or at least until he is so old that he is good for nothing else? Faith no, sister’ (I.1. 28-29). The world of these women seems to be restrictive and oppressive.
Ned Blunt is a goofy sidekick to the Cavaliers and partially acts as a comedic foil to introduce the other male characters in a better light. The ‘marketability’ of women is a notion alluded to in the first act and is clearly evident in the scene where a prostitute named Lucetta robs the hapless Blunt. During this brief scene, Blunt mentions money twice: “She’s damned in love with me and won’t mind deals” (III.2.13-14), referring to prostitutes in her native England as “prodigal mercenary whores.” “. (III.2.23). Throughout the scene, Blunt assumes that he is controlling the process when he is actually Lucetta.
subversive elements in The Wanderer one could say that they are embodied in the female characters, especially Florinda and Hellena, but also Lucetta. The oppressive patriarchy can be seen as the status quo against which women rebel. This patriarchy is represented in the figure of the authoritarian brother of the sisters, Don Pedro, who, in the absence of his father, is arrogantly imposing the destinies of his sisters.
However, Florinda and Helena are aware of their limitations and are determined to escape. When Pedro reveals to Florinda how much Vincentio desires her (I.1.52), she replies: ‘I hate Vincentio, sir’ (I.1.56) and when he tells Helena that she is ‘not designed for the conversation of lovers’ (I.1.78) she replies with an aside: ‘No saints yet for a while, I hope’ (I.1.80). The notion that women are innately subversive is further strengthened when Blunt avenges Lucetta’s theft by attempting to rape the virginal Florinda in Act IV, simply because she too is a woman: ‘Ha, what’s in here? Are my wishes granted? And isn’t that a creature? (IV.5.21).
The Wanderer it is decidedly revolutionary in that its subversive elements are largely uncontainable. Behn uses the subversive elements in him as a means of making a vicious attack on the institution of arranged marriages. Although her work is concerned with private matters, she would still seem to convey a political agenda, such as highlighting the concerns of women during the Restoration era.
