The Widow Ranter: or, The History of Bacon in Virginia

by Aphra Behn

This story combines two story lines. On the one hand, it is a fictionalized drama, loosely based on an historical event, being the rebellion of the colonist Nathaniel Bacon in Virginia in 1676 against the colonial government. Bacon is presented as the classic hero, a noble figure, motivated by "honour" and in love with the Indian princes Semernia. This storyline ends tragically for both of them.

On the other hand, there is a not very flattering description of the colony and its residents, a diverse bunch of low-class men and fortune-hunting gentlemen newly arrived from England, revolving around the Widow Ranter (a former servant who became wealthy by marrying her master), who dresses and behaves like a man.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, British Literature, Historical Fiction, School, 17th Century

133 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1690

About the author

Aphra Behn, or Ayfara Behn, of the first professional women authors in English on Britain wrote plays, poetry, and her best known work, the prose fiction Oroonoko (1688).

Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the female. Her contributed to the amatory genre of literature. People sometimes refer to Delarivier Manley, Eliza Haywood, and her as part of "the fair triumvirate of wit."

In reckoning of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, more important total career of Behn produced any particular work. Woolf wrote, "All women together, ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn … for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." Victoria Mary Sackville-West called Behn "an inhabitant of Grub Street with the best of them, … a phenomenon never seen and … furiously resented." Felix Shelling called her "a very gifted woman, compelled to write for bread in an age in which literature … catered habitually to the lowest and most depraved of human inclinations. Her success depended upon her ability to write like a man." Edmund Gosse remarked that "the George Sand of the Restoration" lived the bohemian life in London in the 17th century as Paris two centuries later.

Reviews

[Kayleigh Fraser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I literally had no clue what was going on most of the time

[laura nicholson · Rating 2 out of 5]

ranter is a noun and not a verb and this makes me unhappy

[Alex Prong · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made me want to claw my eyes out. Gad zoores!!!!

[Briann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this play. I am not great at Old English, so I know I missed a lot of the play’s meanings. I read this play for a class and had brief class discussions on it. If these class discussions were more in-depth, I may have derived more value from the play.

I liked that it was written by a woman. I like that there is some gender reversal with Widdow. I found it interesting that my professor talked to us about how Widdow was likely an Afro-diasporic woman forcibly brought to the colonies, but that many historians and audiences code her as a white English woman. I enjoyed some of the play’s comedy but was also confused about how it switched from comedy to tragedy at an alarming rate. I was not a huge fan of Semernia’s characterization.

[Samantha Buchheit · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play has its funny moments but is difficult to understand at points. There are a million characters that are hard to keep up with, too. It reminds me a lot of Shakespeare's writing and his plots, which are often equally convoluted and indecipherable (by me). I think this would be even funnier on stage, but there are a lot of problematic aspects that would have to be altered for modern audiences. The contextual information at the end had me falling asleep.

[Isabelle Verdino · Rating 2 out of 5]

This play, much like Venice Preserved, read as confused. Behn appeared to be attempting to do a lot of different things with her narrative. So while I'm always down to support female playwrights, Widdow Ranter was not entirely successful.
She chose to focus on "the colonies" as an extension of Europe. The Indian King and Queen are presented as more "noble" than the rest of the colonists but they're so far removed from any truth of Native Americans. I know this is in part because Europeans couldn't fathom a design of government that didn't in some way parallel their own "superior" one.
Regardless of all of this, I just read this confused and disjointed.

[Madhukari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Restoration play with a twist. It is set in a contact zone and critiques the injustices lying at the heart of settler colonialism. It has powerful female characters who indulge in cross dressing and invert the gender binary, even if temporarily.

[Amelia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but didn't love it. Kinda confusing and half the time I didn't really know what was going on. Interesting to read a play written by a woman after all the Shakespeare. Interesting to think about the commentary on marriage/widows/autonomy.

[Anup Joshi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the loved story in it. Touching!

[Alex Rye · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m obsessed with ranter! also, i was skeptical about the prologue/epilogue being written by a man, but i was pleasantly surprised with g. j.’s tribute to behn in the end.

[Toni Aguiar · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was literally fine

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I lost the plot in Act III. I like the Caesar vibes with Bacon. That was interesting.

[käthe · Rating 3 out of 5]

and this is why we always put women in charge!

[Briana Bindus · Rating 3 out of 5]

meep

[Lulu Reign · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't the worst, but I didn't like it.

[Abigail Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comedy and tragedy in one with some ambiguous colonial discourse. Not bad, but not as good as Oroonoko.