Women's Sexual Empowerment in Behn's The Willing Mistress and The Disappointment "All women together should let flowers fall on the grave of Aphra Behn, . . . for it was she who earned them the right to speak. (Woolf 91)Born in 1640, Aphra Behn broke gender stereotypes when she took up an exciting (if unrewarded) life as a spy for the Crown, but it was her scandalous career as an author that truly achieved many firsts for women She was the first woman to support herself financially by relying solely on the profession of writing, and many readers claim that Oroonoko - her passionate account of the institution of l. Slavery - was the first English novel. She was certainly one of the first female authors to write frankly about sexuality: in fact, she both broke new ground and challenged conceptions of patriarchal power when she wrote. writes about women's empowerment through sexuality. In his poems "The Willing Mistress" (from his play The Dutch Lover, 1673) and "The Disappointment" (1680), Behn creates situations of daring sexual misdeeds in which the female characters are aware, comfortable, and even thrive on their sexuality. Not only was it virtually unheard of for a woman in Behn's era to express herself openly as a sexual being, but it was also explicitly forbidden by cultural precepts for a woman to so aggressively take charge of her own physical desires and its satisfaction, as Behn's characters do. Previously, men controlled most sexual situations, both in real life and in literature. Behn, however, creates a playing field in which traditional roles not only do not apply, but are even subverted. Eager to seize the opportunity, Behn's strong-willed mistress does so, following her lover into the bushes and around...... middle of paper ...... women created from Behn's mind refute the consensus of his time that... Behn indicates that women can control their own destiny; they can hold power. While these sentiments were certainly ahead of their time, they helped pave the way for future generations of women to express themselves honestly, sexually or otherwise. For this, all women are indeed eternally indebted to Aphra Behn. Works CitedBehn, Aphra. “Disappointment.” The Norton Anthology of Women's Literature. 2nd ed. Ed. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York: Norton, 1996. 112-115.---. “The strong-willed Mistress.” Norton. 111.Bradstreet, Anne. “A letter to her husband, absent for public employment.” Norton. 89.Woolf, Virginia. “Aphra Behn.” Excerpt from A Room of One's Own. Reprinted in Virginia Woolf: Women and Writing. Ed. Michele Barrett. New York: harvest, 1979. 89-91.

Essay / Women's Sexual Empowerment in Behn's The Willing Mistress and The Disappointment "All women together should let flowers fall on the grave of Aphra Behn, . . . for it was she who earned them the right to speak. (Woolf 91)Born in 1640, Aphra Behn broke gender stereotypes when she took up an exciting (if unrewarded) life as a spy for the Crown, but it was her scandalous career as an author that truly achieved many firsts for women She was the first woman to support herself financially by relying solely on the profession of writing, and many readers claim that Oroonoko - her passionate account of the institution of l. Slavery - was the first English novel. She was certainly one of the first female authors to write frankly about sexuality: in fact, she both broke new ground and challenged conceptions of patriarchal power when she wrote. writes about women's empowerment through sexuality. In his poems "The Willing Mistress" (from his play The Dutch Lover, 1673) and "The Disappointment" (1680), Behn creates situations of daring sexual misdeeds in which the female characters are aware, comfortable, and even thrive on their sexuality. Not only was it virtually unheard of for a woman in Behn's era to express herself openly as a sexual being, but it was also explicitly forbidden by cultural precepts for a woman to so aggressively take charge of her own physical desires and its satisfaction, as Behn's characters do. Previously, men controlled most sexual situations, both in real life and in literature. Behn, however, creates a playing field in which traditional roles not only do not apply, but are even subverted. Eager to seize the opportunity, Behn's strong-willed mistress does so, following her lover into the bushes and around...... middle of paper ...... women created from Behn's mind refute the consensus of his time that... Behn indicates that women can control their own destiny; they can hold power. While these sentiments were certainly ahead of their time, they helped pave the way for future generations of women to express themselves honestly, sexually or otherwise. For this, all women are indeed eternally indebted to Aphra Behn. Works CitedBehn, Aphra. “Disappointment.” The Norton Anthology of Women's Literature. 2nd ed. Ed. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. New York: Norton, 1996. 112-115.---. “The strong-willed Mistress.” Norton. 111.Bradstreet, Anne. “A letter to her husband, absent for public employment.” Norton. 89.Woolf, Virginia. “Aphra Behn.” Excerpt from A Room of One's Own. Reprinted in Virginia Woolf: Women and Writing. Ed. Michele Barrett. New York: harvest, 1979. 89-91.

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