Aphra Behn

Aphra Behn – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Aphra Behn was a pioneering English dramatist, poet, novelist, and spy (baptised December 14, 1640 – died April 16, 1689). As one of the first women in England to earn a living by writing, her bold exploration of love, power, gender, and race made her a controversial but enduring figure. Dive into the life, works, philosophy, and most memorable quotes of Aphra Behn.

Introduction

Who was Aphra Behn, and why does she still matter today?
Aphra Behn stands as a trailblazer in English literature: a dramatist, poet, novelist, and even a spy, writing during the Restoration era. She broke conventions—not just in her subject matter, but in her very role as a professional woman writer. In a time when female authors were rare and often scorned, Behn dared not only to publish, but to make a living from her pen. Her works grapple with love, desire, power, betrayal, race, and identity. Today, she is often rediscovered and reassessed—her voice resonating with readers interested in feminist history, colonial critique, and literary daring.

Early Life and Family

The details of Aphra Behn’s early years are hazy and speculative. What is documented begins with her baptism on December 14, 1640 in Canterbury, Kent, England. Aphra Johnson and that her parents were Bartholomew and Elizabeth Johnson, of Harbledown in Kent.

Speculation also surrounds potential Catholic connections in her family, which, given religious tensions in 17th-century England, might have shaped aspects of her worldview.

Some scholars propose that her upbringing may have involved memory of colonial ventures. Aphra later claimed that she had spent time in Surinam (in South America) under Dutch control, during which she may have witnessed the cruelties of plantation slavery—an experience that would echo in her later writing of Oroonoko. However, the veracity and timing of that trip remain debated.

Because records are sparse, much of Aphra Behn’s early years remain enigmatic. She may have received a modest education, but there is no clear record of formal schooling. What is clear is that she emerged later into a world of court, intrigue, and theatrical ambition.

Youth and Education

Given the paucity of documentation, we cannot reconstruct a full curriculum or schooling for Behn. There is no solid evidence of a classical university education, which would have been nearly impossible for a woman of her era. What one can infer is that she was well read and conversant with multiple genres—poetry, drama, translations, and prose—and that she was deeply imbued with literary culture.

Her presumed time in Surinam (or at least her claim of such) suggests that she might have absorbed firsthand or secondhand influences of colonial life, race, and human cruelty—elements that later feed into her writing.

Whatever her formal training, Aphra Behn’s self-education appears profound: she translates, writes in multiple genres, engages with political controversies, and even navigates the world of espionage. Her erudition and adaptability are part of what makes her so fascinating.

Career and Achievements

From Spy to Pen

Behn’s rise to public notice is entwined with political intrigues. After the Restoration of Charles II (1660), she is said to have entered the service of the king as a spy under the codename Astrea. Antwerp in the 1660s, particularly targeting and attempting to turn the parliamentary spy Thomas Scott.

Regardless of how effective her spycraft was, when financial pressures and debts mounted, Behn turned to writing as a profession.

Dramatic Works

Her dramatic career blossomed in the Restoration theatre scene. Some of her early plays include The Forc’d Marriage (c. 1670) and The Amorous Prince or The Curious Husband (1671) The Amorous Prince is notable for addressing gender, power, and desire, even including a “breeches part” (a woman dressed as a man)—a provocative theatrical device at the time.

One of her most enduring works is The Dutch Lover (1673), a comedic play set against the backdrop of Anglo-Dutch rivalry, full of mistaken identities and satiric edge. The Rover (1677), which became immensely popular. The Rover, Behn explores themes of sexual politics, flirtation, honor, and the constraints placed on women in 17th-century society.

Other plays include Abdelazer, The Town Fop, Sir Patient Fancy, The Emperor of the Moon (1687), and The Roundheads or The Good Old Cause (1681), in which she satirized the Puritans and Parliamentarians.

Behn frequently faced public censure and scandal—the moral judgments of critics attacked her for her boldness, her eroticism, and her very being as a woman writer. She responded pointedly in prefaces to her plays, defending her right to write freely.

Prose, Novels & Translations

In her later years, Behn shifted increasingly toward prose and translation. Between 1684 and 1687 she published Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister, a scandalous epistolary work based on a real-life elopement scandal (Lord Grey and Lady Henrietta Berkeley).

Around the end of her life she translated Sylva, Book 6 of Abraham Cowley’s Six Books of Plants. The Luckey Chance (1686) and The Emperor of the Moon (1687) among her final dramatic efforts.

Final Years & Death

In her later life, health difficulties, mounting debts, and declining popularity weighed heavily on Behn. The Luckey Chance and The Emperor of the Moon despite faltering audiences.

Aphra Behn died on 16 April 1689, and was buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey. On her tombstone the inscription reads:

“Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality.”

She was quoted during her life as stating she had led a “life dedicated to pleasure and poetry.”

Historical Milestones & Context

Restoration England & Aftermath

Aphra Behn’s life spanned a turbulent era in English history. She was born during the English Civil War and grew to maturity through the Interregnum (when the monarchy was abolished under Oliver Cromwell) and the Restoration (Charles II’s return in 1660). The reopening of theatres after Cromwell’s suppression created a vibrant new public stage for drama, including new opportunities (and risks) for writers.

The 1670s–1680s saw fierce political factionalism (Whigs vs. Tories), debates over royal succession, religious tensions (especially anti-Catholic sentiment), and colonial expansion. Behn, as a royalist and sometimes Catholic-sympathizing writer, often inserted political critique or allegory into her works.

Her novel Oroonoko (1688) appears at a moment when England’s colonial reach and its complicity in slavery were being contested. Oroonoko stands as a powerful early anti-slavery text, imagining the betrayal of an African prince sold into bondage.

Feminism, Gender, and Literary Reputation

Behn’s significance is not only literary but symbolic. In the centuries after her death, she was often maligned or dismissed by critics who judged her scandalous, immoral, or unworthy as a “woman writer.” In the 20th century, feminist and literary scholars reclaimed her as a foundational figure: one who challenged not only what was written but who got to write.

Virginia Woolf famously paid tribute to her in A Room of One’s Own (1929), declaring:

“All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn… for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

Behn thus became a torchbearer for women’s literary agency—and a subject of growing scholarly fascination.

In recent years, renewed attention and celebration have surfaced: a Netflix film, a statue in Canterbury, and the discovery of a rare first edition of Oroonoko in 2024.

Legacy and Influence

Aphra Behn’s direct influence can be felt across multiple dimensions:

• Women writers: Behn opened a public space for women authors, proving that literary work could be a means of livelihood—an inspiration to subsequent generations of female playwrights and novelists.

• Literary experiment: Her hybrid of drama, novelistic elements, translation, and epistolary fiction presaged modern genre blurring. Oroonoko is often studied as a bridge between restoration literature and the later novel tradition.

• Postcolonial and racial critique: Oroonoko has become a staple text in discussions of early English views on slavery, colonialism, and race—both its complexities and contradictions.

• Feminist and gender studies: Behn’s frank portrayals of female desire, her resistance to censorship, and her rhetorical defenses of her authorship make her a foundational figure in feminist literary discourse.

• Cultural memory and revival: Though long marginalized, Behn’s reputation has steadily risen. She is now featured in theatrical revivals, academic syllabi, popular media, and public commemoration.

Her legacy is not without tension: critics continue to debate her politics, her moral stances, and her authorial inconsistencies. But the very fact she prompts such debate is a sign of her enduring vitality.

Personality and Talents

What kind of person was Aphra Behn? While direct personal testimonies are scarce, her work and the cautious biographical glimpses suggest:

• Bold & defiant: She challenged societal norms, especially about female expression and moral criticism. She fought back against critics who censured her for writing “too freely.”

• Witty & sharp-minded: Her prefaces and writings often contain witty retorts, subtle dissembling, and self-aware defenses.

• Resilient under adversity: She faced financial stress, debts, illness, and social scandal but continued to write.

• Multifaceted literary sensibility: She was comfortable across genres—poetry, drama, prose, translation—and adept at integrating political, erotic, and emotional themes.

• A mediator of public and private domains: Her works often blur the boundaries between public politics and private passions, revealing her as someone deeply attuned to both spheres.

Famous Quotes of Aphra Behn

Here are some of Aphra Behn’s most memorable sayings—rich in insight, wit, and emotional resonance:

• “That perfect tranquillity of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend and a good library.”

• “Each moment of a happy lover’s hour is worth an age of dull and common life.”

• “Love ceases to be a pleasure, when it ceases to be a secret.”

• “Money speaks sense in a language all nations understand.”

• “There is no sinner like a young saint.”

• “He that knew all that learning ever writ, Knew only this — that he knew nothing yet.”

• “Patience is a flatterer, sir — and an ass, sir.”

• “Variety is the soul of pleasure.”

• “Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality.” (tombstone epitaph)

These quotes reflect her contemplations on love, knowledge, money, mortality, and desire.

Lessons from Aphra Behn

• Claim your voice, regardless of barriers. Behn’s life challenges the notion that only privileged men may speak publicly. She navigated criticism, scandal, and social constraints to assert her authorship.

• Literature can subvert power. Through her dramas and prose, Behn inserted political critique and moral complexity into popular forms, showing that art need not shy away from the serious.

• Complexity over purity. Behn’s moral and aesthetic stances were not simple or uniform, and that complexity is part of her strength. She provokes readers to think, rather than to adopt a single viewpoint.

• The personal is political. Behn’s blending of private emotions and public politics reminds us that literature offers a vital space for exploring identity, power, and freedom.

• Endurance through adaptation. Her pivot from drama to prose, from public to private speech, shows how adaptability and perseverance help sustain a creative life across changing times.

Conclusion

Aphra Behn’s life is a vivid testament to courage, ingenuity, and literary ambition. Though the records of her early years are fragmentary, the body of her work—and the fact of her daring to publish it—speaks eloquently. She challenged norms, pushed boundaries, and left a legacy that continues to inspire debates in feminist theory, postcolonial studies, and literary history.

Today, she is no longer an obscure footnote. Her tomb in Westminster Abbey, her plays revived on modern stages, and her reputation reawakened in popular culture all affirm her place among the greats. As readers continue to find in her work freshness, irony, and fierce engagement with human complexity, we recognize that Aphra Behn did not merely survive her era—she reshaped it.

Explore her plays, read Oroonoko and the Love-Letters, and let her voice remind us that to write freely is to imagine a more open world.