Justification of Opinions Claimed by Moretta and Willmore : 'The Rover' by Aphra Behn.

☆Point to Justify : Moretta calls 'love' is a 'disease' in women sex whereas Willmore calls 'virtue' is 'infirmity' for women : Whom do we agree with? Let us seek to answer.

☆ Mrs. Moretta :

The elderly servant of Angelica, and a former prostitute herself, Moretta hates all men, and is dismayed when her mistress succumbs to Willmore’s charms.

"I’m glad on’t; ’tis only interest that Women of our Profession ought to consider: tho
I wonder what has kept you from that general Disease of our Sex so long, I mean that of being
in love."

☆ Willmore :

An upper-class soldier called a cavalier, Willmore is loyal to the English monarchy, and has therefore been exiled from his homeland (the story takes place during Oliver Cromwell’s reign in England after the execution of Charles 1). He comes to Naples excited about the free-for-all atmosphere of Carnival. A classic rake, and the Rover of the play’s title, he is called so not just because of his travelling, but also because of his roving eye. He constantly lusts for women, and seeks out different ways to seduce them, leaving a trail of broken hearts wherever he goes. Reckless and rash, Willmore often quarrels with other men, and is quick to draw his sword. During the play, he wins the love of both the noble, unladylike, intelligent Hellena and the high-priced courtesan Angelica. Witty and charming, Willmore also has a dark side, which becomes obvious when he almost rapes Florinda, the beloved of his friend Belvile. Although he eventually vows to marry Hellena, his intellectual equal, it is difficult to believe that wedding vows will end Willmore’s promiscuous behavior.

"Love and Mirth are my Business in Naples; and if I mistake not the Place, here’s an excellent Market for Chapmen of my Humour."

"A virtuous Mistress! Death, what a thing thou hast found out for me! why what
the Devil should I do with a virtuous Woman? — a fort of ill-natur’d Creatures, that take a
Pride to torment a Lover. Virtue is but an Infirmity in Women, a Disease that renders even
the handsom ungrateful; whilst the ill-favour’d, for want of Sollicitations and Address, only
fancy themselves so. — I have lain with a Woman of Quality, who has all the while been railing
at Whores."

☆Justification of the Two Point of View Regarding Woman :

First thing to see that why Moretta, a former prostitute and now Angelica's servant, hates men. Here it would be worth quoting a dialogue of Angelica :

"Oh, name not such mean Trifles. — Had I given him all My Youth has earn’d from
Sin, I had not lost a Thought nor Sigh upon’t. But I have give him my eternal Rest, My whole
Repose, my future Joys, my Heart; My Virgin Heart. Moretta! oh ’tis gone!"

Angelica declares that she may be prostitute by body but when it comes to genuine love, then her heart is virgin or she has never ever truly loved any man but willmore, she is a prostitute who sells her body for body's survival thus it does not mean that whosoever she sleeps with means she is in love with that man. This expression of Angelica is quite applicable to the girls or women who for social status marry a man whom they do not love in fact; they may bear children and share the bed but it necessarily cannot be meant they are in love with the men they have married to. This is nuance between lust and love. You can have lust for a person you are truly in love with, but not love for a person you only lust.

By the point we can say that what Moretta means when she calls 'love' a 'disease' to women sex, she might want to indicate that Angelica can lose her lucrative business.

Another thing might be that she meant by the word 'disease' as a barrier to one's growth because love can sweetly bind you with someone by your own will and if is true, it can be the biggest liberating force but here in context of Angelica, 'love' is just a treaty which puts two people together to live their remaining life altogether, although not forcibly but willingly.

And coming down to the claim made by Willmore that 'virtue' is 'infirmity' in women, we can assume keeping in mind his carefree and lascivious nature that he might be suggesting towards the wimpishness that woman are supposed to acquire after getting married. He wants woman to be tomboyish for pleasure whereas when it comes to marriage, he asks Hellena to tell the class she belongs to while wooing her at the end of the play :

"But harkye — The Bargain is now made; but is it not fit we should know each
other’s Names? That when we have Reason to curse one another hereafter, and People ask me
who ’tis I give to the Devil, I may at least be able to tell what Family you came of."

He is true in his argument that virtue is infirmity if imposed by society upon women who want to live like humans but bounded as a divine and chaste being. Thus, he might be calling being virtuous is a weakness in women.

Willmore should have given more clarity as to why he says so, for we cannot justify by just a single sentence and even if we attempt to do so, the basis of justification would stick on his saturnalian nature which dangers both, his character and the opinion made by person who justifies his words with context of his characteristic traits.

☆ Ending The Discussion :

We can say that both the characters are of same voice; the first one is concerned with business whereas another is with pleasure, so both are justifying 'love' and 'virtue' as 'disease' and 'infirmity' respectively to their best knowledge of the words and attributions regarding the words. One can agree with both the point of claim made by Moretta and Willmore at the same time, and one cannot be agree with any of the opinions; for, when one agrees with both the opinions, one should be ready to comply with the norms of social standards, and if one disagrees both the opinions, one is supposed to accept the limitations of the minds of characters who claim thus.

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