ABSTRACT
Aphra Behn declared that she had begun The Emperor of the Moon: A Farce before the death of Charles II in 1685. Behn had long been attracted to the stylised comedy of the commedia dell’arte and she had introduced the character of Harlequin into The Second Part of The Rover. Behn decided quickly to adapt it for the English stage and call it The Emperor of the Moon. After Charles II’s death Behn was busy writing court poetry and fictional prose and she returned to her play well into the troubled reign of James II. The Emperor of the Moon is the most theatrical and operatic of Behn’s plays. Several scenes gain comedy from being meant to take place in pitch blackness when in fact no difference could be made in the theatre between darkness and light.
