ABSTRACT
The hegemonic discours e during the Revolution and Restoration that sought to justify women' s exclusio n fro m politica l participatio n b y sexualizin g an d delegitimizing them as "whores" did not succeed in preventing non-aristocrati c women fro m counterin g suc h constructions . Fo r example , Aphr a Behn' s Th e Rover (1677) features the courtesan Angellica who declines t o be traded in the marriage market ; he r Feigned Courtesans (1679) , dedicate d t o Nel l Gwyn n (who acte d th e par t o f Angellica) , show s wome n willingl y disguisin g themselves as courtesans in order to foi l marriages contracted agains t their wil l and to pursue and attain their desired matches.1 Mary Carleton, wh o was tried and acquitted for bigamy, refused t o be bound by the dichotomous categor y of either "wife " o r "whore" ; assumin g th e identit y o f a "Germa n Princess, " a foreign aristocrat , sh e attempte d t o escap e som e o f the constraint s o f Englis h patriarchy (see Suzuki , "Case") . The challenges by Behn and Carleton i n these texts, however , limi t themselve s t o woman' s subordinat e statu s within th e family an d in the social order ; they do not move to address explicitly woman' s right t o participate i n the political public sphere . In this respect , despit e thei r interrogation of the category of "whore," we might see both Behn and Carleton as havin g retreate d fro m th e positio n wome n petitioner s claime d durin g th e Revolution, especiall y in light of Behn's satirica l portrayal o f Commonwealt h women in The Roundheads.
