Aphra Behn: The Scarlet Woman

Abstract

Aphra Behn is one of many a woman writer who was both overlooked and discredited by history. Her literary works were prominent back in the late 17th century because they were thought of as "scandalous". Although not much information is known about her real birth name, origins or life story, several intellectuals, especially feminist historians and literary critics, have attempted to shed light on Aphra Behn as a remarkable woman writer and literary figure that slowly but surely marked English literary history long before Jane Austin. For instance, Virginia Woolf exalts her in A Room of One's Own (1929) by saying "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".