by Jace Gadberry
Jace Gaberry is an English MA student at the University of Central Arkansas
Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon (1688) is a science fiction farce that follows the plan to dupe the learned and somewhat mad Dr. Baliardo into allowing his daughter and niece to marry their chosen suitors. Dr. Baliardo is considered “a little Whimsical” and a “Lunatick” by those who know him for his voyeuristic obsession of looking at the moon through his telescope in order to catch a glimpse of the civilization and their emperor who he believes live there (Behn 14). This obsession is so great that he has become tyrannical and neglectful of his daughter and niece, Elaria and Bellamante, who are seeking to be married to the suitors of their choice, Cintho and Charmante, but Dr. Baliardo refuses to even allow men to enter his house to call on them, let alone these suitors. With this in mind, Dr. Baliardo’s servant, Scaramouch, along with Cintho and Charmante devise a plan to trick Dr. Baliardo into believing that they are the Emperor of the Moon and his brother, the Prince of Thunderland, respectively. The hilarity ensues as Dr. Baliardo is easily fooled into accepting these two gentlemen for who they claim to be, going so far as to even allow his daughter and niece to marry them at the end. Mixed within all of this is the comedic and outlandish subplot of Scaramouch, Dr. Baliardo’s servant, and Harlequin, Cintho’s servant, sabotaging and fighting one another for the chance to marry Mopsophil, the governess of Elaria and Bellamante.
While The Emperor of the Moon is labeled as a farce and does clearly follow the exaggerated and improbable nature of farce, I would argue that this text does offer similar explorations of social critique as satire. With that in mind, I believe this would be an excellent text to include within my senior English unit titled Seeing Things New: Visionaries and Skeptics. The existing primary texts for this unit are the satirical essay “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift and an excerpt from the science fiction satirical novel Gulliver’s Travels also by Jonathan Swift. Since both of these satirical texts are by Jonathan Swift, I strongly believe that this unit could strongly benefit from the inclusion of at least one more voice, especially the inclusion of a woman’s perspective. The Emperor of the Moon fully aligns with our unit title by essentially asking whether being a “visionary” without skepticism becomes foolishness instead of progress. In doing so, the students are drawn into questioning how easily perception can be manipulated. The guiding essential question for our unit is “What do we gain when we change our perceptions?”(Morrell, 457). While our focus may be on this question, I’d like to push beyond this by having the students consider where the line of gullibility and sensibility are in considering other view points.
While Behn’s farce does not exactly fall into the category of satire, there are characters within the play that go through a change as they are awakened to new truths which in turn beg the same questions from the audience. For instance, Dr. Baliardo is an intellectual gentleman who most likely belongs to a society of scientists and/or philosophers as was common for men of his social and educational status and thus, most likely highly respected. That respect and intelligence can often lead to an air of arrogance and pride. Of particular interest to Dr. Baliardo is the Moon, or more specifically the inhabitants who he has read live on the moon despite never seeing them himself. As I mentioned earlier, there is a consensus among the rest of the characters that the Doctor is insane, indicating that his theories and ideas are rather radical and out of the norm. Scaramouch even asks Elaria “how came he thus infected” to which she replies “[w]ith reading foolish books…with a thousand other Volumes too hard to name” (Behn 15). This notion about the dangerous nature of books is furthered by Scaramouch when he replies “this reading of Books is a pernicious thing” and just about drove him mad (15). This interaction here, coupled with the investigative fervor of Dr. Belarido shortly after to the supposed Ambassador from the Moon who is in fact Charmante in disguise, becomes one of the first key scenes for discussion. We see a highly intelligent individual being absorbed in ideas that seem far-fetched to the common everyday person, ideas that are coming from books he has read. I would like this to draw out discussions about the need for critical thinking about what we read. This becomes all the more relevant in consideration for all of the “fake news” that proliferates in the media today. In considering Dr. Baliardo’s high intelligence, we can dig into how even those who are “smart” can be duped and fooled into believing outlandish things. I think the most important distinction that should be made and discussed here in the Doctor’s fanatical belief is that there is a human predisposition to believe what we want to believe and to follow paths of logic that only confirm what we want to believe rather than how things truly are. I am also cognizant that a discussion about scientists and philosophers who promoted crackpot theories for their time, were ostracized for their beliefs, and yet, were eventually proven correct is necessary to keep clear the context of the situation. This discussion about the perniciousness of books will be returned to when we reach the end of the text. Once Charmante and Cintho successfully marry Elaria and Belamante and reveal the truth about their identities, the Doctor orders them to “[b]urn all [his] books, and let [his] study Blaze, Burn all to Ashes, and be sure to Wind Scatter the vile Contagious Monstrous Lyes” (Behn 132). In this scene, we see the Doctor essentially abandon intellectual pursuit altogether, which could be seen as an abandonment of reason rather than a return to it. This will hopefully prove to be fruitful discussion about what the Doctor’s orders mean for the message of the text as well as what Aphra Behn herself is suggesting, if anything at all, since this is after all a farce.
Another significant scene that I will ensure to have the students close read is a scene in Act III, scene ii in which Harlequin, pretending to be an Ambassador of the Moon again is speaking to the Doctor about the arrangements for the arrival and marriage of the Emperor of the Moon. Of particular significance here is a discussion about perceived gender roles and relationships, especially from the view of the elite. Harlequin inquires about whether or not his niece or daughter drink lots of liquor, leading the Doctor to ask if the women of the moon drink hard liquor. Harlequin responds “[a]ccording to their Quality, Sir, more or less; the greater the Quality, the more Profuse the Quantity” to which the Doctor replies “just as ‘tis here” (Behn 112). This of course opens up the notion of not only gender but also social status in relation to stereotypes. This is just the opening of a long list of discussions about quality, marriage, money, and a few other things between men and women. Among the most notable and interesting interactions is Harlequin’s response to the Doctor’s question about “[h]ow do these Great Men live with their Wives?” He says “[m]ost Nobly, sir, My Lord keeps his Coach, my Lady hers; my Lord his Bed, my Lady hers, and very rarely see one another, unless they chance to meet in a Visit, in the Park, the Mall, the Tour, or at the Bassettable” (Behn 113). This of course opens up an immense discussion about marriage and sexuality. The students will probably be interested in the notion of the husband and wife not sharing the same bed. I think that the most worthwhile conversation will come from the locations that the Lord and the Lady may unintentionally meet. While these were definitely places that afforded mixed-gender socializing, allowing men and women to be “seen”, meaning they could look for eligible suitors, there is an undercurrent where these were places also related to rather illicit affairs. Harlequin’s continued description of the women of the moon being that “if she chance to lose her Money, rather than give out, she borrows of the next Amorous Coxcomb, who, from that Minute, hopes, and is sure to be paid again one way or other, the next kind of Opportunity” reveals that the interactions that the Lord and Lady may be getting up to by visiting these places suggests partaking in prostitution (Behn 113). According to the Doctor’s repeated affirmative “just as ‘tis here” again, this is the view of marriage from an aristocratic man. However, this play is written by a woman and therefore can open the discussion about the validity of these insinuations about men’s view of women. Interestingly though, this is Aphra Behn interpreting what men’s view of women and marriage is like, providing us with an alternative view-point than most of the texts students are exposed to from this time period. If students at the secondary level do encounter texts with women who express their views of men, society, and gender roles, it is predominantly written by a man and therefore is an interpretation of what they assume women think or say. This time we are getting the opposite which can hopefully lead to a much larger and critical discussion about the challenge and issue with one sex speaking and assuming for the other sex, especially in negative terms. The students will have just finished a unit focused on Shakespeare and therefore can recall some of The Tragedy Macbeth or The Tragedy of Hamlet, depending on the year since I switch them out year to year, and any supplemental reading that we read in conjunction with either text. What potentially hinders this is the fact that this is a farce and therefore, the absurdity of the Doctor’s affirmations can be seen as absolutely absurd and therefore invalidating. I would argue, however, that there are several instances in texts from this period that are perpetuating the same stereotype and, therefore, offers us an opportunity to view this as a possible critique by Behn of the sanctity of marriage, or lack thereof, among the aristocracy and possibly the lack of fidelity between men and women.
There are several words in this text that I feel deserve to be closely attended to and defined. A word that I was surprised to see within this text was the word “pimp”. I was unaware that this word was in usage in the seventeenth century; I had always assumed it was a later addition to the English language. According to the OED, the word “pimp” actually shows up as early as 1600 with its origins coming from the French word “pimpant” which means “alluring or seducing in outward appearance or dress” or “imitative origin”. With its inclusion in early modern English, it comes to mean “a person who arranges opportunities for (illicit) sexual intercourse; a procurer” or “a person who panders to an undesirable or immoral impulse, appetite, etc.; (gen.) a despicable person” (OED). This distinction and evolution I believe will be a good source of discussion, especially for each instance it shows up. There are six instances in which “pimp” show up and most of them can be related to either the first or second English definition such as when Scaramouch says “what a Laborious thing it is to be a Pimp” or in the epilogue when Mrs. Cook in her soliloquy says “No more your nice fantastick pleasures serve, / Your Pimps you pay, but let your Poets starve.” (Behn 10, 136). However, one particular instance near the middle of the play does suggest an affiliation with the earlier French origin. In Act II, scene ii, Harlequin has dressed up as a woman to get close to Mopsophil in order to slander Scaramouch so that she will choose him. He claims that he is there to “Madam the Governante” to which Dr. Baliardo responds with “A Fille de Chambre! ’tis so, a she-Pimp” (Behn 77). The English definition for the word “pimp” can apply here since Harlequin is claiming to be there to assist in finding Mopsophil a husband. However, if we apply the definition of “pimpant” from the French as “imitative”, then we actually get something a bit different. As Harlequin seems to appear out of nowhere in the Doctor’s garden without being admitted in, Dr. Baliardo’s reply here could suggest a suspicion of the duplicitous nature of this “woman’s” arrival. In either case, a deeper word study of this word and its application is definitely warranted with this text.
The depth of discussion that can be had through the comedic and absurd situations within Aphra Behn’s The Emperor of the Moon begs us to consider its inclusion within this unit about changing one’s perception. The way in which Behn’s characters interact and poke fun at the established order is a perfect match with other satirical works from the same time period. While The Emperor of the Moon offers a critique of the social elite, similarly to Swift’s “ A Modest Proposal”, there is an added critique of the dangers and isolation of intellectual pursuit within seventeenth century England as well as the engagement of gender roles within this society.
Works Cited
Behn, Aphra. The Emperor of the Moon, 1688. Northeastern University Women Writers Project, 28 Dec. 2010. https://www.wwp.northeastern.edu/texts/behn.emperor.html.
Morrell, Ernest et al. My Perspectives: British and World Literature. Savvas Learning Company, 2025.
“Pimp, N. (1).” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3838950571.