Aphra Behn, one of the earliest professional female writers (in English) wrote the play "The Rover" that was first produced in 1677 and was a great success. The plays introduction, however gave her no credit. It only says "This play was written by a Person of Quality." She did not take credit until after it's prolonged success.
I find it interesting that her characters and even her speeches were largely taken from stock, but yet her play showed resilience. Being as I have yet to totally immerse myself in the works of the time, including Thomas Killagrew's Thomaso, I can not directly compare her characters to others. But from what I know about Alphra Behn, and about theater successes, I would guess that she took the stock characters and gave them her own twist, flavors that not only made fun of the stock formulas, but also added to the experience of the characters as understandable and relatable to the audience personally.
Of course, as so common to female authors and produces, females actually carry on conversations with other females about their hopes, dreams, and ambitions. I once read an article that claimed Walt Disney's animated "Sleeping Beauty" was the most feminist of all movies she studied because women had conversations with each other about other things than men.
Alphra Behn faced a backlash of being "bawdy" like her characters in this play. Is "bawdy" an insult? Heaven forbid that females have thoughts, feelings or expressions of the biological work of their lives. Sex, birth, babies, yup very feminine. And guess what? We are going to talk about it now. (It only took several hundred years from Alphra Behn). I am sorry my typing is so poor. My toddler is nursing with one hand and hitting my keyboard with the other.
Recently there has been a nice trend of accepting the biological feminine. From period panties to comfortable bras, advertisers have brought it out of whispered obscurity. I also believe the Internet has helped, as women bloggers have often broached subjects that would leave most men embarrassed to even imagine. Mommy bloggers, who often start out fairly anonymous, gave us a voice. Now the feminine is taking over even some of the traditional male genres like Star Wars, with strong female leads that are not just eye candy. Thank you Aphra Behn.
Behn, Alphra, Oroonoko, The Rover and Other Works. Janet Todd, Ed. Penguin Books. London 1992.
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