Aphra Behn
By Robbie Wood
Her pale hand trembled as she gripped the pen. She carved each letter into the page with
extreme delicacy. Her fingers ached. Each day the pain worsened. She wished she could stop it,
but that wasn’t something she could do. Her debts had landed her in the position she was in, and
she had no money to pay for the help she so desperately needed. Her arthritis had nearly crippled
her hands and her health continued to decline with each year. If she had been born a man, things
would have been different. All she could do was write until the day her words ran out. Aphra
Behn was going to change the world no matter how long it took.
The plays were supposed to help, but the crowds grew less and less interested in the same
old, replayed stories she had written years before. No one cared about “The Amorous Prince,” by
Aphra Behn anymore. She needed something fresh. Something new. Something to hold her
audience’s gaze long enough to pay off her debts. She sat at her desk and wrote until the words
made sense, and eventually, everything did. In 1687, the play, “The Emperor of the Moon,” was
born. It gave her the freedom to write prose while the coins trickled into her pockets.
By no means did she feel rich. Every dollar she made went toward her living expenses
and payments that seemed to never end. The temporary income did give her space to write what
she wanted and how she wanted. She dreamed of writing a story that would inspire other women
to write as well. She began to dive into every aspect of her environment. She hoped that
something could bring her an ounce of creativity. She walked through the gardens and sat at the
coffee shops with her journal. She listened to the low hum of gossip that filled the streets.
Everybody was curious about what their neighbor did behind closed doors, and so was she.
One day, she sat on a bench near the garden pond and listened. The leaves rustled through
the trees. The geese squawked back and forth. The waves pushed slightly against the shore. A
soft giggle could be heard from behind the bushes. She walked toward the voice and peeked
through the hedge. A woman stood facing away from her. A man held his hand on her waist and
pulled her closer. He looked familiar. His large nose and stiff shoulders could be recognized
anywhere. It was Lord Grey. He was a nobleman, a married one at that. What was he doing in
the gardens with a mysterious woman? Aphra listened more closely.
“We should run away together and elope, Henrietta,” he said. “Leave this rubbish world
behind us.”
“But my Lord, you know we mustn’t do that,” she whispered back. “It would kill my
sister if she knew.”
He scoffed and rubbed his hand on his forehead.
“I don’t care what she thinks,” he said. “She never loved me like you do. I choose you.”
“Do you truly mean that?” Henrietta asked.
“Every word, my love.” He kissed her and they laughed.
Aphra stopped watching and wrote down everything she had heard. Lord Grey was to
elope with Lady Henrietta Berkeley, his sister-in-law, in secret. It was such a scandal she had to
share with the world. She went home and wrote the outlandish story of their love affair. It was a
masterpiece. She did change the names and add a little extra drama, but ultimately it was based
on a true story. She was so proud of her work, but she was afraid if she published under her own
name, then no one would read it.
In 1685, she published the book anonymously. The title was “Love-Letters Between a
Nobleman and His Sister.” The streets buzzed with gossip and the story was a huge success. That
story would go on to have more than sixteen editions published before 1800. She, however,
would not live long enough to see that success. Although she had earned enough money to pay
for her medical needs, there hadn’t been enough time to reverse the damage already done to her
body.
On April 16, 1689, the first female to make a living for herself with her writing passed
away. She was a woman remembered for her wit and cleverness. Her life had been dedicated to
poetry and pleasure. Although she didn’t live to see her greatest success, she left an
impressionable mark on generations of women to come. Her boldness would pave the way for
women everywhere to see that they too can be a writer or an artist or whatever they want to be.
There are no limits to what a female can become, and she proved that. The legacy of Aphra Behn
will live on for years to come.
Stories Matter is a mentoring program founded by writer Leslie Zemeckis, and co-sponsored by the SBIFF and ENTITY Magazine, for young female writers, nurturing and inspiring the next generation of writers to tell their stories. A weekly intensive with published female author’s giving their time to encourage greatness and share their writing process. The theme was “A Woman You Should Know.” These stories are the best of the bunch, some remain works-in-progress, some will (hopefully) take these stories and turn them into longer pieces. (more info on Instagram Leslie Zemeckis
