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Chapter 5 is concerned with the representation of the female warrior in Behn’s The Young King (1679) and The Widdow Ranter (1689). It will be demonstrated that the Amazonian myth resurfaced again in the Restoration period. It is interesting to note that imperial expansion in this period created a demand for plays that had a foreign setting. Dryden’s The Indian Queen (1664) and The Conquest of Granada (1670) are two examples of heroic dramas that deal with events in Mexico. In The Young King, Behn presents Cleomena, a warrior princess who appears in full warrior dress. Because of an ominous prophecy concerning her brother’s reign, the Queen has decided to put Cleomena on the throne, and she is therefore trained to be a military and political leader. This proves that nurture is more important than nature. Given the proper training, women can learn to command armies and to rule effectively. Cleomena demonstrates her military prowess during the course of the drama. Her attendant Semiris comments, “You’d rather hear ’em back the sound / Of horns and Dogs, or the fierce noise of War” (1.2.21–22). However, she undergoes a change of heart and arranges for her brother Orsames to come out of hiding and to be reinstated as leader of his country.
In The Widdow Ranter, Ranter epitomises the archetypal social climber in the New World. She assumes male attire in order to pursue her lover, Dareing. She debunks military codes of honour, declaring, “Hang ’em, they get a name in War, from command, not courage” (4.2.169). Ranter is completely cynical and has no intention of incurring any physical harm during her escapade as a soldier. Semernia, the Indian Queen who also takes up arms in the battle, is in complete contrast to Ranter. She declares, “I have no Amazonian fire about me, all my Artillery is sighs and Tears, the Earth my bed, and heaven my Canopy” (5.1.191–193). Behn scales down Semernia’s Amazonian potential and she is presented as a romantic heroine whose fate is tragic. Like Pocahontas, she falls in love with an Englishman and Behn cannot allow her to live, as the representation of miscegenation would have been too problematic in this period.