Behn, Aphra

Behn, Aphra (?1640–1689),
a writer and dramatist who used Shakespeare to defend herself against charges of being uneducated (‘Epistle to the Reader’ of The Dutch Lover), and who defended Shakespeare's use of ‘obscene’ language in Othello (preface to The Lucky Chance). Othello is considered influential in the creation of her noble African hero Oroonoko (1688).

Catherine Alexander