The Conscious Lovers

Bevil Jr., the son of Sir John Bevil, is the protagonist of the play. The other characters acknowledge that Bevil Jr. is sensible, kind, generous, and obedient, specifically with regard to his father. Bevil Jr. is in love with Indiana; he spends the play avoiding marriage with Lucinda, assuaging Myrtle’s irritation over the suggestion that Bevil Jr. would marry Lucinda, and maintaining sexual distance from Indiana. By pretending to agree with his father, and hiding his feelings for Indiana from her, Bevil Jr. believes that he is maintaining a balance between being a dutiful son and an honorable lover, as he agrees to whatever his father suggests while also supporting Indiana financially and emotionally.

Bevil Jr. is Richard Steele’s moral model in the play, attempting to show how a good person should act even when beset by moral complexity and contradiction. As a result, Bevil Jr.’s actions and perspectives can be read as Steele’s ideals: obedience to one’s parents, modesty in friendship, honesty and integrity with others, and sexual restraint. Though Bevil Jr. conceals his feelings for Indiana and implicitly disobeys his father by continuing to see Indiana despite being engaged to Lucinda, Steele implies that Bevil Jr.