Aphra Behn, an certainly woman, still attracts critical attention with her novella Oroonoko. The aim of this essay was to find out the political implications of Oroonoko. First, the significance of the main character, Oroonoko, and interpreting his possible symbolism. Second, how the political sympathies of the author, were expressed in the book through her presentation of characters and plot. And third, the treatment by the author of slavery and racial issues, as seen in the political context.
Aphra Behn, the first Englishwoman to earn her living by writing, was noted for many of her works, among them Oroonoko, which Abrams calls "an important precursor to the novel" . Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave, is a novella from the Restoration period, published in 1688, and presented by author as "a true history."
The story, set in the New World, is told by a female narrator who recalls her acquaintance with a black African prince, Oroonoko. He was born in Coramantien (Coromantyn), fell in love with beautiful Imoinda, married her, and was divided from her by his grandfather, the king, who wanted her for himself and subsequently sold Imoinda into slavery. He "loses his freedom because he naively accepts the invitation of an English sea captain - with whom Oroonoko has engaged in slave trading - to dine aboard ship. Behn excoriates the `treachery' of the captain, who entraps the too-credulous prince and transports him to Surinam." Eventually, Oroonoko leads a slave revolt which results in failure, kills his wife Imoinda, and is punished by torture and execution. "The hero learns too late that the `good' Christians ... have repeatedly if perhaps not fully consciously deceived him" . The prince is depicted as noble and honest, educated, ye...
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...anet Todd, ed., Aphra Behn (New York, 1999).
Ferguson, Margaret, "Juggling the Categories of Race, Class and Gender: Aphra Behn's Oroonoko" in Janet Todd, ed., Aphra Behn (New York, 1999).
Ferguson, Margaret, "The Authorial Ciphers of Aphra Behn" in Zwicker S.N., ed., The Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 1650-1740 (Cambridge, 1998).
Parry, Graham, The Seventeenth Century. The Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature, 1603-1700 (London and New York, 1990), pp. 107-131, 212-235.
Pearson, Jacqueline, "Gender and Narrative in Behn's Fiction" in Janet Todd, ed., Aphra Behn (New York, 1999).
Spurr, John, "England 1649-1750: Differences Contained?" in Zwicker S.N., ed., The Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 1650-1740 (Cambridge, 1998).
Women and Literature in Britain, 1700-1800, ed. Vivien Jones (Cambridge, 2000).
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Zeitz, Lisa M. and Thoms, Peter. “Power, Gender and Identity in Aphra Behn’s ‘The Disappointment’.” Restoration and Eighteenth Century. Spec. issue of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 37.3 (1997) : 501-16. JSTOR. Web. 10 Feb 2011.
The novel Oroonoko by Aphra Behn reveals a story about the popular business in the 1640s of the British slave trade. Shipments of slaves were sent off to a country in South America named Suriname where they worked on the rich sugar crop fields. In the novel, the main character, Oroonoko, was prince of an African country, Coramantien, and possessed qualities of a highly educated Englishman. Oroonoko’s life changed when he met the beautiful Imoinda who later is stolen by his grandfather and sent off to Suriname after a major conflict. Furthermore, Oroonoko was deceived into slavery, but also made foolish decisions along the way that could have prevented many tragic circumstances. Some see him as a victim during his hardships, while others view him as the instigator of his own befall. In this story, Oroonoko is meant to be looked at as an unsympathetic figure.
Oroonoko is a fascinating text overflowing with descriptions of complex relations between and within the different races. The attitudes and actions of the Aphra Behn and her characters would make for a rich analysis from any number of behavioral approaches, but there are many more layers to this story than the dominant racial themes. In fact, in "Oroonoko’s Blackness" Catherine Gallagher argues that the main character’s unusually dark skin color actually represents kingship, commodification, and the degree to which he and the author are embodied in the work. Though Gallagher recognizes the significance of Oroonoko’s ethnicity in the conflict between the African and European groups, she writes that it is displaced by these three ideas when examined from other perspectives. At times her arguments for this are difficult to decipher and appear contradictory, especially in the explanations on textuality, embodiment and transcendence, but, overall, the claims of the criticism are strong and convincing.
Dyck, Reginald. "The Feminist Critique of Willa Cather's Fiction: A Review Essay." Women's Studies 22 (1993): 263-279.
...Own: Attitudes Toward Women in Willa Cather's Short Fiction." Modern Fiction Studies 36:1 (Spring 1990): 81-89.
May, Robert. “Lesson 6: The Early Modern Period.” English 110S Course Notes. Queen’s University. Kingston. Summer 2010. Course Manual.
Raffel, Burton. and Alexandra H. Olsen Poems and Prose from the Old English, (Yale University Press)Robert Bjork and John Niles,
...ied this Great Man, worthy of a better Fate, and a more sublime Wit than mine to write his Praise; yet, I hope, the Reputation of my Pen is considerable enough to make his Glorious Name to survive to all ages…."(BL Anthology, 461). Because she is part of the text and the text is illuminated by Oroonoko's "heavenly light," Behn's presence is also illuminated in the text.
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Believed to have written many of her novels in a single sitting, Aphra Behn has made history in the english language for being the first female english writer. Aphra Behn was a spy for Charles II in the Second Dutch War followed by a life in a debtor’s prison when she returned to England, due to Charles failing to pay her properly. In prison is where she wrote books that sold well. Although this story, Oroonoko: Or, The Royal Slave, was not entirely successful in her lifetime, she was able to support herself when Charles II did not pay her for her time serving him. Oroonoko is a story about a hero, an african man, who enslaved in Surinam. The story is supposedly written about her own experiences in the newly found colony in South America.
Dyck, Reginald. "The Feminist Critique of Willa Cather's Fiction: A Review Essay." Women's Studies 22 (1993): 263-279.
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907-21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000 http://www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html
Tucker, Martin- ed. Moulton’s Library of Literary Criticism… Vol. I- The Beginnings to the Seventeenth Century New York, Frederick Publishing Co. 1966: