By Grace Cairns (Fall 2022)
Oroonoko, a 17th Century novel written by Aphra Behn, follows the mournful love story between Oroonoko, a handsome African prince, and Imoinda, his beautiful partner. It follows the journey of them being sold into slavery and the mistreatment they face in enslavement, ending with both of their untimely deaths. Aphra Behn was a pioneer for women of her time, being one of the first English women to make a living from writing. The story Oroonoko takes an interesting form, as it is told by a first-person narrator and supposedly is a true story of people Behn knew while she was in Suriname. Although the legitimacy of her storytelling is debatable, Behn’s early representation of race illustrated the true horrors of slavery. Through the emphasis on physical features, discussions of slavery, and ideas of European superiority, the novella Oroonoko is an early text that highlights race issues and remains important to readers today because of this, as well as the historical feat Aphra Behn’s success was.
Aphra Behn, an English novelist and poet of the 17th century, was both an infamous and celebrated figure of her time. Her birthplace and birth year isn’t known, but she is assumed to be born in 1640 somewhere in England. Much of Behn’s personal life remains unconfirmed; most information about her is speculation. According to Britannica, in 1666, King Charles II recruited Behn to work in the secret service. During this time, she traveled in different areas of the world, her time in South America becoming the inspiration for Oroonoko. Aphra Behn started writing for profit after she was imprisoned for debt, as her husband’s passing gave her no financial support, and King Charles II would not give her money during her secret service expeditions. She decided to tackle her financial troubles on her own so she could become self-sufficient, not wanting to depend on anyone for money.
Not only was a woman writer producing profitable, published works unheard of, but Behn’s work contained explicit and vulgar content that was extremely uncommon for women to write. Her writings earned her a notorious reputation, but it aided in creating a new standard for female writers where they could write about the same obscene topics as already established male writers. Men had been writing about private affairs and getting praise, but for a woman to participate in this culture was highly controversial. This controversy drew attention to Behn, and by gaining attention from the public, she was able to be the first Englishwoman to make a living from her published work. Her success was an introduction to a completely new league of writers, showing the world the value of the female perspective and pen.
Aphra Behn published multiple works of poetry, but she is most well known for her tragic romance Oroonoko. As the first-person narrator of the novella, Behn claims everything that happened in the story to be true and traces her relationship to Oroonoko to her time in Suriname, South America. Before the story takes place in Suriname, the audience is introduced to Coramantien, an African nation that sells their people through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Oroonoko is described by the narrator as flawless, as “he [had] that real greatness of soul, those refined notions of true honor, that absolute generosity, and that softness that was capable of the highest passions of love and gallantry” (Behn 17). Not only did he have great character, but he is also described as having “[a] whole proportion and air of his face was so nobly and exactly formed that, bating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome” (Behn 18), which highlights how he was also remarkably attractive.
His love interest in this novella is Imoinda, an exceptionally beautiful woman that he falls in love with immediately. They wish to marry, but Oroonoko’s grandfather, the king, sees how beautiful Imoinda is and wants her to live with him for his own sexual pleasure. Because his grandfather is a king, Imoinda cannot refuse since she would be disobeying the king. Nevertheless, Imoinda refuses to give herself to the king because she is a virgin and wants to stay loyal to Oroonoko. In secret, Imoinda and Oroonoko marry each other, but when the king finds out, he sells Imoinda into slavery, yet tells Oroonoko he had her killed. Oroonoko is heartbroken over his wife, but still puts his duty as a military general first to lead his soldiers to victory in war. Unfortunately for Oroonoko, an English captain visits Coramantien and tricks Oroonoko onto boarding his ship, kidnapping him and taking him as a slave. From Coramantien, he is taken to Suriname and sold to the slave-owner Trefry. Trefry renames Oroonoko “Cesar”, and he is referred to by his slave name for the rest of the story. His slave-owner eventually reunites Cesar with Imoinda, whose name has been changed to Clemene. Once reunited, Clemene becomes pregnant, and this makes Cesar question how he can get his growing family back to Coramantien and live free out of slavery.
Trefry makes promises to Cesar that he will eventually be freed, but Cesar is unable to trust him because he is making no action to get him out of slavery. Even so, the colonists in Suriname do not wish to free Cesar, and the Deputy Governor Byam will do anything it takes to keep Cesar captive. Becoming impatient, Cesar rallies the other slaves to run away and become free, and they almost get past the angry colonists, until Byam and Trefry convince Cesar to stop and forfeit from the fight. Although they agree on a contract, Byam brutally kills Clemene and her unborn baby, making Cesar so filled with grief that he no longer wants to fight for freedom. The story concludes with Cesar’s kidnapping and brutal death, showcasing a brilliant man who could no longer fight the world after everything was taken from him.
Oroonoko was an early version of the English novel we know today, but Behn’s own personal experience is truly what makes the genre of Oroonoko. Aphra Behn is herself in this story, and she deems herself as being a major part of the story, going as far as crediting herself when concluding the story: “Thus died 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 all the ages” (Behn 78). Despite her own personal praise, Behn doesn’t do much as a character, but her perspective offers a lot to the audience that shows what European colonists thought of race during that time period. Because Oroonoko’s life is told through the perspective of an Englishwoman, the reader is able to analyze Behn’s biases on race through her narration.
The first example of race in Oroonoko is the emphasis on the physical features of Oroonoko. After introducing herself and setting the scene for the audience, Behn goes to describe the magnificence of the prince Oroonoko. She describes him as being a noble person, but also focuses heavily on his features. She writes a lengthy description of him, saying that “[his] face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jet. His eyes were the most awful that could be seen, and very piercing; the white of ’em being like snow, as were his teeth. His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turned lips which are so natural to the rest of the negroes. The whole proportion and air of his face was so nobly and exactly formed that, bating his color, there could be nothing in nature more beautiful, agreeable, and handsome” (Behn 18).
Through this description, Oroonoko is only regarded as attractive by Behn because he looks more European than African. In most of her praises of him, she says that he is not like other African men, proposing that she thinks there is something bad about resembling Africa. Throughout the book, there is this idea that Oroonoko is better than other slaves because she can find similarities between them, specifically European ones. By complimenting Oroonoko, she also spews hate about the rest of his race, and this supports her own personal reasoning for wanting to help him once they cross paths.
As Behn praises Oroonoko for his European features and morals, she also indirectly discusses issues of slavery in the text. This is showcased specifically when she discusses how she feels about slavery, which is one of the main themes in the second part of the novel. She paints a visual image of the cruelty of slavery for the reader, in one part writing that “the innocent with the guilty, suffered the infamous whip, the sordid stripes, from their fellow-slaves, till their blood trickled from all parts of their body; blood, whose every drop ought to be revenged with a life of some of those tyrants that impose it” (Behn 63).
Despite showcasing slavery as cruel and unnecessary punishment, Behn never outright goes against the institution of slavery. She recognizes that they are treated inhumanely but doesn’t state that slavery is wrong. Behn only truly shows sympathy for Oroonoko and Imoinda, and not the other slaves. Even in her character introduction of Oroonoko, she paints him as being better than the other people around him. The only time she shows true dismay about the institution of slavery is when in reference to Oroonoko, but otherwise she shows no compassion for other slaves.
In another part of the text, Behn writes that “we find it absolutely necessary to caress ’em as friends, and not to treat ’em as slaves” (Behn 15). Behn clearly expresses her own white guilt and how she sees them as “friends,” but this only truly shows when it’s in relation to Oroonoko and those he cares about. She paradoxically expresses how slavery can even be convenient for those who benefit from it, proclaiming that “Coramantien, a country of blacks so called, was one of those places in which they found the most advantageous trading for these slaves” (Behn 15). By expressing how she finds slavery wrong but a necessary thing for the colonists, Behn continues to express her racist thoughts.
European superiority is the most overarching theme in Behn’s ideals, and also is a basis for a majority of racist themes in Oroonoko. According to the British Library, they write that “[like] almost all of her contemporaries, Behn accepted slavery for most of the enslaved; Oroonoko’s first present to Imoinda is a group of enslaved Africans, and he later bargains for his freedom by offering to send enslaved Africans to Surinam. But the enslaving of someone born noble was anathema to Behn and the later sense that a whole race of people could, without distinctions, be traded and treated quite unlike any other would have appalled her” (Todd). Behn was able to acknowledge that slavery was wrong only for people she deemed noble, because she didn’t view the other slaves as people.
In another part of the text, Behn writes that “[…]Caesar was taken and whipped like a common slave” (Behn 69), showing how she didn’t think he should be treated like the other slaves. This is mostly because she sees his royal status as separating him from the other slaves, which is a common idea expressed by Behn throughout the novel. Because he had a status, Behn thought more of him. Ideas of European superiority could also be linked back to how she liked Oroonoko’s European features and values, hence why it’s a large part in Behn’s racist ideas.
Oroonoko still remains relevant to audiences today. By reading a story told from the perspective of an Englishwoman in the 1600s, a modern reader can gather a lot of information about what people from that time, especially their ideas about slavery and black people. Aphra Behn provides only one perspective, but it was one of the first published novels by an Englishwoman, so that perspective had not been known to the public beforehand. The historical feat that was Oroonoko’s success also plays a major factor in why it’s important. Behn was able to give women a place in a male-dominated field and proved that women could make a career out of writing and become self-sufficient from it.
Works Cited
“Aphra Behn.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aphra-Behn.
Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave. Canning, 1688.
Todd, Janet. Oroonoko: Historical and political contexts. British Library, 2018. https://www.bl.uk/restoration-18th-century-literature/articles/oroonoko-historical-and-political-contexts#:~:text=Matters%20came%20to%20a%20head,many%20nobles%20to%20invade%20England.
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