Aphra Behn Oroonoko

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Aphra Behn - Oroonoko
- some main characters Oroonoko/Caesar the
Prince and Royal Slave the King (Oroonokos
grandfather) Aboan (Oroonokos attendant/sidekick)
Imoinda/Clemene Onahal (part of the
Otan) Aboan/Onahal work as foil
to Oroonoko/Imoinda Trefry (the good white
guy) Byam (the governor the bad white
guy) narrator (white English Christian
woman) a Frenchman of wit and learning/the
royal tutor (921)
Surinam
Behn 1640-1689
the story of a royal slave Behns work
embodies a number of tense contradictions
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narration/slavery/race
I do not pretend...to entertain my reader with
the adventures of a feigned hero...And it shall
come simply into the world...there being enough
of reality to support it...without the addition
of invention (918). narrator as eyewitness
(918) yet on 959 the story is related to her (is
the event romanticized is the narrator an
unwitting filter an Englishness imposed on the
world the storyteller as colonizer) slippery
pronouns Before I give you the story of this
gallant slave tis fit I tell you the manner of
bringing them to these new colonies for those
slaves they make use of there are not native of
the place for those natives we live with in
perfect amity (918). - note the shift
especially from they to we the narrator and race
- 920 With these people in Surinam...we
live in perfect tranquility...as it behooves us
to do they knowing all the places where to seek
the best food...and the means of getting it and
for very small and invaluable trifles supply us
with what tis impossible for us to get...So that
they being on all occasions very useful to us
we find it absolutely necessary to caress em as
friends and not to treat em as slaves nor dare
we do other their numbers so far surpassing ours
in that continent.
History - 1. A relation of incidents (in early
use either true or imaginary later only of
those professedly true) a narrative tale
story. OED online
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who is the narrator
- I have often seen and conversed with this
great man and been witness to many of his mighty
actions and do assure my reader the most
illustrious courts could not have produced a
braver man...a wit more quick...He had heard of
and admired the Romans (922) and then he would
become Caesar - narrator as Christian and as
critic - 924 in Africa men take to
themselves as many wives as they can maintain
and...the only crime is to turn her off to
abandon her to want...Such ill morals are only
practiced in Christian countries yet Oroonko
because he knows honor vows that Imoinda
should be the only woman he would possess while
he lived (and then the narrator forgets the
ceremony that confirms the engagement between
Oroonoko and Imoinda) - on 937 (after Oroonoko
has been enslaved) the Captain will not believe
Oroonoko who is a heathen and has no sense or
notion of the God that he the captain
worshipped Oroonoko responds with skepticism
that the Captain has behaved as taught by his
God ultimately Oroonoko swears on his honor
(938) - Oroonoko later points out that his
suffering as a slave will have been worth it
since he has learned the truth about the English
and your gods by whom you swear (939) - on 943
we are told that the Frenchman they could not
make a slave because a Christian (yet he had
been cast out of France for heresies)
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the narrator and race/slavery 920 unless they
the Indians in Surinam take slaves in war
they have no other attendants (is this
anti-slavery) 921 in Africa all they took
in battle were sold as slaves at least those
common men who could not ransom themselves -
923 Oroonoko returns from battle and visits
Imoinda (because it was her father who saved
Oroonokos life) he presents her with those
slaves that had been taken in...battle as the
trophies of her fathers victories. and later
his gift to Imoinda is described a hundred and
fifty slaves in fetters 919 they Indians
have all that is called beauty except color
which is a reddish yellow 921 certainly
there are beauties that can charm of that color
yet Oroonoko stands out as unlike his race he
was adorned with a native beauty so transcending
all those of his gloomy race that he struck an
awe and reverence even in those that knew not his
quality as he did in me who beheld him with
surprise and wonder when afterwards he arrived
in our world (921).
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the Middle Passage
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(No Transcript)
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slavery - interestingly on 932 Imoinda and
Onahal are sold into slavery by the King Imoinda
because the King thinks she has been polluted
by another man yet he is still bound to her
because he has given her the ceremonial veil
(the King is caught between two contradictory
laws) Onahal is sold because she helped Imoinda
and also because she is no longer useful (she
is too old) - Behn here links slavery of two
kinds - the narrator indicates the Kings
feelings he considered he ought in honor to
have killed her for this offense if it had been
one....He ought to have nobly put her to death
and not to have sold her like a common slave
(933). - the King decides to lie to Oroonoko
about Imoindas slavery and tell him she was
secretly put to death (933) is this
honorable - the narrator does not seem to see
the contradiction when Oroonoko says it is not
title make men brave or good or birth that
bestows courage and generosity (934). Yet it
is throughout the story the lowliness of slaves
that justifies their initial enslavement (so are
all men created equal or are all men not created
equal)
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slavery
- on 936 the English ship arrives - the captain
who will trick and enslave Oroonoko was very
well known to Oroonoko with whom he had
trafficked for slaves and had used to do the
same with his predecessors (936) - is Behn
playing with the possibility of a strange
justice here - for it is to this captain
that Oroonoko sold abundance of his slaves
(936) - when Oroonoko arrives in Surinam it is
Trefry who at once distinguishes Oroonoko as
different (939) for example he sees Oroonokos
vest (his clothes) - Oroonoko confesses he is
above the rank of common slaves - Trefry soon
found that he Oroonoko was yet something
greater than he confessed and from that moment
began to conceive so vast an esteem for him that
he ever after loved him as his dearest brother
and showed him all the civilities due to so great
a man (939) - Trefry laters promises on word
and honor to return Oroonoko to Africa (940) -
again is slavery the problem or just
enslavement of the wrong people - Oroonoko
himself will justify slavery (oddly as he argues
against his own enslavement) should we be
slaves to an unknown people Have they
vanquished us nobly in fight Have they won us
in honourable battle And are we by the chance
of war become their slaves This would not anger
a noble heart (953).
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Race
- He was...of a shape the most exact that can be
fancied...His face was not of that brown rusty
black which most of that nation are but a
perfect ebony or polished jet...His nose was
rising and Roman instead of African and flat...
(922) - his face was so noble and exactly formed
that except for his color there could be
nothing in nature more beautiful...and handsome
(922)
the beautiful powerful violent black body
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race
- 936 Oroonoko is more civilized according to
the European mode than any other had been and
took more delight in the white nations and above
all men of parts and wit - yet (perhaps
according to the European mode) Oroonoko is
betrayed into slavery (937) by the captains
design - in Surinam Oroonoko is once again
identified (by the narrator) as different than
the commoner The royal youth appeared in spite
of the slave and people could not help treating
him after a different manner (940) - as an
ironic commentary (I think) on this difference
which is celebrated by the narrator Behn as
author indicates that Oroonoko literally becomes
a new person Caesar (940) - notice the distance
between the straightforward narrator and the
critical author I ought to tell you that the
Christians never buy any slaves but they give em
some name of their own their native ones being
likely very barbarous and hard to pronounce so
that Mr. Trefry gave Oroonoko that of Caesar -
and so we get narrator as historian (though this
narrator does not seem to realize the
implications she really believes its simply a
true history that her telling of the tale
does not create the reality of the story or
that her telling necessitates her involvement in
it)
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- Oroonoko as Caesar this invokes the sense
that the narrator is telling a history like that
we know about the real Caesar - in fact had
Oroonokos feats been done in some part of the
world replenished with people and historians that
might have given him his due. But his misfortune
was to fall in an obscure world that afforded
only a female pen to celebrate his fame (940)
though perhaps history might have recognized
Oroonoko eventually had not the Dutch killed
banished and dispersed any potential
historians - the irony of Oroonokos enslavement
at the hands of the English (as guilty of
killing banishment and dispersion) seems lost
on the narrator - at the plantation Oroonoko was
received more like a governor than a slave yet
the narrator willingly accepts the name change
(in order for her history to be accurate she
says) 941 - Oroonoko slave in name only
(though he is relegated to where the Negroes
were) actually has to confront those slaves that
he himself had sold into slavery! (941) - in a
further twist they accept Oroonoko as King
yet he wishes to be thought of as their
fellow-slave (941)
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- as Oroonoko/Caesar becomes King/slave he is
set to be reunited with Imoinda (who has been
christened Clemene (942) - notably her task
of work she is a slave after all some sighing
lover every day makes it his petition to perform
for her which she accepts blushing and with
reluctancy for fear he will ask her a look for a
recompense which he dares not presume to
hope. - Oroonoko comments I do not
wonder...that Clemene should refuse slaves
(942). - so Imoinda now Clemene in her slavery
is keeping slaves - notice how the naming works
during the reunion scene on 942-943 - Caesar
Clemene the Prince Imoinda...Caesar swore he
disdained the empire of the world while he could
behold his Imoinda and she despised grandeur and
pomp those vanities of her sex what a bizarre
inclusion by the narrator when she could gaze
on Oroonoko (943) - the narrator here mentions
(out of guilt) that she had promised
Oroonoko/Caesar his freedom I had assured of
liberty as soon as the Governor Byam arrived
(on 951 she notes that we resolved to make her
Imoindas chains as easy as we could) what
was her role in slavery
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slavery
- when Oroonoko/Caesar and Imoinda/Clemene are
reunited they are married and she gets
pregnant - eager for their liberty Oroonoko
offers Trefry either gold or a vast quantity of
slaves (944) - as Oroonoko begins to suspect
deception again it is the narrator who is
obliged by some persons who feared a mutiny
which should have happened anyway because the
slaves exceed the whites in vast numbers to
discourse with Caesar and to give him all the
satisfaction I possible could (944) -
incidentally the narrator tells us she talked
at length with Caesar about the lives of the
Romans and great men (irony here) further
she teaches Clemene all the pretty works that
I was mistress of and telling her stories of
nuns and endeavouring to bring her to the
knowledge of the true God (which for obvious
reasons Oroonoko doesnt buy)
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the noble savage - Behn reflects the interest of
the English reading public in the exotic -
browse the story to find a description of
Oroonoko/Caesar and/or Imoinda what do you
find (see 922 and 923 for a start) - notice the
description of Indians (not Africans) on 919 in
terms of Adam and Eve - bottom of 919 And
these people represented to me an absolute idea
of the first state of innocence before man knew
how to sin. And tis most evident and plain that
simple Nature is the most harmless inoffensive
and virtuous mistress. Tis she alone if she
were permitted that better instructs the world
than all the inventions of man... - note the
natives in Surinam extreme ignorance and
simplicity of em (950)
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genres at work
history novel dramatic theatre romance
biography travel narrative - Oroonoko and
Imoinda are both portrayed in the highly
Europeanized terms of courtly lovers - 923 -
Imoinda tames Oroonoko (in what would become
the great Harlequin romance tradition) Oroonoko
admired by what strange inspiration he came to
talk things so soft and passionate he discovers
some new and till then unknown power which
instructed his heart and tongue in the language
of love - yet his flame aimed at nothing but
honor (923) - 929 the courtly/comic romance
between Aboan and Onahal (she pursues him) 931
he suffered himself to be caressed in bed by
Onahal
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the narrator in Surinam (939) - establishes
colony as belonging to the King of England -
the narrator is at one of the plantations where
I then chanced to be (notice her presence is not
well explained here) - they sold off slaves to
merchants and gentlemen - they would separate
families and nationalities not daring to trust
em together lest rage and courage should put
em upon contriving some great action to the
ruin of the colony - 943 after the reunion I
had forgot to tell you.... here she describes
the nobly born of Surinam - on 945-946 she
finally discloses why she is in Surinam at all
(my father died at sea (945)) - her father was
to be a prominent ruler the narrator seems to
have taken up the language of colonialism that he
too must have been steeped in Tis a continent
whose vast extent was never yet known...It
affords all things both for beauty and use...the
trees bearing at once all degrees of leaves and
fruit...The very wood of all these trees has an
intrinsic value above common timber...they bear
a price considerable to inlay withal (946)
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- the extensive hunting scenes play a number of
roles not least perhaps metaphoric notice
especially the tiger hunt that starts on 947 -
on 947 other hunters had shot her she might
even be a devil (because the shots did not kill
her) - Caesar vows to encounter this monster
this ravenous beast (947) - top of 948 she
is found eating and she is ravenous - he
shoots her with an arrow in the eye (recalling
that Oroonoko had been saved when his general
Imoindas father took an arrow in the eye for
him - 921) - hit with another arrow he fell dead
upon the prey Caesar cut him open - and then
the narrator I shall now relate a thing that
possibly will find no credit among men...nothing
can receive a wound in the heart and yet live
but when the heart of this courageous animal
courageous was taken out there were seven
bullets of lead in it...and she lived with the
bullets a great while
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the conclusion
- not until page 957 does the narrator mention
her capacity to intervene (to what extent is
unclear) - Caesar has escaped with all the
Negroes (who will later betray him or practice
common sense depending on your perspective) -
we were scared of Caesar returning to cut all
our throats (anachronistically a classic case
of Freudian projection) - I suppose I had
authority political force and interest
economic force enough there had I suspected
any such thing that Byam would lie to Caesar
to have prevented it (957) - the piece of
promotion (according to the footnote) that
follows is surely Behn taking an ironic dig at
herself (at the shallowness of writers who are
struggling to earn a living) for it is
immediately after the narrator admits to having
(substantial) clout that she turns to
self-promotion We met on the river with Colonel
Martin a man of great gallantry wit and
goodness and whom I have celebrated in a
character of my new comedy by his own name in
memory of so brave a man (957). - note that when
the narrator returns to find Caesar she makes a
point of protesting our innocency (957)
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the conclusion
- on 958 Caesar reclaims his real name you
shall see that Oroonoko scorns to live with the
indignity that was put on Caesar (958) (the
greatest indignity for Oroonoko is to be whipped
as a slave he would rather die and will along
with Imoinda) - Oroonoko and Imoinda flee
Imoinda is sacrificed (notice the parallel of
Oroonoko over Imoinda and the tiger over its
prey yet Oroonoko becomes feeble from lack of
food) - Oroonoko is referred to Oh monster!
that hast murdered thy wife (960). - on 947
it is Oroonoko who calls the tiger monster -
Oroonoko declares that there will be no more
Caesars to be whipped (961) - yet with
Oroonokos execution his body is literally cut up
and the pieces sent to other plantations there
turn out to be more Caesars - Thus died this
great man worthy of a better fate and a more
sublime wit than mine to write he praise yet I
hope the reputation of my pen is considerable
enough to make his glorious name to survive to
all ages with that of the brave the beautiful
and the constant Imoinda (962).
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- 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 to all ages with that of the brave
the beautiful and the constant Imoinda (962).
greatness seems to have been an unstable
category at best (used to justify the enslavement
of those not born into the right family) the
narrator reasserts herself even in the very last
moment (false modesty) and we are reminded of
the female pen at work to create the history for
the slave/King his glorious name naming was a
key theme throughout bravery beauty and
constancy like honor each of these virtues
seems less straightforward than the narrator is
entirely aware of Imoinda at least gets her own
name back