Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

First published: 1688

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Didactic

Time of plot: Seventeenth century

Locale: Africa and Suriname

Principal characters

• Oroonoko, an African prince
• Imoinda, his wife
• Aboan, a friend of Oroonoko
• The King, Oroonoko’s grandfather

The Story:

In the African kingdom of Coromantien, the ruler is an old man more than one hundred years of age. His grandson, Prince Oroonoko, is the bravest, most beloved young man in all the land. When the commanding general is killed in battle, Oroonoko is chosen to take his place, even though the prince is only seventeen years old. After a great victory in battle, Prince Oroonoko presents himself at the court of his grandfather, the king. His noble and martial bearing makes him an instant favorite with lords and ladies alike.

Oroonoko also visits Imoinda, the daughter of his dead general, a girl as beautiful and modest as he is handsome and brave. The two noble young people immediately fall in love. They marry, but before the marriage can be consummated, Oroonoko makes known his plans to his grandfather the king. Although the old man already has many wives, he had heard of the loveliness of Imoinda and wants her for his own. When Oroonoko is absent one day, the king sends his veil to Imoinda, a royal command that she is to join his harem. Since it is against the law for even a king to take another man’s wife, the old man makes her forswear her marriage and acknowledge him as her husband.

When Oroonoko returns and learns of the old man’s treachery, he renounces all pleasures in longing for his lost wife. The lovers dare not let the king know their true feelings, for to do so means death for both of them (even though Oroonoko is of the king’s own blood). While pretending not to care for his lost Imoinda, Oroonoko is again invited to the royal palace. There he learns from some of the king’s women that Imoinda is still a virgin. Oroonoko plans to rescue her. With the help of his friend, Aboan, and one of the older wives of the king, Oroonoko enters the apartment of Imoinda and takes her as his true wife. Spied upon by the king’s orders, Oroonoko is apprehended and forced to flee back to his army camp, leaving Imoinda to the mercies of the king. Enraged because he had been betrayed by his own blood, the old man determines to kill the girl and then punish Oroonoko. To save her life, Imoinda tells the king that Oroonoko had raped her. The king then declares that she must be punished with worse than death; he sells her into slavery.

The king gives up his intent to punish his grandson, for Oroonoko controls the soldiers and the king fears they might be turned against him. Instead, he takes Oroonoko back into his favor after telling the boy that Imoinda had been given an honorable death for her betrayal of the king. Oroonoko holds no grudge against the king and does not act against him; for a long time, however, he pines for his lost wife. At last, his grief grows less, and he once more takes his place at the royal court.

Soon afterward, an English merchant ship arrives in the port of Coromantien. When the ship’s master, well known to Oroonoko, invites the prince and his friends to a party on board, Oroonoko, Aboan, and others gladly accept the invitation. Once on board, all are seized and made prisoners and later sold as slaves in Suriname on the coast of South America. The man who bought Oroonoko, seeing the nobility of his slave, immediately feels great esteem for him. Indeed, except for the fact that he has been bought, Oroonoko is not a slave at all, but rather a friend to his master. In the colony as in his own homeland, Oroonoko is loved, admired, and respected by all who see him. His name is changed to Caesar.

In a short time, Oroonoko, now known as Caesar, hears of a lovely young girl whom all the men want for their own. It is believed, however, that she pines for a lost love. When Oroonoko sees her, he sees Imoinda, whom he had thought dead. Reunited with great joy, the lovers are allowed to live together and are promised their freedom and passage to their own country as soon as the governor arrives to make the arrangements.

Oroonoko, however, begins to fear that he and his wife are never going to be set free, that the promise will not be kept. Imoinda is pregnant and they fear that they are to be kept until the child is born, another slave. When the masters are gone one day, Oroonoko tries to persuade the slaves to revolt against their bondage; he promises to lead them to his own country and there give them liberty. Although most of the slaves follow him, they quickly desert him when they are overtaken by their masters; Oroonoko is left with Imoinda and one man. The governor, who is with the pursuers, promises Oroonoko that if he surrenders, there will be no punishment. Again, Oroonoko is betrayed. Upon his surrender, he is seized, tied to a stake, and whipped until the flesh falls from his bones. Oroonoko endures his punishment with great courage, but he vows revenge on his captors even if it means his own death. His master, still his friend, had also been betrayed into believing the promises made to Oroonoko. He takes the sick and feeble man back to his own plantation and nurses him. There he refuses to let anyone near Oroonoko except his friends, and he posts a guard to see that no harm comes to the sick man.

Oroonoko is resolved to have his revenge on his tormentors, and he conceives a grim plan. Fearing that Imoinda will be raped and suffer a shameful death, he tells her that she must die at his hand so that he will be free to accomplish his revenge. Imoinda blesses her husband for his thoughtfulness; after many caresses and words of love, Oroonoko severs her head from her body. Then he lays down beside her and does not eat or drink for many days while he grieves for his beloved.

Found by the side of his dead wife by those who had come to beat him again, he takes his knife, cuts off his own flesh, and rips his own bowels, all the while vowing that he will never be whipped a second time. Again, friends take him home and care for him with love and kindness. Then the governor tricks his friends once more, and Oroonoko is tied to a stake and whipped publicly. After the beating, the executioner cuts off his arms, legs, nose, and ears. Because of his enemies’ treachery, Oroonoko dies a cruel and shameful death.

Bibliography

Altaba-Artal, Dolors. Aphra Behn’s English Feminism: Wit and Satire. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1999. Chapters examine Behn’s satirical writings from a feminist perspective. Includes a bibliography and an index.

Anderson, Emily Hodgson. “Novelty in Novels: A Look at What’s New in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko.” Studies in the Novel 39, no. 1 (Spring, 2007): 1-16. Explores the aspects of novelty in novels through a focused reading of Oroonoko. Argues that the novel demonstrates a concern for didacticism and its own newness that was characteristic of many eighteenth century novels.

Chalmers, Hero. Royalist Women Writers, 1650-1689. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. An examination of the work of Behn, Margaret Cavendish, and Katherine Philips. Chalmers maintains that these seventeenth century women inspired “a more assertive model of the Englishwoman as literary author” that was “enabled by their royalist affiliations.”

Hughes, Derek, and Janet Todd, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Collection of essays about Behn’s life and work, including two analyses of Oroonoko: “Oroonoko: Reception, Ideology, and Narrative Strategy” by Laura J. Rosenthal and “Others, Slaves, and Colonists in Oroonoko” by Joanna Lipking.

Hunter, Heidi, ed. Rereading Aphra Behn: History, Theory, and Criticism. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993. A selection of essays on various aspects of Behn’s works. Includes an essay by Charlotte Sussman that centers on the character Imoinda and explores women’s experiences under polygamy and slavery.

Iwanisziw, Susan B., ed. Troping “Oroonoko” from Behn to Bandele. Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2004. Behn’s novel has been adapted in numerous forms since its first publication in 1688. This collection of essays considers the characters, abolitionist influences, and marketing strategies from the story’s beginning in Restoration England through its modern adaptations.

Rivero, Albert J. “Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and the ’Blank Spaces’ of Colonial Fictions.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 39, no. 3 (Summer, 1999): 443-462. Discusses Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902) and Behn’s Oroonoko. Both works feature characters who begin as “civilized” and go “spectacularly native,” and both attempt to preserve hierarchies of race and class while representing the impossibility of doing so in chaotic colonial settings.

Spencer, Jane. Aphra Behn’s Afterlife. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Spencer discusses Behn’s reputation as a novelist, poet, and playwright, describing her influence on eighteenth century literature. Chapter 6 focuses on the critical reception of Oroonoko.

Sypher, Wylie. Guinea’s Captive Kings: British Anti-slavery Literature of the Eighteenth Century. 1942. Reprint. New York: Octagon Books, 1969. Sypher places Oroonoko within the context of antislavery literature. His analysis shows that, by combining the antislavery theme with that of the noble savage, Behn swayed sentiment against slavery.

Todd, Janet. The Secret Life of Aphra Behn. 1996. Reprint. New York: Pandora, 2000. Todd’s biography aims to uncover the facts about Behn’s life, with all of its contradictions. Based on Todd’s discovery of new material by and about Behn in the Dutch archives in the Netherlands.

Wiseman, Susan. Aphra Behn. 2d ed. Tavistock, England: Northcote House/British Council, 2007. Wiseman’s biography examines Behn’s life and work and discusses Behn’s works in all genres. Includes analysis of Oroonoko.