Allison Rinehart

Close Reading Essay

The Text, the World, and the Critic
Professor Kasmer
2/20/2022

Aphra Behn and Oroonoko: Complicated Innovations

Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko tells the story of the eponymous African prince, who, while

anticipating to ascend the throne, falls in love, is sold into slavery, and eventually executed. The

great tragedy of this story, to Behn, is that a man of such noble lineage and behavior was

condemned to live like the poor citizens of his country. However, the author also perpetuates

certain stereotypes of the prince and his wife, Imoinda. Through reading the paragraph in which

Oroonoko and Imoinda first meet, Behn’s core authorial choices come into play, such as using

first-person narration in a third person view, portraying slavery as a necessary evil that Oronooko

didn’t deserve, and portraying Imoinda with both compelling and dehumanizing characteristics.

Behn takes a dynamic approach to narration, characterized by frequent shifts between

recounting the narrator’s personal experiences in a plausible way, and somehow knowing the

complex emotions the characters feel. However, these innovations are influenced and deployed

from a place of privilege and bigotry. The narrator of the novella, an unnamed female character

separate from Behn herself, drives the rule-breaking style of the story. This character recounts

her time on Surinam and interactions with the prince-turned-enslaved person. However, while

the novella is interspersed with the narrator recalling her experiences, the majority of the plot is

written in the third person. In addition, the latter form of narration is omniscient, knowing the

inner emotions and complexities of the characters. This can immediately be glimpsed in this
encounter: the narrator suddenly knows that Oroonoko “told her with his eyes, that he was not

insensible of her charms; while Imoinda, who wished for nothing more than so glorious a

conquest, was pleased to believe she understood that silent language of new-born love” (16-17).

Despite being told second-hand the nature of this interaction, the narrator somehow knows their

intentions. However, the narrator’s (and Behn’s) place of privilege complicate these innovation.

The author’s characterizations, which will be further explored in this reading, rely on

conventions and stereotypes, and only attempts to expand the prince’s character after he is

enslaved. And even after all the tragedy that befell the prince, the narrator was able to escape the

island unscathed and write such a recounting. These ideas, while changing how the story might

typically be told, are nevertheless regressive towards concepts of race and gender, as this reading

will explore.

The romantic nature of Oroonoko and Imoinda’s first meeting is a rare moment in the

story, a romance in the midst of tragedy. This seemingly idyllic choice is complicated by Behn’s

views on slavery presenting themselves in the passage, and Oroonoko’s actions as an extension

of those beliefs. Previously in the story, Oronooko was distinguished by Behn for his European

features and adoption of European ideas: this is what makes him, for the narrator, too valuable to

be traded as a slave. Despite Behn praising the prince and lamenting his fate, other enslaved

people in the novella are not afforded the same treatment. They are treated as a gift, as something

of value: an economic necessity that benefits a society. The prince in particular has no qualms

with such a practice: as he first greets Imoinda, he “presented her a hundred and fifty slaves in

fetters,” as he tries to woo her. This betrays Oroonoko’s (and Behn’s) attitude toward slavery: it

is only a tragedy when it happens to the prince.

 Before Behn introduces Oroonoko, the reader observes the great status the young

Imoinda has achieved with her feminine qualities, having already received offers of marriage

from suitors. The prince is no different, with Imoinda quickly winning him over with the “lovely

modesty with which she received him, that softness in her look…the sweetness of her words and

behaviour while he stayed, gained a perfect conquest over his fierce heart” (Behn 16). The

narrator often focuses on Imoinda’s virginity and docile behavior as the source of her appeal.

This is a direct contrast to the popular stereotype of the time that depicted African women as

highly sexual, primitive beings. However, this choice does not liberate Imoinda: instead of

promiscuity, her primary character trait is that of virginity. Her virtue, Behn asserts, comes from

docile behavior. The princess is also not given any agency: when called upon to marry the King,

she must agree, and resorts to begging and pleading to avoid the consummation of their

marriage. She also has positive bearings toward Oroonoko that do not feel earned: she

immediately reveres the prince, despite him having killed her own father in battle. Imoinda

asserts that the deed was “done by so great a man as Oroonoko, and a prince of him she had

heard such admirable things” (16). Any potential revulsion is never explored and she seems to

quickly forget, or even be thankful for, the tragic event that led to their meeting. While Aphra

Behn takes an interesting direction in diverting from traditional stereotypes of African women,

the adjustment to docile behavior feels condescending and lacks an agency.

Oroonoko’s tragic journey is seen by the narrator of the novel as unnecessary and cruel.

Behn uses the method of first person narration and endorsing restrictive ideals about slavery and

women’s roles in order to drive home these factors. While today’s readers rightly disagree with

the racist and sexist character portrayals in the novel, the innovative narrative style and thorough

storytelling seal it as a memorable entry into colonist literature.

 Works Cited

Behn, Aphra, and Janet Todd. Oroonoko, Or, the History of the Royal Slave. 1688. London,

Penguin, 2003.
 Reflection

My peer reviewer viewed the main weakness of my essay as my wide range of points,

instead of a narrowed argument. They also saw my paper as more of a larger argument about the

text rather than a close reading. I agreed with these points and changed parts of each paragraph

as a result. I added clearer distinctions between Aphra Behn and the character of the narrator in

Oroonoko and further developed Imoinda’s characterization in the passage. In addition, I

clarified the position of the narrator and explained certain decisions Behn makes as the author.

All these suggestions were very helpful and sharpened my arguments further.

Oroonoko did not cause me to have any debate about my state of identity; however, it has

made me, as a reader, evaluate the place of privilege in my reading experience. While the racism

and sexism present in the novella was apparent, viewing Aphra Behn’s innovations in narration

in conjunctions with her privilege as a writer was a unique experience. Oftentimes as readers we

are pressured to view a work as being one thing or another: if it has problematic elements, it

must have no artistic value. Observing Behn’s bigoted perspective, along with considering her

talent and influence in a male-dominated field at the time, brings a nuanced perspective to Behn

and to Oroonoko.