34 pages • 1 hour read
Aphra BehnOroonoko
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1688A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Oroonoko/Caesar
Oroonoko is an African prince and no ordinary man. On top of his startling physical beauty and intellect, Oroonoko’s social status is important in the text: he is a Prince, next in line to the throne of Cormantien. The narrator emphasizes Oroonoko’s greatness throughout the text and, in doing so, emphasizes his difference to other men. While Behn has been praised for her sympathetic portrait of African people, Oroonoko is admirable because he is not like other Africans. In fact, he is most often compared to Europeans. This is further emphasized by his education; he is tutored by a French gentleman and can speak several European languages. At one point the narrator notes that he is “more civiliz’d according to the European Mode, than any other had been, and took more Delight in the White Nations” (43).
Oroonoko is driven by honor and he has a number of exchanges—with the English captain, for example—in which he discusses the nature of honor and the importance for a man to keep his word. His love for Imoinda is another motivating factor, one that leads him to risk his grandfather’s wrath and his inheritance in order to consummate his marriage to her. His promise to remain monogamous aligns him with European cultural norms rather than the polygamy traditional in Cormantien. For Oroonoko, slavery is the antithesis of honor: although he is not forced to labor as a slave, he cannot bear to be enslaved. Even then, his slave name—Caesar—emphasizes his greatness and his compatibility with European values. In the end, however, he kills Imoinda and their unborn child rather than face a life of bondage.
Imoinda/Clemene
Imoinda is the woman Oroonoko loves and whom he eventually marries. Like her husband, she is extraordinarily beautiful, exceptional among African women. While her role in the novella is largely limited to being the object of Oroonoko’s affections, there are moments where she acts courageously and which show her to be a suitable wife for such a great man. This is particularly evident towards the end of the novella when, alone out the slave women, she stands with Tuscan and her husband against the English forces.
Significantly, Imoinda’s virginity is almost as important as she is in the novel. Before he takes her as his mistress, the king demands to know whether or not she is still a virgin. Similarly, Oroonoko is plagued by the thought of his grandfather taking what is rightfully his: his wife’s virginity. The narrator makes much of Imoinda’s modesty on the plantation, telling us that she rejected the advances of any man and wept so piteously that Trefry could not bring himself to rape her. In fact, it is the thought of other men having sex with Imoinda after his death that convinces Oroonoko to kill her, as well as himself. Imoinda accepts this fate gladly, in part because she doesn’t want to live without him and in part because, according to the narrator, Cormantien “Wives have a Respect for their Husbands equal to what any other people pay a Deity” (94).
The King
If Oroonoko is an exceptional African man in the novella, then his grandfather, the king, functions as a typical one. He is authoritarian, cruel, jealous, and demanding. He has many wives and mistresses and is more concerned with his own pleasure than with the happiness of his grandson and heir. More than anything, the king acts as a foil for Oroonoko, allowing the reader to see that he is a different kind of man.
The Narrator
The narrator is nameless throughout the novel. We learn that she is the daughter of the Lord Governor of Surinam, who was killed at sea, and is still living in the colony while waiting for the new Lord Governor to arrive. During this time, Oroonoko/Caesar arrives at the plantation where she and her family are living and the two become friends. Throughout the novella she is concerned with telling the truth—offering sources for all her information—and is upfront about the fact she is a woman. Though at times she regrets this fact, she is determined to tell Oroonoko’s story so that his memory might live on. Her frequent comments about the Dutch conquest of Surinam suggest her continued interest in the fate of the colony and in the English empire.
Trefry and Colonel Martin
These two men are friends to Oroonoko/Caesar during his time in Surinam and both endeavor to help him win his freedom. They represent honorable Englishmen and are praised for their wit and learning.
The English Captain and Deputy Governor Byam
In contrast with Trefry and Colonel Martin, the English Captain and Deputy Governor Byam are dishonorable men who do not keep their word. Both of them trick Oroonoko/Caesar at different points in the novel: the captain tricks him into slavery and Byam tricks him into a terrible punishment.
Tuscan
Unlike the other slaves who attempt to escape the plantation, Tuscan does not immediately yield to the English but stands with Caesar and Imoinda. Significantly, Tuscan is described as being of “more Quality” (81) than the other slaves, and he alone contributes to the plan that Caesar forms for their escape. He is among the search party who go out when Caesar and Imoinda go missing and declares his love for Caesar before sustaining a knife wound to his arm as he tries to help his friend. The novella’s portrayal of Tuscan is another sympathetic portrait of an African character and suggests that Oroonoko is not completely except.
