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.
Themes
Truth and Honor
The issue of truth is raised on the first page when the narrator assures us that what follows is a true story, rather than invention or fabrication. There are a number of possible reasons for this emphasis on truth, one being that the author is attempting to deflect any sexist criticism of her work. The numerous references to the Dutch conquest of Surinam might also suggest that Behn was making a case for the English to regain control of the colony, a case that would be bolstered by claiming that the novella and its descriptions of Surinam’s natural resources were true.
Within the narrative itself, truth and honor are significant at a number of key moments. For example, Oroonoko’s attempt to save face in front of his grandfather by pretending not to care about Imoinda backfires; it is only when the king realizes that Oroonoko loved her all along that he begins to feel remorse. More significant, however, are those moments in which truth and honor are conflated in the form of an oath. Two particular instances are Oroonoko’s exchanges with the English captain and Deputy Governor Byam.
In both of these instances a man’s word is questioned. For Oroonoko, his word is his honor and so he would never break an oath. The English captain, however, who has the audacity to question Oroonoko’s word on the basis that he is not a Christian, breaks the vow he makes in the name of the Christian god and sells Oroonoko as a slave.
Having learned from his experience with the captain, Oroonoko is less trusting of Byam’s promise that, if he surrenders, he will be granted his freedom. He demands that the terms of his surrender are set out in writing, “because he had perceived that was the common Way of Contract between Man and Man amongst the Whites” (87). Here, the novella suggests that one of the reasons Oroonoko places so much value on his word is that he lives in a society that doesn’t use writing; in his oral culture, a man’s word is the only way he has of making a contract. Oroonoko assumes that in a literate, European society, a written contract carries the same weight but he is once again betrayed, as Byam has him tied up and whipped.
These two incidents offer a commentary not only on the concepts of honor and truth but also on the way in which the slave trade and some English colonies are being managed by dishonorable men. When considered in light of the novella’s concern with the Dutch conquest, this portrayal of dishonorable Englishmen in powerful positions might offer an explanation for why they English lost control of Surinam.
Slavery
Slavery is central to the development of the novella’s plot and the text offers a number of perspectives on slavery. However, it would be too simplistic to suggest that this is an abolitionist or anti-slavery work.
There are two main types of slavery represented in the text. In both Oroonoko’s Cormantien society and in the indigenous societies of Surinam, it is customary to capture defeated members of your enemy’s forces after a battle and keep them as slaves. As evidenced by the fact that Oroonoko had previously dealt with the English captain and other slave traders, it was also normal for these slaves to be sold or traded. The English slave trade differs from that found in Surinam or Cormantien in that slaves are exclusively bought, rather than captured. Given Oroonoko’s overwhelmingly negative experience with the English captain, the novella suggests that this type of slavery is more open to dishonorable dealings.
In the introductory section, the narrator explains that the English import slaves to Surinam because they don’t dare to enslave the indigenous people for fearing of inciting a rebellion and being overthrown. Here, she suggests a natural antipathy towards slavery that is further evinced in the association drawn between slavery and death in the novella. Imoinda and Onahal both ask to be killed rather than sold as slaves and Oroonoko tries to kill himself rather than live as a slave, eventually killing his wife and unborn child before taking his own life when he is denied his freedom. Interestingly, the narrator notes that he “endured no more of the Slave but the Name” (54), but even that is too much for Oroonoko to endure.
However, he describes the other slaves at Parham-House as being “by Nature Slaves” (87). This distinction between his deeply held belief in his own right to be free and the “naturalness” of other people’s enslavement asks us to consider what a slave is. For Oroonoko, his social status as the Prince of Cormantien distinguishes him from the ordinary people who are “fit for such Masters” as the English (87). Oroonoko was born to rule, others are born to be ruled. Unlike the later forms of plantation slavery in the American colonies, where race distinguished who could be a slave and who could be free, in Oroonoko, social status plays a more important role than race in such distinctions.
Civilization and Empire
Throughout the novella, Oroonoko is described as an intelligent and civilized man, even as he is distinguished from the majority of his fellow Cormantiens. Instead, he is associated with European culture and values, particularly through references to him as Roman—to the point where even as a slave, he is named Caesar after Rome’s most famous Emperor. In some ways, this is a flattering comparison, as the Roman Empire represents the glorious past of European civilization. At the same time, through his association with Rome, Oroonoko is associated with Europe’s past, rather than with its present or future.
Similarly, the narrator compares the indigenous people of Surinam to Adam and Eve, living in the Garden of Eden. This comparison suggests their innocence and purity, but it also marks them as part of the prehistory of human civilization; they are not part of the same world as the English, or even the Romans. They have not changed since mankind was exiled from Paradise.
Interestingly, one thing that the English and the Cormantiens have in common that distinguishes them from the Surinamese is the way their social structure is organized. Both the English and the Cormantiens have kings—dynastic rulers who have complete authority over their subjects. In fact, the narrator notes that “the Obedience the People pay their King, was not at all inferior to what they paid their Gods” (17). The Surinamese, by contrast, are ruled by their war captains, men who compete for, rather than are born into, their social position.
The broader significance of kingship and civilization can be seen in the relationships that exist between these three societies—English, Surinamese and Cormantien. While England represents European civilization, Surinam is not considered civilized at all and this, in part, seems to justify England’s control over the country. Cormantien, is somewhere between England and Surinam. Cormantien people can be sold and used as slaves, but its sovereignty is not questioned: it is “a Country of Blacks” (9). In this way, the novella uses the idea of civilization to establish a kind of hierarchy between these three societies.
