34 Facts About Oroonoko

Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave is a work of prose fiction by Aphra Behn, published in 1688 by William Canning and reissued with two other fictions later that year.

Oroonoko's began writing prose fiction in the 1680s, probably in response to the consolidation of theatres that led to a reduced need for new plays.

Interest in Oroonoko has increased since the 1970s, with critics arguing that Behn is the foremother of British female writers, and that Oroonoko is a crucial text in the history of the novel.

Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave is a relatively short novel set in a narrative frame.

At a very young age Prince Oroonoko was trained for battle, becoming an expert captain by the age of seventeen.

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Oroonoko decides to honorably visit the daughter of the deceased general to offer the "Trophies of her Father's Victories", but he immediately falls in love with Imoinda and later asks for her hand in marriage.

Imoinda unwillingly, but dutifully, enters the king's harem, and Oroonoko is comforted by his assumption that the king is too old to ravish her.

Oroonoko is purchased by a Cornish man named Trefry, but given special treatment due to his education and ability to speak French and English .

Unbeknownst to Oroonoko, Trefry is speaking of Imoinda who is at the same plantation.

Oroonoko is the most studied of Aphra Behn's novels, but it was not immediately successful in her own lifetime.

Oroonoko wounded Willoughby and was taken to prison, where he killed himself with an overdose.

Further, the character of Oroonoko is physically different from the other slaves by being blacker skinned, having a Roman nose, and having straight hair.

Alternatively, it could be argued that "Oroonoko" is a homophone for the Orinoco River, along which the colony of Surinam was established and it is possible to see the character as an allegorical figure for the mismanaged territory itself.

Oroonoko's accepted the idea that powerful groups would enslave the powerless, and she would have grown up with Oriental tales of "The Turk" taking European slaves.

Oroonoko was a strong, brave, heroic figure, while Imoinda was beautiful and pure in her ways.

One of the most notable features of the novel is that Oroonoko insists, over and over again, that a king's word is sacred, that a king must never betray his oaths, and that a measure of a person's worth is the keeping of vows.

Claims for Oroonoko's being the "first English novel" are difficult to sustain.

However, Oroonoko is one of the very early novels of the particular sort that possesses a linear plot and follows a biographical model.

Oroonoko is the first European novel to show Africans in a sympathetic manner.

Oroonoko is a prince, and he is of noble lineage whether of African or European descent, and the novel's regicide is devastating to the colony.

The language she uses in Oroonoko is far more straightforward than in her other novels, and she dispenses with a great deal of the emotional content of her earlier works.

The character of Oroonoko solves Behn's questions by being a natural king and a natural leader, a man who is anointed and personally strong, and he is poised against nobles who have birth but no actual strength.

Oroonoko is truly an original play blending three important elements in completely original ways, with her vision of the New World constituting a strong example of the change.

Oroonoko has all the qualities of an aristocrat, but his ebony skin and country of origin prevent him from being a reputable European citizen.

Oroonoko has the European-like education and air, but lacks the skin color and legal status.

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Oroonoko is admired and respected by those who follow him, and even in death he keeps his royal dignity intact—as he would rather be executed by his owners than surrender his self-respect.

Women within this time period were most often expected to remain silent and on the sidelines, simply observing rather than actively contributing, and the narrator in Oroonoko is a portrayal of that.

The narrator's disgust surrounding the treatment of Oroonoko, as well as her inability to watch his murder, is a way in which Behn inserts her own voice and viewpoints into the story, as her feelings towards kingship, slavery and the slave trade have been established.

Oroonoko goes from being a warrior, and prominent figure in his society to being captured and turned to slavery at his own expense.

Oroonoko is seen as unjustly held in bondage as a singular entity rather than as a moral imperative for the evils of slavery in itself.

Comparisons with Mars, the God of war, in the beginning of the novella provides a framework for Oroonoko's rise as an admired warrior, while Imoinda's relation to divinity is more feminine from the start, drawing a connection between her appearance, and that of the powerful Venus, goddess of love and beauty in Roman myth.

Oroonoko's fights alongside her husband to free themselves from slavery, and to obtain a better life for both themselves and their unborn child.

Rob Baum claims that "Behn's attraction to Oroonoko is not engendered by his blackness but despite it" and that she ultimately reveres him, not merely for his heroism, but for his overt physical attractiveness.

In 2012, a play by Biyi Bandele based on Oroonoko was performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at The Other Place.