Representing the New World (Week 5 post)
After reading "Captains and Slaves: Aphra Behn and the Rhetoric of Republicanism", I think it is important to address the following points.
"There is of course no more intrinsic improbability in the classicizing eloquence of Oroonoko... in his physical description in conformity with Western ideas of beauty..." (Chernaik, 98) Here, Chernaik would argue that Oroonoko has been constructed by Behn to be fit into the ideas of English readers. It is easier to gain sympathy with a character that is more familiar to you than if you were reading about a slave. Oroonoko is supposed to be educated, charismatic, and handsome: concepts that were never really given to slave characters. Chernaik makes another interesting point of interest on page 97 where he suggests that perhaps Behn may have written a story that does not address slavery as a whole as much as it addresses wrongful enslavement of one prince.
To address this idea, my opinion is that Behn did not mean for this to be the point. I think Oroonoko sees how bad slavery is for everyone, and that is his secondary motivation in trying to lead the revolt. His primary concern is that of his wife and unborn child, that much is clear.
"The contrast between the cruel, insensitive, white man, pretending to civility and Christianity, and his innocent black victim is further brought out in the excessive physical punishment to which Oroonoko is subjected toward the end of the narrative..." (Chernaik, 104). Okay, I agree with Behn's decision to make the scene of Oroonoko's death as vicious as she does. Chernaik brings up the mention of Uncle Tom's death in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Uncle Tom is a Christ figure and his death after suffering through innumerable hardships reinforces the cold attitudes of slave owners. His death is so brutal and devastating in that novel that readers are left feeling pity. Oroonoko, even though he is a wrongfully enslaved character who is never teased with freedom, has already lived as a free man. He knows what is out there, and in the end, he cannot be denied this freedom. When it comes down to the fact his death could lead to a horrific existence for his wife, he decides to kill her. This is truly terrifying stuff, recalling to my mind the class reading of Beloved by Toni Morrison. In that novel, Sethe, a former slave, comes close to being pulled back into her old life. She kills her infant daughter, the titular Beloved, and almost kills her other children. She wants to spare them the horrors of slavery. This should and I'm sure it did, speak more for readers back then. Slavery was nothing short of Hell. Behn made a wise choice in the way Oroonoko was killed in the novel. It is not a matter of making a novel more intense, but to make a point.
Works Cited
Chernaik, Warren. "Captains and Slaves: Aphra Behn and the Rhetoric of Republicanism". pp. 97-107.
Behn, Aphra. "Oroonoko; or the Royal Slave". The Norton Anthology English Literature, Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. pp. 2313-2358.
"There is of course no more intrinsic improbability in the classicizing eloquence of Oroonoko... in his physical description in conformity with Western ideas of beauty..." (Chernaik, 98) Here, Chernaik would argue that Oroonoko has been constructed by Behn to be fit into the ideas of English readers. It is easier to gain sympathy with a character that is more familiar to you than if you were reading about a slave. Oroonoko is supposed to be educated, charismatic, and handsome: concepts that were never really given to slave characters. Chernaik makes another interesting point of interest on page 97 where he suggests that perhaps Behn may have written a story that does not address slavery as a whole as much as it addresses wrongful enslavement of one prince.
To address this idea, my opinion is that Behn did not mean for this to be the point. I think Oroonoko sees how bad slavery is for everyone, and that is his secondary motivation in trying to lead the revolt. His primary concern is that of his wife and unborn child, that much is clear.
"The contrast between the cruel, insensitive, white man, pretending to civility and Christianity, and his innocent black victim is further brought out in the excessive physical punishment to which Oroonoko is subjected toward the end of the narrative..." (Chernaik, 104). Okay, I agree with Behn's decision to make the scene of Oroonoko's death as vicious as she does. Chernaik brings up the mention of Uncle Tom's death in Uncle Tom's Cabin. Uncle Tom is a Christ figure and his death after suffering through innumerable hardships reinforces the cold attitudes of slave owners. His death is so brutal and devastating in that novel that readers are left feeling pity. Oroonoko, even though he is a wrongfully enslaved character who is never teased with freedom, has already lived as a free man. He knows what is out there, and in the end, he cannot be denied this freedom. When it comes down to the fact his death could lead to a horrific existence for his wife, he decides to kill her. This is truly terrifying stuff, recalling to my mind the class reading of Beloved by Toni Morrison. In that novel, Sethe, a former slave, comes close to being pulled back into her old life. She kills her infant daughter, the titular Beloved, and almost kills her other children. She wants to spare them the horrors of slavery. This should and I'm sure it did, speak more for readers back then. Slavery was nothing short of Hell. Behn made a wise choice in the way Oroonoko was killed in the novel. It is not a matter of making a novel more intense, but to make a point.
Works Cited
Chernaik, Warren. "Captains and Slaves: Aphra Behn and the Rhetoric of Republicanism". pp. 97-107.
Behn, Aphra. "Oroonoko; or the Royal Slave". The Norton Anthology English Literature, Volume C: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century. pp. 2313-2358.
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