Oroonoko Essay, Research Paper
I. The story of Oroonoko was one of great passion and
loyalty. The story of Oroonoko and Imoinda began with him
approaching her claiming his undying love for her. That
she was the one and only that he would ever need. Only she
would suffice in his heart. Throughout the story Oroonoko
exhibits great power , strength and control. A love that
started out as beautiful and innocent and ended with that
same beautiful innocence. Her passionate descriptions of
their emotions intensifies the awful ending. The final
scene with brutality and death. Throughout he faces many
tragic thing that would break a man. He loses his wife to
the king, is convinced that the king has killed her, and he
is sold into slavery. However, he still stands with faith
and strength to go on. He still determines hi future of
what is going to happen to him. Like the tiger his heart
has been struck many times but he decides he will continue
to live. As a strong man he thought of future consequences
such as when he led the slave revolt he knew that Imoinda
would be left behind if they were to kill him. The thought
of her and her child alone was his Achilles heel. In my
opinion this is what killed him. His weakness Imoinda.
Imoinda trusts Oroonoko to prove her love for him, ?…with
all the passion and languishment of a dying lover, drew his
knife to kill this treasure of his soul….with joy she
should die by so noble a hand…?(Behn 2190). With this
gesture Imoinda proves her true and everlasting love. But
true love is never left without some sort of feeling of
grief. Due to this feeling of grief Oroonoko laid by her
side for some amount of days by her side suffering for what
he had done to her.
II. Criticism towards Oroonoko is a array of descriptions.
From disapproval to praise. During Aphra Behn?s time women
writers were not an accepted in society as professional
writers. Aphra made a mark for women by becoming the first
woman to make a living of writing. You could say she was
the first feminist. Her stories were rather risqu?. She
wrote about politics to love and lust. She has been widely
praised by women as Virginia Wolf wrote ?all women together
ought let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn.? Much
of her writing came from personal things that she either
saw or experienced. One critic said, ?The personal
experiences, autobiographical form, heightened interest,
and the pictures painted from actual scenes and people
added color to the narration.? This is what seemed to
catch the critics attention. These colorful displays of
people and events were written out so well that the reader
had a personal feel to what they were reading. Another
thing that was criticized was the development of her
writing that it was not to fast and not to slow to lose the
writers interest. The number of characters was a smart
touch not to many to keep up with and easy to remember.
Another critic from Evangeline Blashfield said, ?…the
novel has an accent of truth, as well as an atmosphere of
realism.? The reality of the story makes it a story to
easily relate to seeing that life is not often perfect.
III. Behn?s writing in my opinion was the foundation for
women to come. Behn?s writing proves the strength and the
imagination that women have for anything they put there
minds and hearts to. As I read the story it was laid out
perfectly. It was not over drawn with detail nor was it
lacking. You had enough descriptions of the characters ad
their emotions. The passion is enough to pull you into
what they are feeling and what lessons they are learning.
Behn used allot of symbolism within the story. For example
the heart of the tiger which was found with several bullets
within still was able to survive. The animal was able to
survive e due to that it still wanted to live. This
symbolizes Oroonoko will to still live after everything has
happened to him. Behn is very highly acclaimed for all
that she has accomplished through her writings. She use
her own pain of experiences to paint a picture of love. My
final feeling towards this novel was one of hope and
sadness that the only way that love in reality seems to
work is through such harsh consequences. Through ones
jealousy or through any obstacle one is let with only one
way out. For star-crossed lovers of any time it seems the
only way to be together is through the horrifying ending to
their lives.
The peaceful reunion in heaven always leaves hope in the
readers mind in this story.