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.