Race, Class, and Slavery in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko
This essay examines Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko as an early literary critique of slavery, analyzing the tensions between race, class, and gender in the text. The paper surveys critical debates over whether Behn was genuinely opposed to slavery or merely protesting the enslavement of a prince, noting arguments that her protagonist is "whitened" through Eurocentric physical and cultural traits. It also explores how Behn's own marginalization as a woman may have informed her empathy for the enslaved, and discusses how slavery systematically stripped individuals of identity, culture, and autonomy.
- Introduction: A Prince Enslaved: Behn's novel and its historical context of slavery
- Critical Debates on Behn and Racism: Critics debate whether Behn protests class or race
- The 'Whitening' of Oroonoko: Oroonoko given Eurocentric traits, distancing him from African identity
- Gender, Marginalization, and the Female Voice: Behn's female perspective informs sympathy for the oppressed
- Identity, Slavery, and the Stripping of Selfhood: Slavery systematically erased culture, name, and identity
- Conclusion: Slavery as the Peculiar Institution: Novel's tragic arc summarized within historical context
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What makes this paper effective
- Engages multiple critical perspectives on Behn's intent, presenting both pro- and anti-racist readings of the novel rather than advocating a single view without acknowledgment of counterarguments.
- Connects literary analysis to historical context, grounding claims about Behn's portrayal of slavery in the social realities of the period.
- Draws a meaningful parallel between the oppression of enslaved people and the marginalization of women, widening the essay's analytical scope.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of secondary literary criticism to frame and complicate a central interpretive question. Rather than simply asserting a thesis, the student marshals critics (Calvo, Nestvold, Ibbotson) on opposing sides of the debate, allowing the argument to develop through engagement with existing scholarship.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with historical context and a summary of the novel's premise, then moves into the central critical controversy over Behn's racial attitudes. It examines the "whitening" argument, pivots to gender as a parallel axis of oppression, and then analyzes the slave system's destruction of individual identity. A brief conclusion recaps the novel's historical significance and tragic arc. The structure follows a loosely thematic rather than strictly argumentative progression.
Introduction: A Prince Enslaved
Aphra Behn's novel Oroonoko tells the story of a young man who was born a prince and dies a slave. As an African male, Oroonoko is subjected to the racism of the white males who hold all the power in his society. During the period in which Behn was writing, Africans were being captured and enslaved regardless of their birth status — even a prince could find himself in chains, forced to labor for white oppressors. The institution of slavery was already heavily practiced by the time Behn wrote this novel, and her depictions of slavery and the enslaved are apt. The harsh portrayal of the peculiar institution is accurate in terms of the historical record.
Critical Debates on Behn and Racism
Oroonoko was one of the first literary texts to take a negative stance against the institution of slavery. There are critics, however, who cast Behn in the role of racist for several reasons, including the argument that institutionalized racism was so deeply embedded in the cultural psyche that it would have been impossible for her to be entirely free of prejudicial attitudes (Nestvold 1). These critics contend that it is not the enslavement of Africans that Behn is criticizing, but the enslavement of a prince specifically. In this reading, it is class that causes concern, not racial profiling or white supremacy.
There is some evidence for this position. As a prince, Oroonoko himself was an oppressor: both he and his father owned slaves and sold formerly freed people back into bondage (Ibbotson 1). The fact that readers are invited to empathize with Oroonoko could thus be interpreted as identification with someone enslaved who was born into high social standing, rather than as a broader criticism of the institution of slavery itself.
The 'Whitening' of Oroonoko
Prince Oroonoko is portrayed as possessing every manner of virtue. He is educated and articulate, and in his own realm he was royalty. Behn uses him to advance several criticisms of slavery; however, the way she does so is by encouraging readers to identify with one particular enslaved character. One critic, Ana Ma Manzanas Calvo, accuses Behn of "whitening" the slavery issue by creating a character who, although brown-skinned, possesses many Caucasian characteristics. Oroonoko's hair texture is described as reminiscent of the European population, and his facial features are depicted as not traditionally African (Calvo 102). This characterization makes him appear more closely aligned with the white characters who are forcing him into slavery than with his African kinspeople.
The debate over Aphra Behn's racial politics remains unresolved among literary scholars. Whether her sympathetic portrayal of Oroonoko reflects genuine anti-slavery sentiment or merely a defense of aristocratic privilege continues to be a central question in the study of this text.
Conclusion: Slavery as the Peculiar Institution
Slavery was a horrible institution. There are few people today who would argue otherwise. However, at the time Aphra Behn was writing, slavery was a widely accepted practice. Colonies and plantations across the world employed some form of slave labor, and it was an integral part of the global economy of the period. Empires rose and fell on the profits generated by those who forced others to toil without freedom or compensation. In Oroonoko, Behn tells the story of a young prince and his bride, and how, through slavery, both are ultimately driven to death rather than continue to live under the dominion of others. Whatever the limits of Behn's critique, her novel stands as one of the earliest works of English prose fiction to place the suffering of the enslaved at the center of its narrative.
Works Cited
Behn, Aphra, and Janet M. Todd. Oroonoko. London: Penguin, 2003. Print.
Calvo, Ana Ma Manzanas. "Ideological Tensions in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko." Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. 99–105. Print.
Ibbotson, Helen. "Shifting Power in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko." Tom Davis: Unask.com. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://www.unask.com/website/work99/bp3/Behn/essay/essay1.html>.
Nestvold, Ruth. "The Aphra Behn Page." Lit-Arts.Net. Web. 15 Nov. 2011. <http://www.lit-arts.net/Behn/racism.htm>.
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