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Anhar Redmond

EN 608

Dr. A. Russell

December 11, 2015

"The Decorative Attire:" The Portrayal of Christianity and Religion in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

Christianity is quite erratic in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko because it is tied to a narrative

structure that is unconventional and unstable. Early in the novella, Behn portrays Coramantiens

as an ideal people; they are innocent and friendly like the ‘pre-fall’ people in the Genesis. Later

in the novella however, Behn portrays the same people as part of a brutish, slave owning society.

At times, Christianity is portrayed as manipulative, that Behn seems to prefer Oroonoko’s

individual sense of honour and morality, but even that preference does not last. Religion, or

Christianity, seems to be like clothing that one wears and takes off based on the circumstances

that one is in throughout the novella. Looking at Christianity critically in Oroonoko necessitates

the analysis of other themes such as slavery, Christianity, providence, honour and power, all of

which will be demonstrated as influential to how Christianity is portrayed in the novella. The

main goal of this essay is to prove that the ambiguity in which religion is portrayed and dealt

with in Oroonoko, is the same way Behn encourages us as readers to regard her narrative style.

Often in her narrative, Behn gives us, through a narrator, ideals and romanticized illustrations of

people, characters, and events. In doing so, we readers get the feeling that she sympathizes with

these things and these people, but in reality, she does not. Behn does the same thing with

religion; at times, she illustrates the ideal piety and innocence that devotion entails, and at times

she illustrates religion as twisted, manipulative, and evil. However, she never favours any one

point of view. Despite all the ambiguities of religion and narrative that Behn depicts, she leans

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towards observation and display, and prefers to use her position as an author to create distance

between herself and her reader and show her skepticism for Christianity.

In Oroonoko, religion is worn like a piece of clothing to classify people generally based

on race, or to cover up and adorn a rude reality. Racial difference and foreignness are what

Oronooko really refers to when he condemns the plantation’s Christian characters. Anita

Pacheco, a critic, writes a journal article on the topic of religion and morality in Oroonoko and is

of the opinion that the representation of Christianity draws considerably on a liberal strain of

early Enlightenment thought. Pacheco quotes thinkers of early Enlightenment, such as Pierre

Bayle, who argues that even atheists could be moral, and do not need a divine chastisement to

keep them honest. Furthermore, she gives the example of the sea captain who beguiles

Oroonoko, and he is one of the main Christian characters who Oroonoko considers villainous

due to his Christian God. Naturally, Pacheco is of the view that “to be a Christian in this text is

pretty much synonymous with being a liar” (Pacheco 255) To be impure, or to be dishonest

according to the Coramantien king, is associated with being a Christian: “so now he look’d on

Imoinda as a polluted thing…He therefore removes her from the Otan, with Onahal; whom he

put into safe Hands, with Order they should be sold off, as Slaves, to another Country, either

Christian, or Heathen…”(Behn 26). Based on the king’s attitude towards a ‘polluted’ Imoinda,

we as readers see with what negative connotations are associated with Christianity. However, to

see Christianity as heathen in this text is inaccurate because to be a Christian does not mean to be

evil or to be a liar. Christianity is put on certain people at certain times based on convenience.

What is really behind Christianity that the Coramantien king refers to, is raw human nature that

is intrinsically chaotic. Coramantiens refer to Christians as foreigners, rather than a belief system

that according to Oroonoko, teaches men to break their promises.

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To better understand the attitudes of the whites in the American colonies, it is best to take

into consideration their reasoning in using violence with the slaves, and what role Christianity

plays in slavery.

The torture methods used to torture slaves in the American colonies are the same ones

used in England in the early modern era. The cruelty of the English colonists in Oroonoko derive

from their mixed beliefs and attitudes associated with their settlement plans. The English come

to make a profit, and by any means. This white attitude makes the slaves think that white men are

inherently cruel. Elliott Visconsi, argues that barbarism is inherent in England’s past, and

Surinam is among the many colonies where the English freely express their repressed national

tendency:

Behn sees Virginia and Surinam as refractions of England's primitive history, a period of

undisciplined, violent, lawless Northern barbarism which so haunted a nation driven to

assert its credentials of civility…barbarians are not indigenous peoples but rather the

dregs of English culture who find in the Americas an opportunity to express their natural

predilection towards self-interest, cruelty, mob rule, and lawlessness. (Visconsi 674)

Visconsi draws on the idea that England’s past is one where savage men existed, and where

bloodshed is common. Evil men found their way into society, and when a kingly government is

celebrated, it later becomes later brutally usurped. People prefer violence and independence

rather than being ruled by a king. Indeed, in Surinam, the English treat the slaves brutally and

punish them with painful chastisements: “…they laid Hands on Caesar and Tuscan, faint with

heat and toyle; and, surprising them, Bound them to two several Stakes, and Whipt them in a

most deplorable and inhumane Manner, rending the very Flesh from their Bones; especially

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Caesar…”(Behn 57). The most common form of punishment for slaves in the novella is

whipping. In this particular passage, Oroonoko receives the same type of punishment Jesus

Christ receives in the Holy Bible, that is, he is whipped so severely that his flesh come off.

Based on Oroonoko’s diction and attitude in his condemnation of the whites’ (the English

colonists’) punishment, it is appropriate to explore the attitudes and beliefs of whites as they

punish Oroonoko. During the revolt, when the slaves abandon Oroonoko, he says: “wretched

Rogues, fit to be us’d as Christians Tools; Dogs, treacherous and cowardly, fit for such Masters;

and they wanted only but to be whipt into the knowledge of the Christian Gods to be the vilest of

all creeping things; to learn to Worship such Deities as had not Power to make ‘em Just, Brave,

or Honest (56). Oroonoko refers to the idea that the white men are teaching religion with the

whip, which is the very justification for the cruelty that the whites use for their materialistic

goals. However, what Oroonoko does not know is that his torture is not because of religion like

he suspects, rather, it is deeply rooted in English’s political past.

The brutality of the whites came from various sources. In England’s past, conquered

barbarians and Irish men, through conquest or eventual cohesion, made their way into the

mainstream English society. This fact, together with mercantilism and mixed with the idea of

providence, caused certain whites to be extreme in dealing with slaves. Christian missionaries

did little to aid slaves physically at the time. Instead, they made slavery a religious allegory:

“The missionaries set to work on several plantations preaching a message that was short on

theology and long on emotion, emphasizing Christ’s unconditional love and universal spiritual

equality before God. By no means did they intend to challenge or destabilize the system of

slavery…”(Sensbach 120).With this understanding of Christianity as an alibi for a political

agenda, we move on to Behn’s idealization of a belief system and her contradictions.

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Early in the novel, Behn presents the Coramantiens as an ideal, biblical, innocent people,

and based on her tone, she seems inspired by them: “…these People represented to me an

absolute Idea of the first State of Innocence, before Man knew how to sin…” (Behn 10). Behn

illustrates these natives as a fantasy people perceived from a white (or western) perspective.

Later on however, Behn illustrates the same people as chaotic and superstitious. She first

illustrates the natives as good and simple: “They are extream modest and bashful, very shy, and

nice of being touch’d…there is not to be seen an indecent Action, or Glance; and being

continually us’d to see one another so unadorn’d, so like our first Parents before the Fall…” (9).

Ironically, in these first pages, she also asserts her idea that religion corrupts the good nature of

these natives: “Tis she alone, if she were permitted, that better instructs the World, than all the

Inventions of Man; Religion wou’d here but destroy that Tranquility, they possess by Ignorance”

(10). Here Behn portrays nature as female. The reader is confused as to what idea Behn is

sympathizing with; whether she sympathizes with the ideal state of innocence which is

associated with Christianity/ religion, or whether she prefers natural goodness. This quote shows

the contradiction of Behn’s narrative. Behn also seems to suggest (indirectly) that religion is

man-made by putting the words ‘man’ and ‘religion’ side by side (separated by a semi-colon).

On the one hand, she illustrates an idealization, and on the other, she ruins it. Bhen does this

because she knows that in reality, idealization is short-lived, or non-existent.

This simplification of certain events and truths allow for contradictions in the novella.

For instance, the narrator says this about the Coramantiens: “They have a Native Justice, which

knows no Fraud” (10). The reader is uncertain if Behn herself or the narrator says this. When ‘I’

is used, one assumes Behn speaks: “I was my self an Eye-Witness…”(8). However, when there

is no personal pronoun, and a normative sentence (or passive voice) is used instead, a third-

person narrator seems to be speaking. This confusion, according to Laura J. Rosenthal, is due to

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the way the narrative is structured, in that the reader does not know whether Behn herself, or the

narrator is making the statement: “The first-person style and truth claims of Oroonoko certainly

encourage the conflation of author and narrator…” (Rosenthal 156). It is simply unclear because

throughout the text, Behn constantly shifts in narrative voices. Despite this rather strange artistic

invention, there is a tendency in the text to simplify certain things and events, regardless of

narrative voice.

As the reader reads on, he/ she comes to realize that such a statement is erroneous

because there are various conflicts and wars between the Coramantiens and the various

neighbouring tribes, the cause of which are unexplained. Furthermore, such a claim is biased,

because the only person who enjoys such justice is the king of the Coramantiens. Reading about

the king, one gathers that he is a narrow-minded ruler who had things going his way his entire

life. At over a hundred years old, this old king still has a sexual appetite as evident from his

having “many beautiful Black-Wives,” (Behn 11) as well as a perfectly whimsical mentality. He

gives Imoinda ‘the Royal Veil’ and expects her to be happy to join his group of wives without

the slightest concern about her age compared to his, or her sentiments. When he finds out that it

was his grandson who ravished her, he sells her to slavery, and believed that “he had made a very

great Conquest over himself” (26). The king then makes reference to a higher power: “He

believ’d now, that his Love had been unjust; and that he cou’d not expect the Gods, or Captain of

the Clouds (as they call the unknown Power) shou’d suffer a better Consequence from so ill a

Cause” (26). This is the only time when the king feels weakened, and in this same quote, the

reader gets a perspective into how politics work in Coramantia. The king’s style of government

resembles a dictatorship, as it seems that all the rules in his kingdom come from his whims and

superstitions. Once this is understood, it would not be a stretch of the imagination to think that

the prince Oroonoko is similar, though less senile and more educated.

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Throughout the novella, Oroonoko is praised for his intelligence, his cultivated manner,

and his physical attractiveness, but his darker, and egoistic nature are never perceived as

negative. Oronooko is portrayed as a hero, and Behn praises him constantly, regarding him as

noble by nature: “The whole Proportion and Air of his Face was so noble, and exactly form’d,

that, bating his Colour, there cou’d be nothing in Nature more beautiful, agreeable and

handsome” (13). Behn also praises Oroonoko for his natural morality. He, a non-Christian, is

more trustworthy and more honourable than all the Christian characters. Pacheco argues for

Oroonoko and his preference of honour over religious covenants:

… according to Oroonoko, Christianity’s purely otherworldly sanctions, its aim of

instilling fear of punishment in the next world, provide no real stimulus to be good or

honest in this world, unlike honor, belief in which really can make human beings

frightened of the immediate consequences of their bad deeds. (Pacheco 256)

Many times throughout the novella, the narrator seems to favour natural goodness over religious

conformity. Often, non-religious individuals are seen as more educated, and better mannered.

Oroonoko’s French tutor, for instance, is a “Man of very little Religion” (Behn 30), and upon

encountering Trefry, there is no mention of his religion, rather, he is noted for being “a Man of

great Wit, and fine Learning” (34). Oroonoko perceives Trefry’s goodness just by looking at his

face: “He saw an Honesty in his Eyes, and he found him wise and witty enough to understand

Honour” (35). Based on all these observations, we as readers cannot help but think that Behn is

telling us that natural goodness and morality are better than any Christian morality.

What is important to realize is that although Behn seems to be privileging personal

honour above religious observance in Oroonoko, she does not commit to this idea. Personal

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honour is potentially fallible like Christianity. Behn tries to portray an ideal (prince Oroonoko)

which is outside religion. Joanna Lipking, a professor at Colombia University, writes about the

ideal image of Oroonoko that Behn tries to portray: “…somewhere, in some ordered kingdom, an

ideal of heroic male valour might survive in pure form and an ideal faithful love be reinvented…

The hero of this blank space is an improbable figure, as heroes are” (Lipking, ‘Others’ 170).

With Oroonoko, Behn tries to create a hero that assimilates traditional ideals of honour, bravery

and valor, in an increasingly mercantile world. In other words, Behn paints a picture of a

stereotype, which does not survive in reality. Behn gives the reader an ideal, but she does not

commit to make this ideal survive all odds. Behn gets close to an ideal, (Oroonoko leads a

promising revolt) but remains realistic (and he fails). Even the noble and honorable Oroonoko

has personal faults. Just as religious beliefs do not ensure honesty, neither does personal honour.

Although Behn portrays Oroonoko as good-hearted and passionate, he is ultimately

prejudiced, ignorant of reality, and naïve. Oroonoko’s positive qualities are definitely

remarkable. He is fearless and lives life to the fullest, often tasting the highest peak of glory, as

well as the basest humiliation. There are numerous references throughout the novella where

glory drives Oroonoko to achieve exceptional feats, and among them is when he rallies his

fellow slaves for the revolt: “he spoke of the Impassable Woods and Rivers; and convinc’d ‘em,

the more Danger, the more Glory. He told them that he had heard of one Hannibal a great

Captain, had Cut his Way through Mountains of solid Rocks…” (Behn 53). Oroonoko has a high

opinion of himself and would never submit to anyone. He believes in a personal unfailing sense

of honour: “Oroonoko, whose Honour was such as he never had violated a Word in his life…”

(32). His soul is one that knows no sloth, he always aims for the ideal. Among the quotes that

illustrates this, is when he killed Imoinda out of love, and the narrator says: “at last, rousing from

her side, and accusing himself with living too long, now Imoinda was dead; and that the Deaths

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of those barbarous Enemies were deferr’d too long, he resolv’d now to finish his great Work…”

(61). The narrator presents Oroonoko as an authentic, ambitious, and romantic hero, whose mind

is only capable of obtaining the finest, and when he is unable to attain it, he has to compensate

for it by achieving another strenuous task. Such character is capable of all the extreme passions,

be it love, hate, loyalty, or vengeance.

Despite Oroonoko’s noble qualities and his morality, he sells his own people as slaves to

foreigners. This greatly nullifies all the good qualities that Behn associates with her hero.

Oroonoko sells his fellow countrymen and thinks this is perfectly normal, the same way the king

of Coremantia gives ‘the Royal Veil’ to whom he wishes and sees a refusal as “an impious

disobedience”(16). Due to Oroonoko’s soul being acclimatized to the highest passions, he sees it

fit that he should have slaves, and sell them at his will. The sea captain trades slaves regularly

with Oroonoko: “This person had often before been in these Countries, and was very well known

to Oroonoko, with whom he had traffick’d for Slaves…” (30). Oroonoko’s high opinion of

himself places him above his fellow man, and he naively thinks that what happens to his

countrymen could not happen to him as well. Here, personal honour has its faults and can be as

misleading as Christianity.

Arbitrary power and control are what truly move people, rather than Christianity, which

is used more as a justification. Oroonoko is not able to make this distinction due to his idealistic

mentality. When a drunk Oroonoko is tricked by the captain and captured, the reader realizes that

power is leveraged in the favour of the captain all along. While Oroonoko is mesmerized by the

captain’s friendliness and all the festivities on board his ship, the captain sees things in a profit-

oriented way and uses friendship to his advantage to maximize his profit and power. Oroonoko’s

honour proves little use in getting him any advantage: “Oroonoko replied, he would engage his

Honour to behave himself in all friendly Order and Manner, and obey the Command of the

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Captain…” (32). The men on the ship know that if they remove Oroonoko’s shackles, he might

do something that would endanger their control on the ship. They know that Oroonoko is prone

to valour and to revenge, but they do not admit this to him; they say to him instead: “…the

Difference of their Faith occasion’d that Distrust: for the Captain had protested to him upon the

Word of a Christian, and sworn in the Name of a Great G O D; which if he shou’d violate, he

would expect eternal Torment in the World to come” (32). Here, the captain wants to wait until

the hot passion of Oroonoko cools down, and the ship is further out at sea, before he reconsiders

removing Oroonoko’s shackles. It is not about religion, it is about control. The longer the captain

waits, the weaker Oroonoko becomes from malnourishment. Moreover, the further Oroonoko

and his people are from their lands, the more dependent they are on the white people.

Christianity is presented to Oroonoko in a bad light, by the wrong people, which is why

the narrator seems to favour Oroonoko’s goodness. In this narrative, like many of Behn’s works,

religion is taken advantage of, and used by the characters to their benefit. Susan Staves, a scholar

who critiques the works of Behn, points out how Christianity and the church are more like a tool

and a playground, rather than a religion and a place of worship: “…in Behn’s plays and fiction,

usually Roman Catholic churches on the continent, typically appear as places where men and

women discover their lovers and make assignments, not places of devotion. Her wits display

their cleverness in blasphemy” (Staves 12). Religious blasphemy is exactly what is being

displayed by the captain. His personal scheme for profit is what he is really devoted to. He uses

religion to clothe his ruder self and make his scheme seem acceptable to his crew members and

to Oroonoko.

Not only is Christianity manipulatable, as seen in Beh’s narrative, it is also very fickle.

The French tutor, for example, seems to be a victim of a Christian anomaly, if one may call it

that. Not much detail is given to this fact, but we as readers know that he has been banished from

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his country because of his blasphemy: “This French-Man was banish’d out of his own Country,

for some Heretical Notions he held; and though he was a Man of very little Religion, he had

admirable Morals, and a brave Soul” (Behn 30). These men with little religion seem to be

intelligent, like Trefry. The captain also appears to be intelligent, but he claims to be religious

and therefore cannot trust a heathen. However, when the French man is caught along with

Oroonoko, despite being known as a Christian, he is also locked up. He is locked up despite

being a Christian because the captain feared that he might help Oroonoko in some way: “…he

was secured because he might act something in favour of the Prince…” (33). Later on however,

he could not be made a slave like the rest: “… his French-man, who was set on Shore to seek his

Fortunes; and of whom they cou’d not make a Slave, because a Christian …” (40). Here the

reader sees with what comical ambiguity Christianity is labelled on an individual. The French

man is banished at one time due to his Christianity, and saved from slavery due to his

Christianity at another. The most accurate word to describe Christianity in Oroonoko is

‘artificial.’

In Surinam, when the Behn herself tries to educate Oroonoko about Christianity, she

displays her libertinism and critiques Christianity. Based on the power dynamics in the colony, it

would be appropriate that Behn herself tries to teach Christianity to Oroonoko because she wants

to maintain her upper-class status. A narrator would simply relate a story (as evident in the first

half of the novel), but here she actively attempts to keep Oroonoko under control by using

religion:

I was oblig’d, by some Persons, who fear’d a Mutiny…to discourse with Caesar, and to

give him all the Satisfaction I possibly cou’d; they knew that he and Clemene were scarce

an Hour in a Day from my Lodgings; that they eat with me, and that I oblig’d em in all

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things I was capable of….endeavoring to bring her to the knowledge of the true God”

(41)

Oronoko refuses to believe any notions of Christianity: “But of all Discourses Caesar lik’d that

the worst, and wou’d never be reconcil’d to our Notion of the Trinity, of which he ever made a

Jest; it was a Riddle, he said, wou’d turn his Brain to conceive, and one cou’d not make him

understand what faith was” (41). Based on how the narrator (Behn) is admitting that she is

obliged to educate Oroonoko and Imoinda in order to keep them ‘pacified’ and under control,

this indicates her personal involvement. This agency is also typical of Behn, who is known to

favor libertinism, and sees religion, chastity, and morality as nothing more than superstition:

“Royalist libertinism engaged in an aggressive transvaluation of values, itself becoming a quasi-

religion in which blasphemy became both a pleasure and a duty…” (Staves 20). Since

Christianity is used here as a means of control rather than devotion, Behn appropriately displays

Christianity as a tool of manipulation, and lets Oroonoko criticize it. Pacheco also comments on

this apparent criticism of Christianity:

Behn presents her critique of Christianity in the form of a travel narrative, a genre with a

proven track record as a forum for criticizing Christians and European culture generally.

It also places a safe distance between Behn and the heretical views of her black African

protagonist. Behn’s narrator plays a complex role in the novel’s interrogation of the

Christian faith. At times, she participates avidly in it, pointing out on several occasions

how bad Christians look when viewed alongside their ‘‘others’ (Pacheco 267).

Another critic, Elizabeth Tasker-Davis, suggests that this dialogue between the narrator (which is

Behn) and Oroonko has two meaning: “Behn critiques Christian provincialism on the one hand,

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suggesting that it functions as a hypocritical excuse for capital conquest, but on the other, she

indirectly approves a veiled Tory provincialism in the moral exalting of the royal slave

Oroonoko over the colonial government” (Tasker-Davis 37). Logically, Tasker-Davis’ argument

that Behn critiques Christian provincialism, is accurate. At the same time, however, Behn has

little or no respect for Oroonoko’s native culture (as we will soon discover), and only exalts the

royal slave superficially. Behn finds Oroonoko’s morality fascinating and she teaches him

religion as an attempt to domesticate him, or at least discourage him from thinking about starting

a revolt.

Like the sea captain, Behn wishes to cool the passions of Oroonoko. Pacheco also argues

in her article that “religion was an essential instrument of social control” (Pacheco 254). Since

Oroonoko’s arrival in Surinam, his name has been changed to Caesar, because Christians always

name their slaves. This is the first step in Oroonoko’s domestication process. Then Oroonoko

becomes an object of fascination. Like a canary in a golden cage, he gets good treatment, but he

is not foolish enough to accept Behn’s notion of God because his recent experience with

Christians has been deceiving, to say the least. Behn tells him stories and educates him mainly to

condition him to a domestic life, and to pass time. Ultimately, Oroonoko is appreciated like an

exotic pet that still needs to be tamed. Oroonoko senses early that Christianity is a form of

oppression and control, and this only becomes more apparent as the story progresses.

It is also possible that Behn wants to teach Oroonoko and Imoinda the knowledge of the

‘true God’ to clear up Oroonoko’s misconception about Christianity as evil. Oroonoko is turned

off by Christianity because everyone he encounters represent it wrongly. Throughout the text, we

see Christianity misused, but in this scene, Behn wants to genuinely teach Oroonoko about the

truth. Behn wants to keep Oroonoko safe, and the only way she knows how is to convert him to

the ‘real’ Christianity. At this point however, it is too late; Oroonoko has seen enough. Another

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interpretation of this scene is to see it as Behn illustrating for us the difficulty of teaching

Christianity when there are so many kinds of Christianity. Everybody picks and chooses a part of

Christianity they like, neglecting the real knowledge of God. It is possible that Behn thinks she

has the real knowledge of the true God, but again, she is not clear about this. She is unable to

continue because Oroonoko does not want to listen.

Behn appreciates Oroonoko for his individual novelty, and thinks he can be a capable

ruler, but she does not respect Christianity (based on the way it is represented), nor the religion

of the Coramantiens in any apparent way in the novella. Early in the novella, the narrator says:

“who-ever had heard him speak, wou’d have been convinc’d of their Errors, that all fine Wit is

confin’d to the White Men, especially to those of Christendom; and wou’d have confess’d that

Oroonoko was capable even of reigning well, and of governing as wisely…”(Behn 14). The

narrator essentially claims that a man could rule well simply because he is intelligent and has

character, and not because he is religious. Behn recognizes the corruption of Christianity and

politics in England, and see Oroonoko as more apt to rule because of his intelligence and his

individual sense of honour. In a sense, Behn satirizes English politics and religion, but Behn

herself is in a privileged position as the daughter of the lieutenant general of Surinam, and does

not push this idea further. She is well-positioned in the current political system, despite its

corruption. Behn merely flatters Oroonoko by putting down Christianity, and daintily satirizing

England’s politics at the same time.

As much as Behn seems to like the Coramantiens in the beginning, she considers them

only entertainment, and she considers their religion absurd. She considers the natives being

innocent in some sense, but she also despises other aspects of their character. Vernon Guy

Dickson, a scholar who analyses the theme of truth in Oroonoko suggests that Behn looks for

truth in the rarities:

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“Unconceivable wonders, for Behn, do not limit the delivery of truth. Rather, in her

period truth is frequently tied to the wonderful and to the unknown… Katie Whitaker

affirms the “broad interest in rarities and wonders of all sorts, natural and artificial” in the

seventeenth century.19 Whitaker’s work also connects wonder to everything from

feathers to the unusual human being (interestingly, each plays a role in Oroonoko),

always emphasizing the place of reason and religion in the study and appreciation of

wonder. (Dickson 576)

Contrary to what Dickson says, Behn does not even respect Oroonoko. She considers him

merely better than his race: “he was adorn’d with a native Beauty so transcending all those of his

gloomy Race…”(Behn 12). Behn feeds Oroonoko lie after lie, promising him freedom as soon as

the lieutenant general arrives. Some of the slaves on the colony display their religious tendency,

which is not impressive to Behn:

I soon perceiv’d, by an admiration, that is natural to these People, and by the extream

Ignorance and Simplicity of ‘em, it were not difficult to establish any unknown or

extravagant Religion among them; and to impose any Notions or Fictions upon ‘em. For

seeing a Kinsman of mine set some Paper a Fire, with a Burning-glass, a Trick they had

never before seen, they were like to have Ador’d him for a God; and beg’d he wou’d give

them the Characters or Figures of his Name, that they might oppose it against Winds and

Storms…and kept it like a Holy Relique. They are very Superstitious. (49)

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Behn finds no truth in the odd rituals of the black native slaves. Their religion only adds weight

to Behn’s initial comment about the blacks as a “gloomy race” (12). Behn is surprised at the

black’s naïve acceptance of religion. This quote partially explains why the Coramantien king is

able to rule for so long with his superstitious religion. These blacks easily accept religion and

allow themselves to be subjugated because they are innocent and unsuspecting. The whites may

take advantage of their religion, but at the same time they do not allow themselves to be

subjugated to others. Lipking also points to the fact that although Behn’s religious discussion

with Oroonoko may be seen as a critique of Christianity, Behn is ultimately with Christianity

because it gives her dominance: “Her friendships and enmities prove illusory; she may demean

Europeans, but foreseeably shares a superiority over the wretched” (Lipking, ‘Others’ 178 ).

Religion is like a double-edged sword in this case. On one side there are those who tie

themselves to an established religion, but use it to their advantage. On the other side, there are

those who are innocent and unsuspecting but prone to subjugation. The only truth here is that

religion is attractive for different reasons, but Bhen does not sympathize with any side. More

importantly, she finds the natives’ religious practices not as a chance to find truth, but to observe

the exotic, and to observe the contradictions of beliefs. Behn looks upon this controversy from

her comfortable position of power, adopting a male gaze.

In Surinam, Behn is in a position of power, and as such, she has the unique opportunity to

observe and critique with impunity. Behn’s social position allows her to have leisure time, which

she uses to document her discoveries. Jane Spencer writes about Behn as the heroine, and

regarding Behn’s position on Surinam, she says:

She lives in the best house on the plantation and has, she claims, ‘none above me in that

Country’. She thus has status but no occupation, and no permanent stake in the colony; so

she is well-placed to observe and comment freely. As a woman she can comment with

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authority on Oroonoko’s gallantry and attractiveness. When she first saw him, she

explains, he ‘address’d himself to me, and some other Women, with the best Grace in the

World’. She gets to know him well because ‘he lik’d the Company of us Women much

above the Men’. (Spencer 216)

Bhen finds great pleasure in Oroonoko’s company, especially when he calls her his ‘Great

Mistress.’ She is free to talk about any subject. She is free to try her ideas on Oroonoko and see

his reactions. Oroonoko is like a curious experiment subject to Behn. Behn adores Oroonoko’s

unique sense of individuality, and thus she takes her time with him; she examines, scrutinizes

and monitors him. The colony is the perfect place for all these things. Also regarding the colony,

Lipking says: “For Behn the colony is a place of leisure, witty company, and adventures; no one

struggles for a livelihood. But at its edges it holds danger, and friendship motivated by fear”

(Lipking, ‘Others’ 179). Despite the good life that Oroonoko leads in Behn’s company, he senses

the danger around him and knows that what is ultimately behind his easy life is a power dynamic

that he does not understand.

The events in Oroonoko are propelled forward arbitrarily by men who have power, which

makes Oroonoko a highly circumstantial story. This same story is a historical phenomenon in

itself. Joanna Lipking says: “Unlike its various adaptations and imitations, Behn’s original is

vividly circumstantial, with a sometimes brutal factuality” (167). There are events in Oroonoko

that happen due to a character’s authoritative decision, and the reasons behind these decisions are

not explained in detail. The powerful characters in the novella, such as the king of Coramantia,

the sea captain, and Byam, all use their powers and affect the lives of others dramatically, but

how they get their power is unexplained. Through fate, providence, honour, battle, conflict, or

wit, somehow these men are in positions of power, and they drive the action in the novella. The

mysterious origins of these powers are in of themselves aesthetic elements of Behn’s narrative.

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There is no true and false in the narrative, as Ballester says in Oddvar Homesland’s critique of

Oroonoko: “it meditates obsessively upon the seductive power and the unstable status of fictional

writing in relation to the simple dichotomy of truth and lie” (Homesland 59). The uniqueness of

Behn’s narrative is based on uncertainty and ambiguity.

The circumstance under which Oroonoko is written, its timing in history, and the

arbitrary power dynamics at the time are elements that override all the ideal notions of

Christianity, religion and honour. These circumstances are powerful, and they are apparent in the

narrative style. If critics argue that Behn critiques Christianity then they are right at one point

and wrong at another. Oroonoko mocks Christianity, but Behn would not be privileged if she is

not a Christian, and as a result, she wears the ‘robe’ of Christianity to remain in power. Pacheco

says that in Oroonoko, individual honour is more likely to keep an oath intact: “According to

Behn’s hero, a purely social and secular sanction like honour, with its threat of social ignominy,

provides a much stronger disincentive to oath breaking than does the fear of otherworldly

punishment on which the Christian faith relies to keep its exponents in line” (Pacheco 255).

However, in this narrative, the circumstances and power dynamic do not allow men to be honest.

Trefry, for instance, shares Oroonoko’s belief for honoring one’s word: “And he promis’d him

on his Word and Honour, he wou’d find the Means to reconduct him to his own Country again:

assuring him, he had a perfect Abhorrence of so dishonorable an Action; and that he wou’d

sooner have dy’d, than have been the Author of such a Perfidy (Behn 35). Alas, the honest Trefry

is powerless to keep his word by the end, as Oroonoko is subjected to a brutal dismemberment,

and that is because Oroonoko has been made a slave in his circumstance. Homesland quotes

Goreau in his work, who says: “slavery . . . as Aphra saw it, was a matter of power. It had

nothing to do with natural superiority, Christianity, or any of the other justifications that were

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commonly assumed at the time” (Homesland 64). Christianity is among the excuses that people

at the time use to cover up power and its injustice.

Based on Behn’s narrative consistently pointing to the power dynamics that inevitably

drive reality, Behn partially invokes the idea of libertinism. Her narrative (and libertinism) is one

that stresses the reality of the material world over religion or the ideal. Susan Staves, who writes

about women and society in the early modern period, says: “Royalist English libertinism like the

Earl of Rochester’s and Behn’s celebrated the authority of nature over that of what it debunked

as religious superstition …” (Staves 20). Behn spends time with Oroonoko discussing

Christianity and ideals, and although she adores Oroonoko, she does not try to save him when he

is captured. When Oroonko is found lying beside his beloved Imoinda, the narrator talks not

about what a passionate man Oroonoko is, but rather about the odour of Imoinda’s corpse: “What

he had done with his Wife? For they smelt a Stink that almost struck them dead” (Behn 62).

There is no talk about giving Imoinda’s body a proper Christian burial, nor any thought of giving

Oroonoko some Christian compassion. However, despite the narrative leaning towards

libertinism, Behn could not enjoy this ideology to the fullest because she is a woman.

Libertinism is a male ideology: “…a serious problem for Behn was that libertinism was a

masculine ideology” (Staves 21). Although Behn is powerful in Surinam, her power is not

absolute. Spencer points to the powerlessness of Behn’s position in the colony:

Like Oroonoko, who is given the outward respect due to a prince but kept from real

power, the narrator is under the illusion that she has high status in the colony; but when it

comes to a crisis the men are the real rulers…Ironically, she still seems to believe in her

‘Authority and Interest’ as she tells a story which reveals how illusionary these were

(Spencer 218).

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The narrator has limited power within a male-dominated system. In her home, the narrator has

the authority in her domestic environment and it is here that she claims to have absolute power,

and claims to know Oroonoko best. Behn’s use of a narrator is also one of the ways in which she

overseers her narrative, employing a male gaze of observation, and staying empowered.

Behn has a tendency to simplify certain things in her narrative, which allow them to be

contradicted. The narrator idealizes the natives as innocent, but later we find out that they can be

very ignorant, and in the case of the Coramantien king, abusive. Behn shows Christianity as

having different varieties. Most notably, Christianity is seen as a decorative cover-up or a

justification for a political agenda, for injustice, and for arbitrary power. The sea captain uses

Christianity as an alibi for ensuring his power and control, and Oroonoko’s French tutor is both a

victim and a beneficiary of Christianity. Many times in the narrative, Behn seems to favour

having personal honour over being a Christian, but honour is subjected to arbitrary power and

does not last. Behn tries to educate Oroonoko about the ‘true God’, but his experience with

Christians teaches him to distrust Christianity. Idealizations are short-lived because Behn is

portraying realism in her narrative as well. Behn hints time and time again at her personal views,

but she never commits to them and she never makes them obvious to the reader.

Behn’s style of narrative is one that favours display over meticulous detail. Behn touches

on contradictory issues, such as her libertinism, her critique of Christianity and slavery, but she

never goes into any detail about them. She is simply displaying her discoveries, adding to them

subjective and decorative details. She never burdens her readers with historic details that might

bore them. She focuses on the spectacle, the strange, and the foreign. It is because religion is all

these at different times, that it becomes highly worthy of attention for Behn. Behn is skeptical of

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Christianity and of religion in general (based on how she presents them in her narrative). Thus

she depicts them like clothing; it covers the rude reality of human nature and desire. Religion in

Oroonoko is used arbitrarily. To read Oroonoko, one must appreciate the unique and colourful

story that Behn displays with all its contradictions and judge it for its context (or appearance),

and not judge Behn for her lack of involvement, or her inconsistency.

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Bibliography

Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko. Ed. Joanna Lipking. New York: Norton, 1997. Print.

Dickson, Vernon Guy. "Truth, Wonder, and Exemplarity in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko." SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900: 573-94. Print.

Holmesland, Oddvar. "Aphra Behn's Oroonoko : Cultural Dialectics and the Novel." ELH: 57-79. Print.

Lipking, Joanna, ed. Oroonoko, Ed. J. Lipking. W.W. Norton &, 1997. Print

Lipking, Joanna.“ ‘Others,’ slaves, and colonists.” The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn. Ed. Derek Hughes and Janet Todd. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.

Sensbach, Jon. “Prohpets and Helpers.” Kostroun, Daniella, and Lisa Vollendorf, eds.. Women, Religion & the Atlantic World, 1600-1800. Ed. Daniella Kostroun and Lisa Vollendorf. University of Toronto Press, 2009. Print.

Pacheco, Anita. "“Little Religion” but “Admirable Morals”: Christianity and Honor in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko." Modern Philology: 253-80. Print.

Rosenthal, Laura J. "Oroonoko: Reception, Ideology, Narrative Strategy."The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn. Ed. Derek Hughes and Janet Todd. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.

Spencer, Jane. “The Woman Novelist as Heroine.” Lipking, Joanna, ed. Oroonoko, Ed. J. Lipking. W.W. Norton &, 1997. Print

Staves, Susan. “Women and Society.” The Cambridge Companion to Aphra Behn. Ed. Derek Hughes and Janet Todd. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2004. Print.

Tasker-Davis, Elizabeth. “Cosmopolitan Benevolence from a Female Pen: Aphra Behn and Charlotte Lennox Remember the New World”. South Atlantic Review 76.1 (2011): 33–51. Web.

Visconsi, Elliott. "A Degenerate Race: English Barbarism in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko and The Widow Ranter." ELH: 673-701. Print.

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