Slavery and Cowper
“The Negro’s Complaint” by William Cowper
In “The Negro’s Complaint”, which was published in The Gentleman’s Magazine in December 1793, William Cowper successfully creates a dramatic monologue in which the Negro slave is given the full chance to give a fervent, heartfelt account of the journey of suffering, cruelty, and disdain from the pleasures of freedom in Africa to the tortures of slavery in England. The Negro is further allowed to defend the humanity of the African race, refute all the slave traders’ pretexts for racial discrimination, and finally, investigate the validity of the European domineering power over their fellow human beings.
The Negro begins his pathetic complaint by a logical discussion of the basic pillar of slave trade, namely, financial benefits. He wonders how he could be bereaved of all the pleasures of his homeland in Africa, brutally carried to England, deprived of his freedom, bought and sold, tortured and forced to hard work only to increase the slave traders’ profits. He further argues that though his body is enslaved, his mind can never be bought and sold. The Negro’s refutation of the claims of slave traders begins with the assertion that:
Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit Nature’s claim;
Skins may differ, but affection
Dwells in white and black the same (13-16)
Bidding the iron-hearted masters to reconsider the validity of their pretexts, the African slave discusses slave trade from the spiritual religious perspective. God has created plants for all men alike, not for a certain species of human beings, to urge them to work and toil. So, lethargically enjoying the sweets of Negroes’ sweat is against God’s will. In a satirical tone, the Negro again wonders: Is there,–as ye sometimes tell us,–
Is there One who reigns on high?
Has He bid you buy and sell us,
Speaking from his throne, the sky? (25-28) Tangled whips, matches and blood-extorting nails can never be the objects, God approves of, for
In “The Negro’s Complaint”, which was published in The Gentleman’s Magazine in December 1793, William Cowper successfully creates a dramatic monologue in which the Negro slave is given the full chance to give a fervent, heartfelt account of the journey of suffering, cruelty, and disdain from the pleasures of freedom in Africa to the tortures of slavery in England. The Negro is further allowed to defend the humanity of the African race, refute all the slave traders’ pretexts for racial discrimination, and finally, investigate the validity of the European domineering power over their fellow human beings.
The Negro begins his pathetic complaint by a logical discussion of the basic pillar of slave trade, namely, financial benefits. He wonders how he could be bereaved of all the pleasures of his homeland in Africa, brutally carried to England, deprived of his freedom, bought and sold, tortured and forced to hard work only to increase the slave traders’ profits. He further argues that though his body is enslaved, his mind can never be bought and sold. The Negro’s refutation of the claims of slave traders begins with the assertion that:
Fleecy locks and black complexion
Cannot forfeit Nature’s claim;
Skins may differ, but affection
Dwells in white and black the same (13-16)
Bidding the iron-hearted masters to reconsider the validity of their pretexts, the African slave discusses slave trade from the spiritual religious perspective. God has created plants for all men alike, not for a certain species of human beings, to urge them to work and toil. So, lethargically enjoying the sweets of Negroes’ sweat is against God’s will. In a satirical tone, the Negro again wonders: Is there,–as ye sometimes tell us,–
Is there One who reigns on high?
Has He bid you buy and sell us,
Speaking from his throne, the sky? (25-28) Tangled whips, matches and blood-extorting nails can never be the objects, God approves of, for