Who Is Oroonoko, The Royal Slave '?
Cedric Watkins
World Literature II
July 11, 2012
Oroonoko & Christanity Formal Paper
Oroonoko, The Royal Slave is a unique story for it’s time in part due to the fact that it is told from a woman’s point of view. It is unusual to imagine women of her time to have traveled as far as the author Aphra Behn it seems must have traveled in order to describe Africa. Oroonoko’s story is one of a tragic hero destroyed by the dishonesty and deceit of others. In Oroonoko Behn throughout the story implies that religion, focusing the religion of Christianity, corrupts men.
Religion is explored not in terms of rites and rituals, but rather from the perspective of the effect that …show more content…
More than once he makes decisions based upon his belief that when a man says he will do something, he will do it or die trying. When he attempts to lead his fellow slaves to freedom, he is betrayed by their ready willingness to forfeit the battle and return to captivity. He urged them to flee with descriptions of how it was better to die with dignity than to live as a slave, and when they said they would join him, he sure believed they would remain with him in his fight for freedom. He was quickly betrayed when he discovered that even his own people did not place as much value on their honor as did he, but then he reminds himself that they were losers of battle who he himself had sold into slavery, and they were not noble enough to die for honor. Given little choice or freedom to determine their own fate, future and destiny; women might be considered to face a slavery of their own in …show more content…
The natives' nakedness, she claims, better instructs the world than all the inventions of man; religion would here but destroy that tranquility they possess by ignorance. When the captain who captures Oroonoko as a slave refuses to release his shackles, Oroonoko replies that he’s very sorry to hear that the captain to the knowledge and worship of any gods who had taught him no better principles. To his death Oroonoko refuses to accept Christianity. This is no surprise since Behn all but populates her story with dishonest, villainous Christians. There is the captain who abuses Oroonoko's trusty nature and sells him as a slave; there are the pursuants of Oroonoko who torture him in a most appalling and inhumane
World Literature II
July 11, 2012
Oroonoko & Christanity Formal Paper
Oroonoko, The Royal Slave is a unique story for it’s time in part due to the fact that it is told from a woman’s point of view. It is unusual to imagine women of her time to have traveled as far as the author Aphra Behn it seems must have traveled in order to describe Africa. Oroonoko’s story is one of a tragic hero destroyed by the dishonesty and deceit of others. In Oroonoko Behn throughout the story implies that religion, focusing the religion of Christianity, corrupts men.
Religion is explored not in terms of rites and rituals, but rather from the perspective of the effect that …show more content…
More than once he makes decisions based upon his belief that when a man says he will do something, he will do it or die trying. When he attempts to lead his fellow slaves to freedom, he is betrayed by their ready willingness to forfeit the battle and return to captivity. He urged them to flee with descriptions of how it was better to die with dignity than to live as a slave, and when they said they would join him, he sure believed they would remain with him in his fight for freedom. He was quickly betrayed when he discovered that even his own people did not place as much value on their honor as did he, but then he reminds himself that they were losers of battle who he himself had sold into slavery, and they were not noble enough to die for honor. Given little choice or freedom to determine their own fate, future and destiny; women might be considered to face a slavery of their own in …show more content…
The natives' nakedness, she claims, better instructs the world than all the inventions of man; religion would here but destroy that tranquility they possess by ignorance. When the captain who captures Oroonoko as a slave refuses to release his shackles, Oroonoko replies that he’s very sorry to hear that the captain to the knowledge and worship of any gods who had taught him no better principles. To his death Oroonoko refuses to accept Christianity. This is no surprise since Behn all but populates her story with dishonest, villainous Christians. There is the captain who abuses Oroonoko's trusty nature and sells him as a slave; there are the pursuants of Oroonoko who torture him in a most appalling and inhumane