It is believed that during this time, Behn gathered the inspiration and resources necessary to write Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave, which is supposedly the true story of an African prince who is enslaved and brought to Surinam. .
Aphra returned to England after Surinam was surrendered to Holland and shortly thereafter possibly married a Dutch merchant, Hans Behn, who died about a year later around 1665. Janet Todd and many other historians believe this marriage served simply as a publicity stunt and think that Behn utilized the title of widow, ultimately gaining her respect over time as an independent woman [ CITATION Gor80 l 1033 ]. Within a few years after her alleged marriage, Behn became affiliated with King Charles II as a political spy in Antwerp, Belgium during the second Anglo-Dutch war. However, Behn never received any payment for her work from the King while away which led her to being thrown into debtor's prison upon her return to England. Around 1669, she was released when her debts were paid off by an unidentified source. Shortly after being discharged she returned to London. Rather than searching for the love of a husband to support her, Behn took to pen and paper in an attempt to provide her own living. Her independence in becoming a writer was a bold choice in a time when women were completely dependent on men for stability and the majority of writers were male. In fact, women were not even allowed to sign contracts on their own. The start of Aphra Behn's writing career coincided with the opening of the London theatres, where she began to write for Sir William Davenant's Duke of York's company at Dorset Garden. Comedy flourished in the theatre during the time of the Restoration, ergo most of Behn's plays are recognized as romantic comedies. During her career, Aphra wrote and staged approximately nineteen plays [ CITATION Wil l 1033 ]. However, she is remembered and revered for her two most notable works: Oroonoko, or the Royal Slave, a tragedy, and The Rover, a comedy.
Then I came across a woman named Aphra Behn. Behn was a pioneer of women's literature. ... Unlike most women in the 1600's, Aphra Behn had few responsibilities, and a great deal of freedom. In Behn's era women generally did numerous chores around the house. ... Aphra Behn strictly wrote for money and public acclaim. ...
Amazingly this tumultuous and repressive period would spark a new generation of dramatic and comedy writers including William Wycherley, George Farquhar, William Congreve, and Aphra Behn. (Barton,3) Given a period with such socio-historical background and male dominated constraint, an era where women publishing their writings tantamount prostitution, Aphra Behn remains the first professional woman who boldly and openly entered the masculine area of play writing. Even Virgina Wolf praises her by saying All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn... for it was she ...
"Oroonoko" is a work of fiction by Aphra Behn, published in 1688. ... Upon arriving at the plantation, Oroonoko was immediately seen by the slaves as a king and they soon began to worship him (Behn, p. 941). ... " (Behn, p. 1129) Behn's depiction of Surinam as a good and holy place, reinforces the ideology that Oroonoko's tale was a reconstruction of Christian scripture. ... [paying] him even divine homage" (Behn, p. 1126) from the other slaves. ... Deception and betrayal leads to destruction as shown in the novel when the slaves left Oroonoko to revolt all by himself (Behn...
James II, the successor, was on the throne when Aphra Behn's book Oroonoko was published. ... Aphra Behn condemns what she sees as a corruption of noble values in the Christian world through Oroonoko's honorable character; slavery is merely an institution that makes the corruption clear. ... The corruption of noble values are visible in Behn's book. ... Behn indirectly condemns the captain's act: "Some have commended this Act, as brave, in the captain; but I will spare my sense of it [ ]" (Behn 31). ... Behn condemns this corruption but not the institution. ...
Aphra Behn's genre-blending tale "Oroonoko" melds travel narrative with fictional biography to tell the story of Prince Oroonoko, "the royal slave. ... Indeed, Behn measures and praises Oroonoko's masculinity only in terms of these parallels. ... Furthermore, this paper will analyze the texts of Oroonoko and Addison and Steele's The Spectator to demonstrate how certain writers of the time dealt with "the other " via subjective cultural standards. ... Behn partially attributes Oroonoko's "humanity " to this tutelage. ... From these details it becomes apparent that Behn...
Then, a female writer, Aphra Behn, tells the story of an enslaved African prince. Aphra Behn, herself, grew up in troubled times. ... Aphra Behn was a visionary who liked to see herself as independent. ... However, the story is told through the eyes of the narrator, who one believes to be Aphra Behn. ... Aphra Behn and her story brought attention to the plight of the slave. ...
Oroonoko, "The Royal Slave", was written by Aphra Behn to counter some of the negative images that people have of blacks. Aphra Behn is a female writer from 1688, which is a good period of time after the slave trade begun. ... Aphra Gehn captures the market of literate women and gives them a different experience of literature. ... Aphra Behn takes the harsh extreeme treatment of the slaves and portrayes them in another extreme as a non-working, good-looking, and well-dressed slave. ...
Due to this, it could be assumed that Alpha Behn is against slavery. ... Behn described him more like a dark roman than an African. ... I believe that Behn is attempting to show that these slaves are not so different than the Europeans, though in skin pigmentation. ... I think that Behn is showing these similarities to show that there is no large difference between the Europeans and the Africans and thus it is wrong to enslave them. ...