1.1.3: Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

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Anita Turlington, Matthew Horton, Karen Dodson, Laura Getty, Kyounghye Kwon, Georgia, & Laura Ng
University of North Georgia via GALILEO Open Learning Materials

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Aphra Behn (c.1640-1689) Oronooko, the Royal Slave British Age of Reason

All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds. It is she - shady and amorous as she was - who makes it not quite fantastic for me to say to you tonight: Earn five hundred a year by your wits. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Little is known about Aphra Behn's family history or early childhood, but we do know that she is considered the first English woman to become a professional writer and earn a living by her pen. Scholars do not agree about her parentage, or whether or not Behn actually travelled to Surinam, the location that inspired her famous novel, Oroonoko, the Royal Slave (1688). In spite of the controversy surrounding her history, however, Behn's first person descriptive narrative of The Royal Slave continues to fascinate readers all over the world. Behn's own life reads like one of her novels. She spent some time in Antwerp as a spy for the British, and was subsequently thrown into debtor's prison when she could not repay a loan she procured for the trip back to England. After the death of her husband, Behn worked as a playwright and earned enough money to become an independent woman. Like other women writers of her time, Behn wrote about forced marriages and a woman's inferior status in her culture. Oronooko, the Royal Slave (1688) Even though abolitionists claimed Oroonoko, the Royal Slave as a work in opposition to the slave trade, the novel is not a slave narrative; the protagonist himself participates in and profits from the slave trade before he is captured. The novel does represent an African as a human being and confronts the corruption and cruelty of the powerful authorities who were supposed to represent the "civilized" part of the world. Oroonoko is an adventurous romance that addresses the universal question of love and the conflict between good and evil. Consider while reading:

Considering Behn's audience, discuss the physical descriptions of Oroonoko and his lover, Imoinda.
Discuss the fate of Imoinda, the main female character in the novel.
Again, with Behn's audience in mind, discuss the tortuous death of the hero.

Written by Karen Dodson