Recognised for its wide-ranging and open-minded humanity, it was popular and widely read, and is often seen as an early anti-slavery novel.īehn is buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey, London.

Such ill morals are only practised in Christian countries where they prefer the bare name of religion and, without virtue or morality, think that’s sufficient. The story is also of interest to humanists as an early example of a critique of aspects of Christian culture: This linking of morality with personal integrity and the respect of others, rather than with fear of eternal punishment, is essentially humanist.

‘Let him know I swear by my honour, which to violate would not only render me contemptible and despised of all brave and honest men, and so give myself perpetual pain, but it would be eternally offending and diseasing all mankind…’ ‘Is this all the obligation he has to be just to his oath?’ replied Oroonoko. Sworn in the name of a great god, which if he should violate, he would expect eternal torment in the world to come. She gives Oroonoko a speech in which he responds to an oath (later broken) made by a Christian: She describes a Frenchman as ‘a man of very little religion …admirable morals and a brave soul.’ Behn visited Surinam, probably in 1663-4, and the story is based on experience.īehn is critical of the slave trade and the hypocrisy of Christians, and, as narrator, often expresses ideas that seem ahead of her time, making a clear distinction between morality and religion.

The story is remarkable for its sympathetic portrayals of the noble and virtuous Oroonoko, his lover Imoinda, and of African and Amerindian culture. There Oroonoko inspires a slave revolt and is cruelly punished. Her short novel Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave is the story of an African prince, in love with a beautiful African princess both are enslaved and taken to Surinam, in South America. Little is known about her life, but she was famous in her lifetime for her plays, poetry and fiction.

Aphra Behn was, according to Virginia Woolf, the first English woman to earn her living as a writer, and was certainly the most successful woman writer of her age, producing plays and novels.

Aphra behn the royal slave