Burget, Jasper. “ENG 359: The Origins of Literary Modernity.” ENG 359 The Origins of Literary Modernity, Williams College , 11 Dec. 2014, sites.williams.edu/engl359-f14/uncategorized/aphra-behns-oroonoko-or-the-royal-slave-a-parody-of-epic-proportions/.
This article is a student written essay from a student at Williams College. However, it has not been peer reviewed. Furthermore, the essay’s purpose is to compare Oroonoko to a modern day Parody. A parody is a way to manipulate the ideas set forth by various stories, images, or events in order to exaggerate or critique them, generally through humor or simply for comic effect. The author claims that Oroonoko is a parody because during the narrative, Behn “parodies” the genre of epic poetry by placing Oroonoko, a prince, in the position of a slave (1). Using many literary examples, Burget demonstrates how Oroonoko is depicted as a parody and shows how Behn’s uses her narrator's point of view to apply and withdraw
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Through the numerous examples used by Burget, it constantly explains and outlines the ways that Oroonoko is a parody.
Ferguson, Moira. “Oroonoko: Birth of a Paradigm.” New Literary History, vol. 23, no. 2, 1992, pp. 339–359. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/469240.
This article is an academic journal belonging to the New Literary History journal series published by John Hopkins University. The purpose of Moira Fergusons article is to draw attention to the fact that Oroonoko was a hero. This is further explained by Ferguson has she calls this novel a Eulogy because of the narrator's point of view which suggested that Oroonoko was a hero, and “made a heroic stand against slavery and deplores his punishments when captured”(p. 1). The article’s purpose also develops throughout the medium analyzing Behn's attribution to women and their evolving
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
London: n.p., 1998. Print. fourth Bloomfield, Morton W. New Literary History. Winter ed. N.p.:
Murphy, B. & Shirley J. The Literary Encyclopedia. [nl], August 31, 2004. Available at: http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2326. Access on: 22 Aug 2010.
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164-69. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 341. Detroit: Gale, 2013.Artemis Literary Sources. Web. 5 May 2014.
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This essay explores the role of women in Homer's Odyssey, James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Derrick Walcott's Omeros (1990), epics written in very different historical periods. Common to all three epics are women as the transforming figure in a man's life, both in the capacity of a harlot and as wife.
Many readers feel the tendency to compare Aphra Behn's Oroonoko to William Shakespeare's Othello. Indeed they have many features in common, such as wives executed by husbands, conflicts between white and black characters, deceived heroes, the absolute vulnerability of women, etc. Both works stage male characters at both ends of their conflicts. In Othello, the tragic hero is Othello, and the villain is Iago. In Oroonoko, the hero is Oroonoko, the vice of the first part is the old king, and the second part white men in the colony. In contrast to their husbands, both heroines—Desdemona and Imoinda—seem more like "function characters" who are merely trapped in their husband's fates, occasionally becoming some motivation of their husbands (like Desdemona is Othello's motivation to rage, Imoinda's pregnancy drives Oroonoko restless to escape). While Shakespeare and Behn put much effort in moulding them, to many readers they are merely "perfect wives". This paper aims to argue that, Desdemona and Imoinda's perfect wifehood may be the product of compliance to male-dominated societies, where women are
Schoenberg, T. J. (2001). Bradford, William - Introduction. "Literary Criticiem (1400-1800). Retrieved March 2011, from enotes.com/literacy-criticism: www.enotes.com/literary-criticism/bradford-williams
Forum 19.4 (Winter 1985): 160-162. Rpt. inTwentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol. 192. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol C. 9th ed. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton, 2012. 2313-2358. Print.
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907-21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000 http://www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html
22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag.
- - -. “Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800.” http://go.galegroup.com. N.p., 1988. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. .