Behn Essays

  • Oroonoko by Aphra Behn

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    groundbreaking novel Oronooko remains a rich artifact for decoding the context and era in which it was written in. When Oroonoko had first been published, the basic concept of the novel as a writing technique was still in early experimental stages. Aphra Behn, though, through countless stylistic techniques and interwoven patterns, seamlessly wrote one of the earliest and most important novels of all time. This essay will elaborate upon such stylistic traits and patterns and further the reader’s understanding

  • Gender and Narrative in the Fiction of Aphra Behn

    2859 Words  | 6 Pages

    ideology brought with it not only the reemergence of the theatre, but and a society that embraced freedom of sexuality and thought in a way that was unprecedented. It is this new libertine society that provided a context for the writings of Aphra Behn. While Behn observed men like rakish Charles II and the effeminate Earl of Rochester enjoying England’s newfound open mindedness, she was forced to navigate, or rather circumnavigate, the limitations that remained in place for women. In a time when actresses

  • The Life and Works of Dramatist Aphra Behn

    2577 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Life and Works of Dramatist Aphra Behn Aphra Behn left a legacy of being not only a complex and enigmatic woman, but a poet, a playwright, a writer, a novelist, and a spy. A commoner who blended with the royalty and revolted against the societal norms with her lewd yet cunning writings, she exhibited the influence of more than just a writer of her time period and left her mark in the canon of English literature by creating her own genre of amatory. She was a feminist, an adventurist, an abolitionist

  • Aphra Behn and the Changing Perspectives on Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel

    6046 Words  | 13 Pages

    Aphra Behn and the Changing Perspectives on Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel Ian Watt’s The Rise of the Novel (1957) remains one of the most influential texts in the study of the English novel. However, an increasingly strong case for a revision of both the work itself and the discourse it personifies has been gradually building over the past twenty years. While the initial stages of, first, feminist and, later, post colonial perspectives may have sought only to insert marginalised texts into

  • The Actual Disappointment: The Work fo Aphra Behn

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aphra Behn, a remarkable author who “‘…earned… [women]…the right to speak their minds’”, who was not afraid to speak her mind herself as evident in her works, and was a writer that aided in paving the way for women’s rights through the literature world (The Norton Anthology 2308). A majority of Behn’s works serve to further the voice of women in the oppressed society in which they were living in and this work being examined is no exception to this. The Disappointment serves as a perfect satiric

  • Virtue in Oroonoko (The Royal Slave) by Aphra Behn

    575 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story, Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave, written by Aphra Behn, depicts the main character, Oroonoko, as being an African prince that lives among his people, whom all abide by a code of virtue and fidelity. When Oroonoko is faced with a dilemma in his own country and living among a “civilized” white society, that are devout Christians, he is confronted with the burden to uphold his code of virtue and maintain a title of being a “Noble Savage” by means of loyalty, religious beliefs, and honor. Oroonoko

  • An Analysis of Oroonoko's Blackness

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    corresponds to the narrator's heightened presence."(DeMaria, BL Critical Reader, 88). Therefore, Oroonoko and Behn step into the light because of the black print and the jet-black skin of Behn's hero. In her essay Gallagher makes many assumptions regarding the audience who reads her text. She assumes that the reader has read and studied "The Unfortunate Bride;" knows biographical information about Aphra Behn; possesses knowledge about literary techniques; and knows how the slave trade worked in Africa. Despite

  • Aphra Behn

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    century a writer named Aphra Behn emerged as leader in English literature. With a shaky beginning, Behn persevered to become the first female professional writer. With her feminist opinions, she revolutionized writing and her impacts in the 17th century would change modern day writing. Behn was a clever writer who wrote lively, vibrant plays and poetry. Behn impacted the world, not only with her writing, but also with her determination and voice about her feminist opinions. Behn showed strength and courage

  • Disappointment By Behn

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Disappointment,” tackles the concept of sex from the female perspective, something still relatively taboo in the modern world. Behn offers readers a glimpse into the confusion and anxiety that accompany a woman’s loss of virginity, in addition to the heightened expectations of masculinity enforced on the man. By creating sympathetic and pitiable characters out of both Cloris and Lysander, Behn imagines a narrative in which there are no winners or beneficiaries in this uncomfortable exchange, directly resulting

  • Aphra Behn

    1497 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aphra Behn, who is the first female to achieve status of a professional playwright attempted to alter and influence the literary cannon through her writing, which was a precarious occupation but allowed literature to evolve in a wider range. Behn was also one of the wittiest and entertaining as evidenced through her most renowned play, The Rover, which is a restoration, yet dark comedy set in 17th century Italy while under the colonial reign of Spain. The large cast of characters becomes embroiled

  • Aphra Behn's Oroonoko as the First Modern Novel

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    matter the quality, publications written by women were typically ridiculed by their male contenders.  However, a handful of women defied the common standards and were prosperous; one of these was Aprha Behn.  Virgina Wolf says of Behn, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds."  Although she was a woman of outstanding accomplishments, one of her publications truly glistens.  Oroonoko (1688), the epic tale of

  • Kind Fortune in Aphra Behn's The Rover

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    of horoscopes in magazines, and late night commercials marketing tarot card readings for only two dollars a minute. In her farcical comedy The Rover, Aphra Behn traces the fates of ladies of fortune, ladies of the night, men of honour, and men of disrepute as that sneaky rogue called Love entangles their lives. Throughout the play, Behn uses fortune in every sense of the word to guide people's actions until finally Fortune personified becomes an active character in the plot. In the beginning

  • Subtle Criticism in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    direct forms, through her non-European characters, most often Oroonoko, and through comparisons between cultures and the characters encountered in each. As a female writer trying to earn a living, and as the narrator of the story represented herself, Behn couldn't have the narrator offer too strong a criticism for fear of losing her audience. The narrator is presented as very European. She is very ethnocentric and seems to have no problem with the slave trade, only with the treatment of one specific

  • European Colonialism and Imperialism in Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

    593 Words  | 2 Pages

    European Superiority in Oroonoko Throughout Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, we can see the comparison between European and African culture occurring in many places. In a majority of the imagery, Behn's attitudes can be seen behind the text weighing heavily toward portraying European characteristics as socially more admirable. Oroonoko's introduction acquaints us with a person so refined in every way as to be almost god-like. Every feature of this great warrior-prince is shown in detail to be the most beautiful

  • The Rover by Aphra Behn

    1188 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Rover by Aphra Behn the reader is shown how all a woman could do during the 1600’s in Europe was sell herself through marriage or prostitution through the characters Hellena and Angellica. Both women have different views on love, sex, and marriage. Hellena is a woman who does not want to be controlled by men. It has been determined by her father and brother that she will join a nunnery, which she rejects. Hellena doesn’t want her desires to be controlled and feels she has the right to love

  • Comparing Defoe's Moll Flanders and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko

    3562 Words  | 8 Pages

    narrator. This doesn't mean that Defoe's and Behn's work is 'ineffective', but there is indeed a difficulty: it is the claim of truth. Defoe in his preface states, "The Author is here suppos'd to be writing her own History." (Moll Flanders, p. 1) and Behn claims, "I was myself an eye-witness to a great part, of what you will find here set down, and what I could not be witness of, I received from the mouth of the chief actor in this history, the hero himself, (...)" (Oroonoko, 75) Although both authors

  • Sexual Empowerment of Women in Behn's The Willing Mistress and The Disappointment

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sexual Empowerment of Women in Behn's The Willing Mistress and The Disappointment "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, . . . for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds." (Woolf 91) Born in 1640, Aphra Behn broke gender stereotypes when she undertook a thrilling (if unrewarded) life as a spy for the Crown, but it was her scandalous career as an author which truly achieved many firsts for women. She was the first woman to support hereself

  • Women and Sexuality in Aphra Behn's Poems

    1964 Words  | 4 Pages

    she both broke new ground and challenged conceptions of patriarchal power when she wrote about women's empowerment through sexuality. In her poems "The Willing Mistress" (from her play The Dutch Lover, 1673) and "The Disappointment" (1680), Behn creates situations of bold sexual mischief in which female characters are aware of, comfortable with, and even thrive off their sexuality. Not only was it virtually unheard of for a woman of Behn's time to express herself openly as

  • Aphra Behn's Oroonoko – Slaughter of the Human Spirit

    1157 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oroonoko – Slaughter of the Human Spirit Aphra Behn introduces her characters in Oroonoko as beautiful people who possess a pure, innocent love.  Behn does this in an effort to make her readers feel and question.  Her poetic description of their emotions magnify the horror of the final scene.  Behn's romantic love story is brought to a tragic end through brutality and death.  Why did she choose such an ending?  Her decision to have Oroonoko take the life of his wife and unborn child leaves her

  • Heroism In Oronoko Behn

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    benefit of a certain group is not a principle of heroes. In addition, heroes often possess admirable leadership skills which help them to lead the people they empathize with and fight for in a way that benefits them. In the novel entitled Oroonoko, Behn (1997) presents the story of a prince named Oroonoko who experiences several challenges as he enslaved and exploited by British colonialists; consequently, making him starting a revolution that results in his cruel death. In this literary text, issues