MAIN CHARACTERS:

In Coramantien:

Oroonoko, the African Prince, called Caesar in Surinam

Imoinda, a beautiful African court lady, called Clemene in Surinam

King of Coramantien, Oroonoko’s grandfather

Aboan, Oroonoko’s best friend

Onahal, an elderly concubine of the King’s

In Surinam:

Narrator (Aphra Behn herself, but probably a fictionalized version)

Trefry, the overseer of Behn’s plantation

The English Governor of the island, Byam

Tuscan, Caesar/Oroonoko’s loyal lieutenant

  

SHORT PLOT OUTLINE (page numbers from the Norton Anthology in parentheses):

(2152-54) Behn begins by introducing herself and her part in the story – an observer living on a  sugar plantation in Surinam.  She names the subject of her tale – the African “royal slave” – but digresses first to describe the indigenous people of Surinam, who appear to her and to the reader to be peaceful, simple, innocent, beautiful, and Edenic.  She then notes that the Europeans who own the plantations “find it necessary . . . to caress [the islanders] as friends, and not to treat them as slaves.”  Instead, they use “Negroes, black slaves altogether” to work the plantations.

(2154-7)  She describes the country (Coramantien, on the Gold Coast of Africa) from which the slaves are obtained, and moves quickly into a narrative about Oroonoko, the grandson of the King of Coramantien.  Oroonoko, chief general of the king’s army, is described in careful physical detail on p. 2155-6 (read this carefully!).  We also learn that he falls in love quickly with a beautiful maiden named Imoinda, to whom he becomes betrothed.

(2157-61)  Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Imoinda is chosen by the old king to be one of his many wives.  Still a virgin, she is powerless to refuse the king, and Oroonoko, powerless to object to the match, suffers “agonies of love” when he sees Imoinda with the king at court functions.  Still, the lovers do manage to see each other at court, and to reassure each other of their continuing love. 

(2161-63) Oroonoko convinces his best friend, Aboan, to make love to Imoinda’s waiting-woman/chaperone, Onahal (an older woman and former concubine of the King), hoping in this way to gain access to Imoinda.  The King grows more and more jealous and finally announces that he will send Oroonoko to battle to get him out of the way. 

(2163-66)  With Onahal’s help, Oroonoko is able to visit Imoinda on the eve of battle, where he learns that the 100-year-old King has been unable to take her virginity.  Oroonoko and Imoinda consummate their secret marriage.  They are discovered, and Oroonoko is forced to flee to the wars to escape capture, and Imoinda is forced to tell the king that Oroonoko had raped her, in order to save her own life.  The King cannot sleep with any woman who has been “possessed” by a male relative, so he orders Imoinda and Onahal sold into slavery.  Fearing Oroonoko’s revenge, the King sends him word that Imoinda had been put to death, for which Oroonoko nobly forgives his grandfather. 

(2166-68)  Oroonoko overcomes his grief long enough to defeat the army of Jamoan, and take that leader prisoner, to live as an honored guest in Oroonoko’s household.  Oroonoko even accepts the King’s invitation to return to court.

(2168-71)   Now a courtier, Oroonoko visits an English slave-ship, wishing to converse with the captain and learn more about European customs, with which he is fascinated.  The captain gets Oroonoko and his followers drunk, puts them in irons and embarks for Surinam, intending to sell the prince and his men as slaves along with the common slaves sold to him by the King of Coramantien.  Tricked by the captain into accepting a promise that he and his men will be returned at the journey’s end, Oroonoko agrees to encourage his men to wait patiently, to keep up their strength, and not kill themselves by leaping off the ship.

(2171-4)  Upon arriving, Oroonoko is of course sold by the treacherous English captain, to the overseer (Trefry) of Behn’s plantation.  Trefry, impressed by Oroonoko’s royal bearing (and his ability to speak French and English), renames him Caesar and gives him many privileges.  When Oroonoko/Caesar arrives on the plantation, the other slaves recognize him immediately as their Prince and pay him homage.

(2174-77)  Caesar/Oroonoko tells Trefey about his lost love.  Trefry says the lost Imoinda reminds him of a slave on their plantation named Clemene.  Caesar meets Clemene — who indeed turns out to be Imoinda — the next day.  The Europeans, witnessing the tender reunion, are touched and allow the two to marry and live together (an unimaginable privilege for a slave).  The two conceive a child and also become good friends with the narrator (Behn).  At the request of the other plantation owners, Behn secures the lovers’ promise that, in return for their privileges, they will not attempt escape, and will wait for the Governor’s arrival to ask for their freedom.

(2177-81)  Behn describes the many beauties of Surinam.  Caesar fits right in, performing many acts of bravery in the hunt. 

(2181-83)  An account is given of Caesar’s success in creating a truce between an aggressive indigenous tribe and the English settlers (read carefully the description at the top of p. 2183 of the native mode of battle). 

(2183-5)  As Clemene/Imoinda’s pregnancy advances, she worries about bearing a child in slavery.  Governor Byam has by now arrived but has refused to free the pair.  Caesar finally organizes the slaves and plans a mass escape.  A slave named Tuscan volunteers to be his lieutenant.

(2185-9)  The slaves set out one night, but do not get far before a posse of plantation owners overtakes them.  Caesar (aided bravely by Tuscan and Clemene) tries to fight back, but the other slaves desert them.  Governor Byam offers them freedom in return for a peaceful surrender, which Caesar (not wishing to be fooled again) reluctantly agrees to, hoping to protect Clemene.  Of course, Caesar and Tuscan are immediately chained, whipped, and tortured (Clemene is placed in protective custody, as she carries a valuable slave child).  Behn returns to her plantation (all the women had fled upon the news of a slave “revolt”) and vainly attempts to soothe Caesar, who now hates almost all whites — the whipping, for a man of his honor, was a fate worse than death.

(2189-91)  Caesar, in despair, plans to commit mutual suicide with Clemene.  She agrees readily and, hiding in the woods, Caesar kills his wife and unborn child.  Paralyzed with grief, he lies down by the body of Clemene and prays to die. Six days pass before they are discovered. 

(2191-end)  When the English finally find Caesar, they attempt to take him, but he cuts pieces of his own flesh off in defiance (ref. p. 2183) and disembowels himself as well.  Tuscan prevents him from killing himself, however, and he is taken back to the plantation, near death.  The dying Caesar is cared for by Behn and Trefry, but the Governer (recovered from a wound he was given by Caesar) orders Caesar burned at the stake.  Caesar, relieved that he will not be whipped again, defiantly smokes a pipe while burning.  The enraged Governor has him dismembered, but Caesar dies smiling.  This barbarity, Behn implies, is the beginning of the end of England’s influence in the island.