Oroonoko: Royal or Slave; Bakhtinian Reading of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

Having had its protagonist in a carnivalistic world, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko provides a polyphonic atmosphere in which different attitudes toward colonization can be heard. Oroonoko, who used to be the prince of Coramantien, is doomed to live as a slave in Surinam; a British colony. This degradation, beside other elements of Bakhtinian carnivalesque, makes his language a unique one, belonging neither to aristocrats anymore nor to the slaves, but simultaneously representing both. The subtitle of the story, The Royal Slave, can be implied as referring to this paradox. Additionally, his relationship with the slave society lets their different beliefs and ideas be revealed to the reader despite the author’s will. Aphra Behn, the author, intends to impose her monolithic view on the readers. As a Tory proponent of her time, she defends the colonization and tries her best not to stand against. She attempts to portray her protagonist as the one who believes in social hierarchy; what defines a gentleman from the narrator’s viewpoint. On the surface, Aphra Behn and her hero seem to be of the same opinion toward monarchy and accordingly its policies. They both respect it and believe in its need for the society. A Bakhtinian reading, however, can disclose other massages. Adding to all that, having employed first point of view as the narrator, Behn provides an opportunity for herself to enforce her political attitude to the story. All miscellaneous details of the story are under the control of this monolithic voice. Therefore other characters including the hero can speak only after her permission. Nevertheless, the scope of the novel does not let her be meticulous enough and sporadically, other voices can be heard from different lines of the story. The Bakhtinian reading of this story can bring these hidden voices to the surface.


Introduction
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko provides a good opportunity to zoom in on British Empire's policy of colonization from different viewpoints. Half of the story is set in an African country where Oroonoko, the protagonist, is a prince. There, he looks at the world from the perspective of a typical member of a royal family. For instance, he sells people as slaves to colonizers regardless of their feelings. The rest of the story, however, drives him to change his mind. In the second part, Oroonoko is a slave in Surinam, dealing with slavery from the International Journal Online of Humanities (IJOHMN) ISSN: 2395-5155 Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2020 www.ijohmn.com 17 opposite viewpoint. Nevertheless, his charismatic appearance and noble behavior make him single-out among other slaves. This is what attracts Aphra Behn to listen to him and write his story. Oroonoko is a nobleman distinguishable from other slaves. As the narrator declares, he enjoys his life among colonizers, since they treat him respectfully. Despite all respects, he cannot stand lack of freedom. Therefore, he ends his story by revolting against colonizers leading till his death.
Aphra Behn who narrates the story has been a royalist (a Tory member) and consequently speaks on behalf of the policy of colonization while the slaves of the story represented by Oroonoko, the protagonist, have their own voice. Meanwhile, the reader is encountered with an atmosphere filled with various voices which remind us of Michael Bakhtin's concept of heteroglossia. Bakhtin believes there is a "dialogic" tendency in the scope of novel, which allows the "word to become the arena of conflict between two voices" (Bakhtin, Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics 106). Thus, Heteroglossia as "a double-voiced discourse" (Bakhtin,Dialogic Imagination 324) is privileged in the novel, and accordingly the author's monolithic view is undermined. He believes novel's characters can enjoy their chance to reflect their own opinion toward different issues regardless of author's will. This provides an opportunity for the reader to scrutinize the contextual society of the story. These reflections of ideas might be shown implicitly and in the author's words or explicitly and in the story's dialogues, both of which can be traced in Oroonoko's case. Beside Aphra Behn's words, thanks to Oroonoko's direct speeches, the audience can have direct access to the ideas of the protagonist. As an aristocratic degraded to a slave, Oroonoko experiences a radical shift of idea that is significant for this study. During his degradation, which is a reminder of Bakhtinian concept of carnivalisque, Oroonoko represents different classes of people.
Carnivalesque is another Bakhtinian term referring to "the temporary suspension of hierarchal rank". In this festival, ignoring "established order", people can speak freely and (Ibid. 2341). She trusts him and chooses him as the one who can keep her safe from the other slaves. It means even as a slave he stands above others. He is treated like a prince, but it does not last forever and his uncrowning continues up to the point that he is called by Aphra Behn a "common slave" (Ibid. 2335).
Finally, the prince of Coramantien, who used to sentence his enemies to slavery and learns the language "of the Spaniard, with whom he traded for slaves" (Ibid. 2317), is murdered as a slave. Even after death his uncrowning continues. "They cut Caesar in quarters and sent them to several of the chief plantations" to teach all Negros a lesson and govern them much easier.
Oroonoko's "adventure" begins from the top of hierarchy of power and ends to the bottom of it; from the only hope of his people as the successor of an old king to the one who "should die like a dog, as he was" (Ibid. 2358). These changes of attitudes toward him lead to paradoxical behaviors toward/from him. It is another consequence of carnivalistic atmospheres, which is called by Bakhtinian Gay relativity. In carnival "all that is ordinary, commonplace, belonging to everyday life, and recognized by all, suddenly becomes meaningless, dubious and hostile" (Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World 39). In carnival festival, different levels of society get together and put all conventions and boundaries aside. Hierarchy becomes meaningless and the king is treated as an ordinary man. Thus, an anarchy and opposite ideas become available at the same time.
Based on this fact, paradox is one of the characteristics that can be followed in the carnivalistic novels.
Swaying between honor and revenge is the main motif of Oroonoko. Having been in dilemma between the love of Imionda the girl that all people are "extolling her, and heightening … the beauties they had found in her" (Behn 2318) and the honor to his country and its need to Oroonoko, "whose soul and body were so admirably adorned" ( Although Aphra Behn attempts to depict so obedient a character, this element of carnivalisation can be still traced in her novel as well. Oroonoko's love to Imionda makes him put into question family discipline and stand in front of the royal standards. After Imonda's receiving gift from the king, she becomes both Oroonoko's grandfather and his king's wife. His love to such a girl, in its nature, is a rebellious action and puts simultaneously the death is not merely negative but gives rise to a rebirth and regeneration. For Oroonoko, it is a way of being released from slavery. As he addresses the white men and says "you will find no more Caesars to be whip; no more find a faith in me: feeble as you think me, I have strength yet left to secure me from a second indignity" (Behn 2358). After death, he will be strong since no white can govern him anymore. His grandfather mentions to his subjects, for Oroonoko, accepting death is far easier than accepting slavery. He accepts death with open arms as if it is a rebirth rather than ending of life. The death he desires is not a natural one.

He believes;
If we must die, let us meet death the noblest way; and it will be more like Oroonoko to encounter him at an army's head, opposing the torrent of a After receiving the news of Imionda's death, he wishes such death, but it comes to him after experiencing slavery and seeing his beloved as a slave.
The evidences of the story construct a new Oroonoko; the one who has his own standards of living. Although before violating against the White, he always magnifies death comparing to the living accepting cruelty, only at the end of story he can put it into action.
His death gives an end to the carnivalistic atmosphere of the work. Afterwards, all positions in the society are fixed and institutional hierarchies will be respected again. However, the author (intentionally or unintentionally) has provided the chance of various ideologies to be revealed that the next part of paper is allocated to studying them.

Different attitudes toward colonization available in Oroonoko
Aphra Behn depicts her story in 1688, in an era known as the epic of British Empire colonization. No serious abolitionary movement has been begun yet and the Great Britain is still boastful of his introducing the pious religion and civilizing savages; two big reasons to justify the policy of colonization.
Aphra Behn is not only white and accordingly on the side of colonizers, but she is also known as a Tory member who used to propagandized the royalist policies of Charles II and his succeeding brother James II in her prolific pieces of writing (Todd Introduction). Oroonoko is one of her innovations: a story, which has been written in the form of novel when the rise of genre would happen in the next century. Continuing her royal-defending career, she might desire to intensify her political desires to this story, too. In addition, as Rachel Carnell believes "frequently Behn's innovation is a formal structure appear to have political motivation or foundation" (46). The scope of Novel, however, cannot be as safe as other genres, in this  (Brooker 112).. Oroonoko looks more polyphonic than monolithic. In spite of narrator's all attempts to speak loud enough not to let other voices be heard, the concept of heteroglossia looks significant in it.
As mentioned before, the British Empire used to justify his colonizing policy with the help of two excuses; offering civilization to savages and introducing Christianity to pagans.
In Charles Abbey words "Christianity and progress have hitherto been inseparable and it is our [British] colonies that we especially look for confirmation of the same hope for distance future" (4). When he believes that these two are "inseparable," David Livingston claims that Christianity, commerce and civilization needed to go hand in hand to reach their target (Ashcroft et al. 115). Having an up to down look toward colonized people let colonizers to play with these concepts.
As the narrator of Oroonoko believes, all the colonized and slaves are savages.
Colonizers cannot help worrying about their danger. The narrator refers to traveling to Indian's town as "adventures", which "are oftentimes fatal and at least dangerous" (Behn 2341) which alludes to this fact. Her protagonist, Oroonoko, is totally different though. She adores Oronooko. He is a slave but a noble one what she recalls it repetitively. "He had an extreme good and graceful mien, and all the civility of a well-bred great man. He had nothing His face was not of that brown rusty black which most of that nation are, but of perfect ebony, or polished jett. His eyes were the most awful that cou'd be seen, and very piercing; the white of 'em being like snow, as were his teeth.
His nose was rising and Roman, instead of African and flat. His mouth the finest shaped that could be seen; far from those great turn'd lips, which are so natural to the rest of the negroes (Ibid. 2317).
She portrays different details of his face, emphasizing its differences from other slaves' and black people's ones. Whatever refers to Oroonoko is not African as she depicts. It is obvious that the author is not interested in her protagonist's originality. She always admires his European characteristics, trying to ignore the African background. He used to be in touch with "a Frenchman of wit" (Ibid. 2316) because of which he knows several languages and is aware of the history of European countries, as well. All in all, "he had nothing of barbarity in his nature" (Ibid. 2317), as quoted before. All of these details are employed by the narrator to command 'em, but on the contrary caress'em with all the brotherly and friendly affection in the world" (Ibid. 2313). She declares they have lived together happily but later on she reveals the real reason like this: "we find it absolutely necessary to caress 'em friends, and not to treat' em as slaves; nor dare we do, their numbers so far surpassing ours in that continent" (Ibid. 2315). Although the surface meaning of these words refers to brotherly and friendly behavior of the colonists, the hidden reality is the opposite. The natives are the one who receive their unwanted guests friendly and help them to live next to them easily. As Bakhtin declares: "It is in fact not the neutral linguistic components of language being stratified and differentiated, but rather a situation in which the intentional possibilities of language are being expropriated" (The Dialogic Imagination 289). The situation in which the narrator talks about "caress'em with all the brotherly and friendly affection" is the native's homeland where colonists cannot live without the help of local people. Such utterance shows how arrogantly the colonists used to look at their colonized; they are the ones with the mission of civilization and accordingly deserve high respect.
When it comes to Oroonoko, he has his own story dealing with this European mission. receive the pious religion, the natives and slaves hold a different opinion. They believe that their lifestyle is not spoilt like that of the white people. They prefer to put their honor into practice rather than speaking loud and acting the opposite. Accordingly, next to their lifestyle, the hypocrisy of colonizers is highlighted in these lines. "They have a native justice which knows no fraud, and they understood novice and cunning, but when they are taught by the white men" (Behn 2315). It seems without Christianity they are far more pious in comparison to colonizers.
Oroonoko's opinion is fascinating and unique in this regard. As an aristocrat, he has experienced betrayal once in his homeland when his grandfather's selfishness ruins his life.
As a slave, he is facing with another kind of betrayal, this time with the label of Christianity; Trifty has "Christianized" Imionda to abuse her and the captain of ship asks [Oroonoko's] "sworn in the name of great god" (Ibid. 2333) not to be too violent. All these behaviors that sound normal to the colonizers make Christianity an abusive device to the sight of slaves. As a result, not only does Oroonoko prefer to remain honorable to his own standards but also desires "to be whipped into the knowledge of the Christian gods to be vilest of all creeping things… he had rather die to live upon the same earth with such dogs [Christians]" (Ibid. 2351). To him, Christianity is neither the pious religion nor the way of salvation and happiness but equals to cruelty and injustice.
Different voices available in this story represent their own discourses; meanwhile, the reader can study the context of the society of Aphra Behn era and opposite attitudes toward Colonization in it like an analyzer. Although at first glance, one might conclude that Oroonoko as a prince is the only one who has found his slavery hard to stand employing Bakhtinian lens shows it has been true about all the slaves. with the court; therefore, it seems that her depicted hero must advocate monarchy and its conventional hierarchy. Oroonoko always respects these conventions and even his rebellious action, which leads to his death, is against Bynm not all of the whites or the system. However, applying the literary theories of Bakhtin on this story helps opposing voices of inferior parts to be heard.
Slaves have their own beliefs and desires that all of them are ignored; they cannot even have their own names. Therefore, power seems in the hands of colonizers; in reality, the opposite is true though. They have their own beliefs and style of living; if not better than what British Empire offers to them but at least more suitable to their culture. Referring to this fact, Laura Rosenthal believes that Oroonoko is the sign of a radical tactical shift in Behn's political approaches. She calls it "an admission that a historical era [the Stuarts] has ended" (Rosenthal 161). It means that at the end of Stuart era, Behn decides not to advocate the court anymore.
This paper has not found any evidence to support this claim; instead it can conclude that the scope of novel gives slaves their own voice to speak.
Overall, Bakhtian reading of Oroonoko provides an opportunity to go through colonized and slavery society of English Restoration era and understand more about their feelings, desires, and beliefs what this paper has sought to do.