Pacheco, Anita. “Royalism and Honor in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 34, no. 3, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994, pp. 491–506, https://doi.org/10.2307/450878.
Anita Pacheco claims that the unstable portrayal of honor and Aphra Behn’s Royalist beliefs in a time of shifting powers complicate Behn’s ideological message in Oroonoko. Pacheco establishes Behn’s Royalist leanings by analyzing the Eurocentricizing methods applied to Oroonoko (ie. his looks, his education, etc.) as well as the narrator's focus on his monarchal nature in the text. In Behn’s presentation of “civilization” as royalty and the effective “othering” of those made barbaric or lesser than (ie. the fearful slaves, Byam the exiled Royalist, Banister the Irishman, etc.), honor is used to establish Oroonoko’s heroics in the face of constructed villains as well as structure the narrative in which Oroonoko’s honor is threatened. While in the first half of the novella, Oroonoko’s honor is challenged by his grandfather king, the second half presents the conflicting understanding of honor as colonists both appear supportive of Oroonoko (ie. Trefry and the narrator) and challenge him (ie. the captain’s enslavement of Oroonoko, Byam’s deceits, etc.). The latter’s challenge to Oroonoko’s honor constructs him as a conflated protagonist; in one light, Oroonoko is seen as an honorable, royal martyr, yet as a non-Christian who attempts rebellion, he also represents a danger to colonial mindsets.
-Hannah Nagy
