So that having made his first compliments, and presented her an hundred and fifty slaves in fetters, he told her with his eyes that he was not insensible of her charms while Imoinda, who wished for nothing more than so glorious a conquest, was pleased to believe she understood that silent language of new-born love and, from that moment, put on all her additions to beauty. She was buried in Westminster Abbey.Had ever beheld, that lovely modesty with which she received him, that softness in her look and sighs, upon the melancholy occasion of this honor that was done by so great a man as Oroonoko, and a prince of whom she had heard such admirable things the awfulness wherewith she received him, and the sweetness of her words and behavior while he staid, gained a perfect conquest over his fierce heart, and made him feel the victor could be subdued. Towards the end of her life, Behn wrote prose until her death in 1689. However, she continued to write, and her play, ‘The Rover’, became a favourite in Charles II’s court. Despite an initially successful run of plays, including ‘The Forc’d Marriage’, ‘The Amorous Prince’, and ‘The Dutch Lover’, critics panned her outings, on account they had discovered they had been written by a woman. What we do know is that a quick stay in jail prompted Behn to begin writing as a means of financing herself. However, very little is known about the UK’s first professional female author, possibly as the result of Aphra erasing her history to work in the field of espionage. While she is best known for her work as a poet, author, and playwright, she also worked as a spy for the court of King Charles II and spent some time in a debtor’s prison. ´Oroonoko´ is a riveting read that swayed many of Behn’s critics toward abolitionism.Īphra Behn (1640 – 1689) lived many lives in one lifetime.

There, with his beloved Imoinda also enslaved, he must use every ounce of his reasoning and nobility to persuade his captors to free him.Ī poignant tale, ´Oroonoko´ was first staged in the UK by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and featured Jo Martin, of TV’s ‘Doctor Who.’ ‘Oronooko’ tells the story of a fictional African prince, who is duped into slavery and sent to Surinam, a British colony in South America. Oroonoko was a prince of the African country Coramantien who secretly married his true love, and while he was away at war, she was selected by his grandfather, the king, as one of his wives. Oroonoko was a prince of the African country Coramantien who secretly married his true love, and while he was away at war, she was selected by his grandfather.

Oroonoko ebook