THE PASSION OF "OROONOKO": PASSIVE OBEDIENCE, THE ROYAL SLAVE, AND APHRA BEHN'S BAROQUE REALISM

The Passion of Oroonoko situatues Aphra Behn's novella Oroonoko (1689) within the context of debates about passive obedience and political obligation during the Revolution of 1688-9. It argues that Oroonoko leverages residual theories and forms of representing human action (baroque allegory, ro...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inELH Vol. 79; no. 2; pp. 447 - 475
Main Author HAROL, CORRINNE
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.06.2012
Subjects
Allegory
Behn, Aphra (1640-1689)
Christianity
Colonialism
Ethics
Narrators
Novels
Obedience
Political revolutions
Politics
Reading
Religion
Slaves
Tyranny
Writers
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The Passion of Oroonoko situatues Aphra Behn's novella Oroonoko (1689) within the context of debates about passive obedience and political obligation during the Revolution of 1688-9. It argues that Oroonoko leverages residual theories and forms of representing human action (baroque allegory, romance, patriarchal theories of obligation) against emergent ones (realism, novels, individuality) ultimately demonstrating that the natural fact (or natural law) of human passivity inevitability prevails.
ISSN:0013-8304
1080-6547
1080-6547
DOI:10.1353/elh.2012.0014