Oroonoko, Not an Anti-Slavery Text

Upon first reading Aphra Behn's work Oroonoko, one might get the impression that this is an early example of antislavery literature that became so popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the short biography of Behn from the Norton Anthology of British Literature, we learn that Behn's story had a great impact on those who fought against the slave- trade. Although the horrors of the slave trade are clearly brought forth, I do not …

…the other colonists but if she was truly strong in her convictions, this would not matter. All these examples do is simply add to the confusion of Behn's work. Her work can be construed as both antislavery and although not necessarily pro-slavery, not against it. What is important is that although it might not have been her initial goal she set forth a particular discourse in literature that had great impact on later anti-slavery writers.