One of the most crucial scenes in “Oroonoko” is when he and Imoinda make the final, tragic decision to commit suicide. This scene occurs towards the novel’s end, after Oroonoko has been betrayed and captured by the English and Imoinda has been taken as a concubine by the English governor (Spengemann 396). Oroonoko manages to escape from captivity and reunites with Imoinda, but they both realize they cannot escape their fate as enslaved people.
In this scene, they die together rather than live as enslaved people. This scene is essential to the plot because it brings the novel to its tragic conclusion. Oroonoko and Imoinda’s decision to die together highlights the brutality of the slave system and the dehumanization of enslaved individuals. Their choice also underscores the limitations of agency for enslaved individuals and the impossibility of their achieving freedom within the system of slavery.
The scene is emotionally charged, and Behn’s writing evokes a sense of profound sadness and empathy for the couple. Behn uses language that emphasizes the beauty of Oroonoko and Imoinda’s love, such as “their two souls…melted into one” and “they might pass for Angels, but that they were more beautifully composed.” By emphasizing the beauty of their love and sacrifice, Behn invites readers to sympathize with Oroonoko and Imoinda and condemn slavery.
It may have been shocking and emotionally affecting for a white European reader in Behn’s time. Many readers at the time would have held racist views and believed in the inherent inferiority of people of color (Spengemann 390). Behn’s portrayal of Oroonoko and Imoinda as fully realized and sympathetic characters may have challenged these readers’ assumptions and forced them to confront the humanity of enslaved individuals.
The concluding scene, where Oroonoko and Imoinda choose death together, is critical because it highlights the slavery system’s cruelty and the severe lack of freedom experienced by enslaved people, thereby eliciting the reader’s compassion. For Behn’s original European readership, this moment was particularly significant, as it likely disrupted assumptions regarding the supposed inferiority of non-white individuals and demanded a confrontation with the shared humanity of the enslaved couple.
Work Cited
Spengemann, William C. “The Earliest American Novel: Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko.” Nineteenth-century Fiction, vol. 38, no. 4, University of California Press, Mar. 1984, pp. 384–414. Web.