{"id":626,"date":"2022-12-03T17:34:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T17:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=626"},"modified":"2022-12-03T17:36:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T17:36:29","slug":"article-summary-the-passion-of-oroonoko-passive-obedience-the-royal-slave-and-aphra-behns-baroque-realism-by-corrinne-harol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=626","title":{"rendered":"Article Summary: \u201cThe Passion of \u201cOroonoko”: Passive Obedience, the Royal Slave, and Aphra Behn\u2019s Baroque Realism\u201d by Corrinne Harol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This article opens with a statement that Aphra Behn’s novel, Oroonoko, <\/em>is \u201cfundamentally concerned with political obedience<\/em>\u201d (447), a term upon which Harol expounds throughout the article, and which the readers come to understand was a very pertinent topic of political discourse at the time (1688-1689). After explaining that Aphra Behn was known to side with the Loyalist political party (that in support of the monarchy), three key aspects of her novel arise from this understanding: 1) the passivity of Oroonoko throughout the story, 2) the narrator\u2019s laudation of Oroonoko who demonstrated such passivity, and 3) the narrator\u2019s own passivity. These aspects are followed with the claim that in this work, Behn strives to \u201coffer a unique theorization of the virtues of passivity\u201d (448), and that such a state is not merely a political tool for tyranny, but a vital piece of Natural Law. Harol proceeds by presenting a detailed history of the \u201cpassive obedience\u201d debate, expounding upon the political and religious aspects that made it such an important argument. She moves toward symbolism within the story, highlighting incidents in which Oroonoko demonstrates passive inaction throughout his life, and tying them to the subsequent honor which they brought to him. She further underscores the moment in which Oroonoko disobeys the authority over him\u2014the act of sleeping with Imoinda\u2014and how it ultimately led to greater suffering in his life, as opposed to the rewards of obedience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harol expresses in the third section of the article that themes of misguided \u201ctruth\u201d and broken \u201coaths\u201d are replete within Oroonoko, <\/em>indicating again the virtue of submission, honesty, and obedience under a higher authority. She then ties in the concept of Baroque Realism as there appears to be an overarching call toward the highest authority\u2014in this case, nature. She highlights scenes throughout the text that move toward the classical imagery and Catholic ideology, indicating more Baroque aspects within the text and informing further the greater idea of passive obedience. She ends with a section detailing characteristics of the novel form, and how the literary pieces of the work\u2014setting, narration, and modes\u2014each point, in their own way, toward a Loyalist ideology of passivity. She closes with the all encompassing idea that it is the Natural Law (impartial to any human being), and not mere human law that requires (and imposes through natural ways) passive submission to authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11 September 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harol, Corrinne. \u201cThe Passion of \u201cOroonoko\u201d: Passive Obedience, the Royal Slave, and Aphra Behn\u2019s Baroque Realism.\u201d ELH<\/em>, Vol. 79, No. 2, 2012, pp. 447-475.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article opens with a statement that Aphra Behn’s novel, Oroonoko, is \u201cfundamentally concerned with political obedience\u201d (447), a term upon which Harol expounds throughout the article, and which the readers come to understand was a very pertinent topic of political discourse at the time (1688-1689). After explaining that Aphra Behn was known to side…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[634,635,636,632,630,631,633],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-analyses","tag-aphra-behn","tag-baroque-realism","tag-corrine-harol","tag-passive-obedience","tag-summary","tag-the-passion-of-oroonoko","tag-the-royal-slave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}