In five pages this paper examines seventeenth century slaves, women, and the bondage concept, and sexuality as they relate to Oroonoko by Aphra Behn. Two sources are cited in the bibliography.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_MBbehn.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
mountains and calm the breast of the savage beast, it can be said that for a certain segment of the population during the Restoration Period in Early England, the aspect
and discussion of loves intense aspects were forbidden. That segment of the population were, of course, the women. Relegated to the parlors and workrooms, women were considered to be virtuous
and pure and having no wanton desires (to put it in the vernacular of the day), however, quite obviously they were human and as such were also given to the
same drives and desires of their male counterparts. Most did not speak of such things in mixed company and certainly not in printed form, except one maverick: Aphra Behn.
Aphra Behn wasnt like other women from the onset, it can be said. She was rumored to have been the mistress of James II, and was known for her work
as an international spy. She is the first, it is reported, female spy in English history(Theatre History, 2002). This involvement in a primarily male dominated occupation could have been what
lead Aphra Behn to become more outspoken in regard to sexual situations and the female sex drive, and for her observations that liken love to slavery. Of course, one
could also speculate that it was her involvement in the policy of intrigue that gave her a view of the underbelly of society that most women never heard of, let
alone suspected of existing. Having seen this side of mans inhumanity to man, it would not be a hard leap of faith to state that her own personal philosophies of
a womans role in society became embittered. Her ties with the court may have explained the reason that her works made it into print at all as most of the