I have a really, really bad feeling about this
story. I feel like I am stuck in some sort of Shakespearean tragedy and that is
not a wonderful feeling. I am getting the idea that this story does not have a
happy ending. If the introduction is anything to go by, “she lacks the power to
save Oroonoko and might even be implicated in his downfall”, and the fact that
the poem that comes before the actual story does not end in the favor of the
guy at all, this story is not going to end well (Behn 2179). On that note, I
am, weirdly, enjoying the story. I think it is really engaging and hard to put
down.
Oroonoko reminds me of two characters from
Shakespeare, hence the title. The fact that people are trying to keep him and
his love from one another reminds me a lot of Romeo. That being said, the way
he reacts to being separated and the way he acts when he falls in love reminds
me a lot of Orlando. He seems to be the perfect combination of these two
characters. Unfortunately, I am thinking he is more Romeo than Orlando. This
may be why I have such a bad feeling about the end of story, but I am hoping
that I am wrong.
In regards to the poem at the beginning of the
story, was I the only one who was initially confused why the story started off
with that? The entire introduction focused on the author and this awesome
character named Oroonoko, but then we get this poem and I couldn’t help but
think “Okay, well, all this guy wants is to get into her pants. What is so novel
about that?” I mean, it made more sense as I got into the story, but it set a
really weird tone for the story. I was pleased to see the actual tale was a lot more
romantic than that, but I was really questioning Virginia Woolf’s assessment
that is noted in the introduction.
As I was reading, I was excited to come across a
quote by Virginia Woolf. I am pretty ashamed to admit, but before this semester
I had no clue who this woman was. Yeah, I had heard of her, but I did not
realize how popular her books were. I am taking a class on her and Forster. The
fact that she complimented this author’s work at the beginning made me really
excited to read this story. Woolf’s novels focus a lot on how voiceless women
were in her time period. For her to say this author “earned them the right to
speak their minds” gave me a really good impression of this story right at the
start (Behn 2178). While I am impressed with the story, don't get me wrong, I was actually expecting a stronger female character. Having Woolf at the beginning gave me that impression, but the female character in this story seems kind of weak. At least, so far she does. That being said, I do not think Woolf is wrong, it is a very interesting story.
