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The, The Royal Slave, A True History

Decent Essays

People of certain social classes sometimes have stereotyped characteristics pinned to them. Rich people might be seen as snobbish while poor people might be seen as unmotivated to improve themselves. The characters in Oroonoko, The Royal Slave, A True History, also have characteristics based on the social class to which they belong. During the eighteenth century, social class became a topic of interest in Britain. The characters in Oroonoko can be grouped into three social classes based on the level of power they have. One class is the rulers such as the King of Coramatien and Deputy Governor Byam. Next are the people who are neither rulers nor slaves such as Aboan, Mr. Trefry, and Colonel Martin. Finally, there are the slaves. Because of …show more content…

The narrator says that when the King saw how Imoinda, a young woman with whom he has fallen in love, reacted to the gift he sent her in Oroonoko’s name, it gave him “some affliction, but he salved it” (Behn 2143). Here, the narrator explains that the King was very upset when he saw that Imoinda was in love with Oroonoko, but he ridded himself of these sad feelings by sending her the royal veil which forced her to become one of his wives. This shows that the King has a selfish nature because he could not overcome his desire for Imoinda and let her marry Oroonoko. This selfishness leads him to betray Oroonoko. Both the King and Byam show disloyalty since they betray Oroonoko which establishes negative character. This disloyalty is also distinct to those who are of a high social class position because they are deliberately betraying Oroonoko as opposed to doing it unintentionally. Because negative traits, such as disloyalty, are given to characters who have governmental power, a link between negative character and high social class characters can be established. Another link which can be seen between social class positon and character is through the characters who are neither rulers nor slaves having positive character traits. These characters are a “middle class” by the fact that they do not rule a colony or country, but they also are not slaves. Also, all of these characters exhibit positive

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