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Definition of Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like" or "as," but can also... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often use the connecting words "like... read full definition
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things. To make the comparison, similes most often... read full definition
1. Oroonoko in Coramantien
Explanation and Analysis—Oroonoko as Divinity:
Throughout Oroonoko, the narrator uses a variety of figurative language to draw comparisons between the titular character and the God of Christianity:
[Oroonoko] appeared like some divine power descended to save his country from destruction; and his people had purposely put on him all things that might make him shine with most splendour, to strike a reverend awe into the beholders.
By comparing Oroonoko to a god or divine figure in this passage, Behn further connects him to English/Western romantic traditions. He is further situated as a heroic figure through this simile, which implies that Oroonoko possesses power and ability beyond the mortal realm. This simile also serves to accentuate his kingly mien, bringing to mind the concept of the divine right of kings from European Christianity. This political doctrine, famously endorsed by King James I of England (ruled 1603-25), held that the monarchy was ordained by God and therefore above scrutiny. Monarchical absolutism became less prominent in England after the Glorious Revolution in 1688, but would have still been an important political ideology at the time of Behn's writing Oroonoko. Behn herself was a staunch supporter of the English monarchy; and her positive portrayal of Oroonoko as a royal and godly figure is clear evidence of this political alliance.
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2. Kidnapped
Explanation and Analysis—Oroonoko Captured:
After Oroonoko is captured, the narrator illustrates the extent of his rage through simile:
It may be easily guessed in what manner the prince resented this indignity, who may be best resembled to a lion taken in toil; so he raged, so he struggled for liberty, but all in vain.
In this passage, Behn uses figurative language to liken Oroonoko's kidnapping to the capture of a lion—an animal commonly placed at the top of the food chain and frequently associated with royalty. This further extends the association between Oroonoko and divinity: in the Bible, God is also frequently compared to a lion. In the book of Jeremiah (verses 25:37-38, KJV), God's similarity to a lion emphasizes his righteous fury: "And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger."
Oroonoko's rage at the injustice perpetrated against his person is tragic, for while he is used to occupying a space of power and autonomy—like a god, or a predator at the top of its food chain—he has had his freedom stripped from him. This moment represents a turning point in Oroonoko, where the tale shifts from romantic and sentimental to grim.
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4. Oroonoko’s Revolt
Explanation and Analysis—Caesar's Fighting:
During the revolt, Behn compares Caesar (Oroonoko) to a Fury, illuminating the extent of his rage against the colonizers, as well as his willingness to fight for his liberty:
Caesar was very much toiled with the bustle of the day, for he had fought like a Fury, and what mischief was done he and Tuscan performed alone.
This hyperbolic simile contains an allusion to the Furies (Erinyes), female deities of vengeance from Greek mythology. In the Iliad, these goddesses are described as women that "under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath." Just as the Furies (Erinyes) mete out vengeance on oath-breakers, so does Oroonoko seek vengeance on the English colonizers who violated the principles of honor and refused him his freedom. Oroonoko places great value on chivalric principles and the power of oaths and promises. To not make good on one's promise, violating the contract of the spoken word, is a terrible offense in Oroonoko's mind. As he slowly realizes that his captors have no intention of freeing him—despite promising otherwise—his righteous indignation grows. Oroonoko's principles are more steadfast than those of his Christian captors, a reality that discredits the entire moral hierarchy of colonial enterprise.
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Explanation and Analysis—Oroonoko's Speech:
When Oroonoko is trying to incite his fellow enslaved people to rise up and fight against the oppressive English, he makes the following points in his speech, conveyed to the reader by the narrator:
They suffered not like men who might find a glory, and a fortitude in oppression, but like dogs that loved the whip and bell, and fawned the more they were beaten. That they had lost the divine quality of men, and were becoming insensible asses, fit only to bear.
Oroonoko compares his fellow enslaved people to "dogs that loved the whip and bell" not because he believes they are inherently so, but to shock them out of their complacency and stir them to action.
There are some interesting contradictions in Oroonoko's character that are revealed here: he was perfectly satisfied to sell prisoners of war into slavery as a prince in his home country, but when confronted with chattel slavery (and the impending enslavement of his unborn child), Oroonoko is stirred to revolution. His anger towards those buying and selling people into chattel slavery is further fleshed out in the passage below, where he compares his fellow enslaved people to apes and monkeys:
We are bought and sold like apes, or monkeys, to be the sport of women, fools and cowards, and the support of rogues, runagades, that have abandoned their own countries, for raping, murders, thefts, and villainies.
For Oroonoko, then, chattel slavery is humiliating in a way that the selling and buying of prisoners of war is not.
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