Betrayal from All Sides in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko Essay Example

couples, Oroonoko and Imoinda could not keep apart.

The King found out about their secret visit and that Imoinda’s loss of her virginity, this initiated the King’s disloyalty to his family. Instead of killing the two, he sent Imoinda off to slavery (slavery being considered the worst of all fates of the time). Rather than being truthful with Oroonoko, the King’s convictions about what happened forced him to lie and he told Oroonoko Imoinda was dead because it was considered a better fate. The betrayal continues with Byam; the captain of the ship and a slave trader from Surinam. Byam convinces Oroonoko to join him on his ship.

The trusting Oroonoko of course graciously accepts the invitation only to find out later this was a plan to capture him. After refusing to eat, Byam convinced Oroonoko he will be giving his freedom but does not keep his promise. Regrettably, Oroonoko has no defense against this man who can convince people of such lies. As a result, after the two meet again later in the story, Oroonoko is convinced once again that Byam will give him and his family their freedom after returning to their homeland. The worst of all these betrayals was forced upon Oroonoko by his own need for revenge.

Oroonoko had begun to feel the betrayal of all the people in his life. His thoughts on this are clear in the passage where he states “but Caesar told him there was no faith in the white men, or the gods they adored; who instructed them in principles so false that honest men could not live amongst them; though no people

professed so much, none performed so little... ” (Behn). The buildup of his anger towards these people was only pushed further as he refused to have his child brought into the world as a slave. His wife, Imoinda, trusted him to do what was best for her.

Oroonoko violated this trust when he murdered his wife and child. He realized his betrayal after it sunk in that he would never hear his wife’s voice again. He could not even continue to follow out his plan for revenge, making her death a severe tragedy that was unnecessary. The betrayal of others corrupted Oroonoko and caused him to betray the only person that would never betray him. The demise of Oroonoko did not only include his tortured death as a slave but also his change in heart caused by the betrayals in his life. Oroonoko started off as a great man that was trusting of everyone.

The family, friends and slaves who betrayed him tainted Oroonoko’s innocence and gave him his own characteristics of betrayal. He vowed revenge on the captain who refused to keep his word. As he tried to unfold his plan, he betrayed his wife as he couldn’t keep his word to follow through and get revenge; the reason he gave for her death. Without this ending, the domino effect of betrayal would be lost from the story. Oroonoko died in a broken psychological state caused by the death of his wife and was physically torn to pieces by his betrayers.