Body Narrative In Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko

Aphra Behn (1640?-1689) has been honored as the first professional female writer in England, not only for her being the first English woman writer who dares to living on her pen but also for her distinguished contributions to English literature. She is really a productive writer. During her short life, she produced seventeen dramas, two verse collections, thirteen novels and some translation works. However, her success of writing aroused short time praise rather than long time discontented voice and furious defamation at her. Because in the17th century England, a woman to be a writer was just as if a woman to be a prostitute, for the social morality of that period disagrees women to express their idea and their feeling freely. But Aphra Behn is an innate unordinary woman, she is never forbidden by the conventional principles, she bravely retorts the unfair slanders at her and expresses herself passionately according to her inner mind. Therefore her literary works not only reflect a white woman’s inner expression but also reflect the whole social situation in that period. Besides she was an innate intelligent woman while she has received classical education. Thus although she was born in the17th century, her thoughts that expressed in her works was far beyond that period. This has been gradually proved in the following centuries. Such as, her thoughts of race and female problems are specially emphasized in the following centuries.Virginia Woolf once said that she is a woman who worth all women together to let flowers fall upon the tomb of her as it was she who earned the right to speak woman’s minds. And she is also judged as the first white female novelist who dares to speech for the black slave.Her Oroonoko (1688) have been considered as the first example of English novel form. The narration of Oroonoko was based on her personal spy experience in Surinam. In this novel, Aphra Behn creatively treats body as her narrative device to express her pioneering thoughts about the royal cause, the nature, the race, and the female problems, which can be found through closing study. Based on Aphra Behn’s personal extraordinary experience and her creative writing style, this thesis studies her narrative device in Oroonoko, and furthermore to discover and analyze her pioneering thoughts in this novel.This thesis, in addition to Introduction and Conclusion, consists of four chapters. Chapter One focuses on the primitive geographic environment where the natural body could be nurtured. This idea is based on the primitive African forest and the Indian primitive village in Oroonoko. Chapter Two centers on the gender issues reflected via the gendered body. Chapter Three analyzes the racial problems revealed through the colored body. Chapter Four examines the royal body depicted in the book. The last part is the conclusion that finally proves the significance of the body narrative and Aphra Behn’s pioneering thoughts in Oroonoko.