Nick McNallen

Dr. Greenfield
Early Modern Literature
17 December 2013
The God Deception:
Giving to Caesar What is Caesars
Aphra Behn, in Oroonoko, offers more than a tragic tale of the slave trade gone awry. Behn,
established in the story as a confoundingly omnipresent narrator, provides a critique of Christianity
among other tenets of European culture. Her descriptions of the Native American and African cultures,
though at times patronizing and condescending, imply a moral superiority in their way of life. This
favoritism for the foreign is most evident in the figure of Oroonoko. Behn raises him up as a champion
for the enslaved. His identity is entirely of the African culture while his mind she considers the equal of
any white mans. Given his unique position, Oroonoko is groomed to state boldly what Behn can only
suggest subtlely: startling disparities in what white men practice and preach.
We gather an insight of the Surinamese peoples attitude toward Christianity long before
Oroonoko is captured. When the king is deciding how to go about punishing Imoinda, he decides slavery
may be a possibility. Behns account is slyly critical: He therefore removes her from the Otan, with
Onahal; whom he put into safe Hands, with Order they should be both sold off, as Slaves, to another
Country, either Christian or Heathen, twas no matter where (Behn 26). The author distinguishes
between Christian and Heathen, but either is regarded as the same fate: a cruel Sentence, worse than
death (Behn 26). The Africans do not recognize any difference in nobility of treatment; a Christian
enslaver is no better than a heathen enslaver. Though the Surinamese justify slavery of their
aggressors, it is contemptible in and of itself, and cannot be redeemed as an institution based on who
practices it.
Behn continues to play with this dichotomy of faithful and faithless. More often than not,
Christianity is associated with immoral behavior. In one instance, lack of religion is clearly identified
with righteous action. The Frenchman who instructs Oroonoko in French and English is noted to be a
man of learning as well as character. Behn offers the following description of him: This French-Man
was banishd out of his own Country, for some Heretical Notions he held; and though he was a Man of
very little Religion, he had admirable Morals, and a brave soul (Behne 30). Here Aphra Behn seems to
provide a character who embodies secular morality. In fact, Morals is among the subjects he teaches
Oroonoko. The description she offers makes the implicit claim that morals are not contingent on ones
religious devotion. Furthermore, he exhibits a more enlightened opinion of the African people. He
recognizes the intellectual potential in Oroonoko, and views him as enough of a person to tutor him.
There is a clear irony here; while those that enslave humans, torture them, and dismember their
remains receive no comeuppance, the French-Man is harshly punished by his country because his
thoughts do not fall in line with the majoritys.
The French-Man contrasts greatly with the only other white figure we see interacting with the
African tribes, the Captain. He appears to be of the same generous disposition, but he reveals ulterior
motivations. His friendliness is an act employed to enslave. The now captive Oroonoko stands in
contrast as someone genuine, a man of honor. But when he asks to be unchained, the captain is unable
to trust him. His request was deliverd to the still doubting Captain, who could not resolve to trust a
Heathen, he said, upon his Parole, a Man that had no Sense or notion of the God that he Worshippd
(Behn 32). Behn appears to be intentionally drawing attention to this irony. This God-fearing man
enslaving a shipful of men through extreme deceit -- is unable to trust Oroonoko, who heretofore has
been characterized as having utmost integrity, because he is not acquainted with the Christian God.

It is at this point in the narrative, as Oroonoko is entering slavery, that the reader learns his
opinion of Christianity. After the captain has denied his request to pass his time on the peaceably and
unrestrained, Oroonoko says He was very sorry to hear that the Captain pretended to the Knowledge
and Worship of any Gods, who had taught him no better Principles, than not to Credit as he would be
Credite (32). Oroonoko unwittingly demonstrates a truer respect for Christian values than the captain.
His words echo Jesus own explanation of the most important commandment in the Book of Matthew:
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them (Matthew 7:12). It is interesting
to note that Behn is not present for this part of the story, so this exchange is even more certainly novel
and reflective of her personal opinions.
The captain further serves as a satire of the potential hollowness of Christian values. The
captain asserts his word the Word of a Christian is worth more than Oroonokos (Behn 32). This is
because the worth of his word is backed up by the reward and punishment system of heaven and hell:
violation of his word warrants eternal Torment in the World to come (Behn 32). Behn sets up
Oroonoko to argue against this philosophy. He says of the captain, Is that all the Obligation he has to
be Just to his Oath? Let him know I Swear by my Honour, which to violate, woud not only render me
contemptible and despise by all brave and honest Men, and so give my self perpetual pain, but it woud
be eternally offending and diseasing all Mankind, harming, betraying, circumventing and outraging all
Men (Behn 32-33). Oroonoko contends actions are worth more than whatever imagined and
speculated aftereffects in a different life: they have immediate consequences in the secular world.
Actions are moral or immoral in how they affect ones fellow man not in how they honor a god. ;
Man needs immediate reward or punishment to better his conduct distant, uncertain
punishments have not deterred the immoral conduct Oroonoko finds himself suffering. He continues
his criticism of Christianity in saying, Punishments hereafter are sufferd by ones self; and all the World
takes no cognizances whether this God have revenged em, or not, tis done so secretly, and deferrd so
long; While the Man of no Honour, suffers every moment the scorn and contempt of the honester
World, and dies every day ignominiously in his Fame, which is more valuable than Life: I speak not this to
move Belief, but to shew how you mistake, when you imagine, That he who will violate his Honour, will
keep his Word with his Gods (Behn 33). Oroonoko advocates for the betterment of the present world,
while a Christian viewpoint may seem to suggest that the present world is only a period of idleness
before true existence in heaven. Oroonoko lives in the here and now, and not for rewards and
punishments to come. This is again confirmed just before his death. Oroonoko, with all lost, states,
Tis not Life I seek, nor am I afraid of Dying (Behn 62).
Oroonoko, in rousing his fellow slaves against their enslavers, castigates their immorality. He
proposes his own system of values, That Honour was the First Principle in Nature, that was to be
Obeyd; but as no Man woud pretend to that, without all Acts of Vertue, Compassion, Charity, Love,
Justice and Reason (Behn 53). These are not major departures from the cardinal virtues and fruits of
the Holy Spirit within Christianity. However, through reason and seeing how they better the present
reality, he comes to value them independent of religious piety.
Behn provides another detail characterizing Oroonoko (now christened Caesar) as
contemptuous of Christianity. The narrator now has intimate contact with Oroonoko, as he lives on the
plantation. She takes to instructing both Imoinda and Oroonoko, but he does not take to lessons in
religion as well as she does. Behn says, Of all Discourses Caesar likd tha the worst, and woud never
be reconcild to our Notions of the Trinity, of which he ever made a Jest; it was a Riddle, he said, woud
turn his Brain to conceive, and one could not make him understand what Faith was (Behn 41). The
Trinity had long defied explanation even among the most renowned medieval philosophers. It would
not be surprising if Behn added this detail as a sort of veiled jab at this difficulty.
In time, Oroonoko turns from disdain for Christians to complete contempt for them and their
God. He holds a notion of their deity as a deceiver. But Caesar told him, there was no Faith in the
White Men, or the Gods they Adord; who instructed em in Principles so false, that honest Men coud
not live amongst em; though no People professd so much, none performd so little (Behn 56). This
last sentence indicates a sort of disillusioned hope Oroonoko has for Christianity; he does not seem to
take issue with what they professd so much, but with their inability to act accordingly. He finds white
men hypocritical, advocating one conduct of action and failing miserably to actually live by it. To
Oroonoko, morality and the religion of the white man are mutually exclusive. Not only that, their code
of ethics discourages morality in others.
It is only natural for Oroonoko to come to this conception of Christianity. In his experience with
it, the religion has been the solace of those that have argued his inferiority. Oroonoko, abandoned by
his fellow slaves -- Christian Tools in his ill-fated rebellion, loses respect for them because so they
readily acquiesce to this inferiority. Oroonoko says, They wanted only but to be whipt into the
knowledge of the Christian Gods to be the vilest of all creeping things; to learn to Worship such Deities
as had not Power to make em Just, Brave, or Honest. He has difficulty accepting a power that creates
imperfect beings. Oroonoko finds Christianity contrary to reason.
Behn sets up the hellish conditions of the plantation as an opposite to the idyllic world absent of
European influence. In her first description of the Americas, the narrator predicts, Religion woud here
but destroy that Tranquility, they possess by Ignorance (Behn 10). What follows in the novel
documents the destruction of this tranquility.
Behn describes Christianity as a destructive and coercive force. It is especially so when religion
is imposed on the simple and ignorant. The narrator, in an outing to a Native American village, is
able to observe the serenity of the native people and how fragile it is. She says, I soon perceivd, by
an admiration, that is natural to these People, and by the extream Ignorance and Simplicity of em, it
were not difficult to establish any unknown or extravagant Religion among them; and to impose any
Notions or Fictions upon em (Behn 49). Here, Behn effectively equates religion to fiction. A kinsman
of the narrator astonishes the Indian town by using a magnifying glass to burn a piece of paper. They
Adord him for a God and importune him for merely the letters of his name in the belief they can use
them to influence the weather. The narrator explains, They held it up in those Seasons, and fancyd it
had a Charm to conquer them; and kept it like a Holy Relique (Behn 49). By likening the indigenous
peoples ignorance of technology and nature to the Catholic practice of revering saints remains and
possessions, Behn criticizes Christian superstition.
Oroonoko is unabashedly critical of Christianity. Through his rationality, and his simultaneous
distinct otherness and awareness of European culture, he is incredibly effective in piercing religious
hypocrisy. Behn is able to tactfully use him as a tool to address ideological inconsistencies that appear
when men treat other humans worse than animals. Behn appears to be suggesting that faith is
something opposed to nature. Nowhere in her travels, in places considered savage, does she come
across the same perversity. Behn upholds the simplicity and morality of humans in their natural state
over the conduct of humans playing at spiritual superiority.