The image from The University of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, “Slavery Images” archive, depicts the conditions of slave ships. Oroonoko by Aphra Behn directly correlates to this image through its plot point of Oroonoko, as a prince, being captured by an English sailor and taken into slavery. The Image is artwork by Johann Moritz Rugendas that was published in Paris and dated around 1835. The drawing depicts the hull, or below deck of a slave ship. There are multiple scenes within this one drawing, one of which being a male slave holding a bowl up to an above deck opening and seemingly receiving water. There are also about three European sailors/guards, one of which is carrying a lamp, and their purpose being down below deck is to remove a dead slave. Learning more about who drew this picture, and their motives or political drive behind the artwork will help shape the image in a way that can tie back to Oroonoko and the transitional point of the novella, which is Oroonoko’s capture.

One of the major turning points in Oroonoko by Aphra Behn is Oroonoko being deceived by an English sailor who kidnaps and sells him into slavery. This point of the story creates the change in Oroonoko’s identity from royal to a slave, or the often used oxymoron “royal-slave” (9). The Englishman was described by Behn as a being “better received at court than most of the traders… especially by Oroonoko” (36). Due to the trust that Oroonoko places in this man when he is invited aboard the ship he gladly accepts. Oroonoko “having drunk hard on punch” (37) was easily captured, which was odd due to the fact that Behn spent the beginning of the poem praising Oroonoko’s power and ability as a soldier and leader. All of Oroonoko’s men “were lashed fast in irons and betrayed to slavey” (37). The description of their containment and the ship connects the image by Johann Moritz Rugendas to the story of Oroonoko. 

Within the image, there are two figures that are representations of Oroonoko in different states during the trip on the slave ship. The man reaching toward the upper deck with a bowl to receive water, and the dead man being carried away by the sailors. The two figures are polar to each other but so are the choices that Oroonoko makes on the ship. When faced with the idea of entering slavery Oroonoko would rather die and “ he resolved to perish for want of food” (Behn 38). The willingness of Oroonoko to give his life rather than enter slavery can be seen in the dead slave being carried away. When the captain realizes that all of Oroonoko’s men will follow suit he worries that “the loss of so many brave slaves, so tall and goodly to behold, would have been considerable”(38). Oroonoko, when visited by the captain and “after many compliments and assurances…he receiving from the prince his parole and his hand for his good behavior, dismissed his irons and brought him to his own cabin”(40). Oroonoko is now mirrored in the man in the image that is receiving water because he convinces his people to eat and drink again. The captain, to Oroonoko, “entreated him to oblige them to eat”(40) backed by empty promises of freedom from the captain. Using the text, and analyzing the image, you can see the correlation between the two and how the artwork creates clear imagery of salves ships, including the imaginary one described in Oroonoko.

Continuing on with the analysis of the image, the religious themes of Oroonoko relate to the man in the image who is dead, and being carried away by the sailors. Religion is an important aspect of Behn’s Oroonoko and in Robert W. Slenes’ “African Abrahams, Lucretias and Men of Sorrows:Allegory and Allusion in the Brazilian Anti-slavery Lithographs (1827–1835) of Johann Moritz Rugendas”, Slenes connects the imagery of the dead salve to a religious figure. Robert W. Slenes explains that “ the figure of the dead African, carried by sailors, is reminiscent of the body of Christ in representations of the Entombment.” The captain of the slave ship that captured Oroonoko and his men, explains that his reason for not trusting Oroonoko’s word is because he “could not resolve to trust a heathen… a man that had no sense or notion of the God that he worshipped” (Behn 39).  An aspect of religion in Oroonoko is the use of the word “heathens” (Behn 39) to encompass those who are not Christian nor white and lessen their humanity. The fact that within this essay Slenes ties the imagery of the salve with a religious figure, and the importance of religion in Oroonoko creates an even more decisive connection between the image and the text.  

The political aspect of the artwork by Johann Moritz Rugendas is understood when taking into consideration the artist’s own opinions and views. In “African Abrahams, Lucretias and Men of Sorrows:Allegory and Allusion in the Brazilian Anti-slavery Lithographs (1827–1835) of Johann Moritz Rugendas” Robert W. Slenes explains that Rugendas’ “unusual images, conceived in Paris largely between 1826 and 1828, did not express a radical political vision; rather, they expounded a conservative Christian reformism that was typical of mainstream French anti-slavery thought of the time.”(149) Rugendas held abolitionist views and depicted this scene on a slave ship as a way to open peoples eyes to the people being taken from their home and the conditions they endure to be brought to other lands and sold. In Oroonooko Behn uses her literary ability to create an imaginary world and character’s whose purpose, like Rugendas, is to educate and liberate. 

The artwork “Enslaved Africans in Hold of Slave Ship, 1827” by Johann Moritz Rugendas not only correlates to but supports the major themes in Oroonoko by Aphra Behn. The image from The University of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, “Slavery Images” archive, is an image that deepens the emotional connection to the main transitional point of Oroonoko where the character of Oroonoko is captured and sold into slavery. This scene is the beginning of Oroonoko’s struggle with trust, his cultural identity, and his strength. The artist Johann Moritz Rugendas and writer Aphra Behn both create a work that is politically driven and they use it to educate and teach about the savagery of slavery practices. The artwork seems almost like it was painted for the story itself because it depicts what Oroonoko went through and encompasses his journey as well as those with him. It could also be that the art is so thoughtfully created that it is applicable to so many slavery stories and is even more so relatable. 

Works Cited

Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko, edited by Janet Todd, Penguin, 2004.

Rugendas, Johann Moritz.Enslaved Africans in Hold of Slave Ship, 1827. E019. Slavery Images: The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas. The University of Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Virginia. http://slaveryimages.org/details.php?categorynum=5&categoryName=Slave%20Ships%20and%20the%20Atlantic%20Crossing%20(Middle%20Passage)&theRecord=15&recordCount=78