Post 1- Contrasting Conceptions of Marriage

One such less idealized conjugal tale can be found in Emanuel Aranda’s The History of Algiers and it's Slavery. This book includes a section called “Of the fidelity of a husband, and the unfaithfulness of his wife.” (Aranda 188) As the title suggests, this segment tells the story of a slave named Vipra who loses “all the conjugal love she should have had for her husband”, as she falls in love with a man named Assan (Aranda 190). The full episode is much more complicated and extensive, but the relevant detail lies in the way a woman is described as choosing to leave her husband for another man.

This serves to undercut the breadth and absolute nature of Behn's depiction of marriage, but it also reinforces aspects of the central relationship in Oroonoko. Early on in the story, Behn notes that Oroonoko could have had multiple wives (Behn 17), but elected to enter into a monogamous relationship with Imoinda. The passage from Aranda's book builds on the singularity of this relationship by implying that Imoinda's devotion was not in fact culturally dictated in quite the way Behn suggests. Instead, it was a choice. So even as Behn's comments on the nature of marriage are undercut by another account, the sentiment of her drama is borne out by the same comparison.