The Oroonoko Project
The Project
By combining the novella The Royal Slave, and the play Oroonoko with a spackling of modern movement and narratives, the topic of race will be explored, as we seek to answer the ultimate question: What lies beneath?
Showing December 7th-10th
in the Kittredge Theatre at
Warren Wilson College,
Asheville North Carolina
7:00
History
"I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one 'race' - the human race - and that we are all members of it." Margaret Atwood
Oroonoko is a relatively short novel whose full title is Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave. The novel concerns Oroonoko, the grandson of an African king, who falls in love with Imoinda, the daughter of that king's top general. The king, too, falls in love with Imoinda. He commands that Imoinda become one of his wives (Islam had become established among several sub-Saharan African peoples). After unwillingly spending time in the king's harem (the Otan), Imoinda and Oroonoko plan a tryst with the help of the sympathetic Onal and Aboan. However, they are discovered, and because of her choice, the king has Imoinda sold as a slave. Oroonoko is then tricked and captured by an evil English slaver captain. Both Imoinda and Oroonoko are carried to Surinam, at that time an English colony based on sugarcane plantations, in the West Indies. The two lovers are reunited there, under the new Christian names of Caesar and Clemene, even though Imoinda's beauty has attracted the unwanted desires of the English deputy-governor, Byam. Oroonoko organizes a slave revolt. The slaves are hunted down by the military forces and compelled to surrender on Byam's promise of amnesty. However, when the slaves surrender, Oroonoko is whipped. To avenge his honor, and to express his natural worth, Oroonoko decides to kill Byam. But to protect Imoinda from violation and subjugation after his death, he decides to kill her. The two lovers discuss the plan, and Imoinda willingly agrees. Oroonoko's love forbids him from killing his dear one and compels him to protect her, but when he stabs her, she dies with a smile on her face. Oroonoko is found mourning by her body and is kept from killing himself, only to be publicly executed. During his death by dismemberment, Oroonoko calmly smokes a pipe and stoically withstands all the pain without crying out. Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
