The Power of a Woman’s Charm: Analyzing the Presence of Onahal in Oroonoko

Abstract

Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko is a story that places great emphasis on the importance of the power of beauty, but it isn’t perhaps the strongest force at work in the novel. Onahal is a minor character in the story who contrasts the idea that beauty is the only way to obtain power. As a former wife of the King, it is noted that while she once possessed beauty, she is now older and has therefore lost her beauty to the passage of time. Though her beauty is diminished, she still has her charm, which grants her power within her space. In a story so driven by the exceptionalism of the beauty seen through Oroonoko and Imoinda, Onahal directly contrasts this because Behn continuously conveys that this is a woman past her prime. However, existing as an individual with decayed beauty doesn’t necessarily limit Onahal’s abilities in the way that one would expect. Her greatest gift is her mind– her ability to speak and charm those around her to get what she wants. This has its limits because she’s a woman who is living in an oppressed space and forced to serve in this role of cast-mistress; therefore, she can’t act independently. Instead, she must use her words as her weapon because her charm and wit are the highest level of power she is able to hold. The charm she possesses, observed throughout her scenes in the novel, does have its limits, which is how she meets her cruel fate of enslavement after saving Imoinda from being killed. What exactly does this aged woman add to the depth of the story? In this paper, I will address this question and dive deeper into the role of Onahal’s charm and how her mind works in a way to “compensate” for her lack of physical beauty. Drawing on Behn’s other work and the scholarship about it, I will expand Onahal’s unusual presence