Lili Whalen 

Professor Micheal Rumore

English Literature II Restoration through Revelations 

Critical Annotation

April 22, 2020

1. “He was pretty tall, but of a shape the most exact that can be fancied: the most famous statuary could not form the figure of a man more admirably turned from head to foot” (Behn). 

      The narrator in the novel, Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave describes in vivid detail in how she remembers meeting Prince Oroonoko. When the narrator describes how he looks, she uses the word, statuary, but how can she explain Oroonoko as a statue if he is a person? There are many ways to use the word statuary. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, statuary derives from the time period, 1759, and is referred to as something or someone looks similar to a statue. In other words, Oroonoko possesses qualities of a statue since he is tall and appears to be handsome in the narrator’s opinion. 

2. “So that having made his first compliments, and presented her an hundred and fifty slaves in fetters” (Behn).

      This line in Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave symbolizes irony because Oroonoko is gifting his lover, Imoinda, slaves that are in chains, where him and Imoinda eventually end up as well. This line makes me wonder if Behn is foreshadowing on what is going to happen to Oroonoko and Imoinda since he presents her with slaves in order to show his love for her. However, the love that they have for one another eventually gets them in trouble when Oroonoko’s grandfather sells them as slaves. When Oroonoko murders Imoinda and their unborn child in order to save them from living a life without freedom, does he finally understand the brutality of owning slaves? After killing the love of his life, he then ends his own life using the same knife. 

3. “At length, the travellers began to ascend among the Apennines. The immense pine-forests, which, at that period, overhung these mountains, and between which ten road wound, excluded all view but of the cliffs aspiring above, except, that, now and then, an opening through the dark woods allowed the eye a momentary glimpse of the country below” (Radcliffe).  

         In The Mysteries of Uldolpho, Ann Radcliffe captivates the readers’ attention by setting the tone of the story by painting a picture in the readers’ minds in the beginning of chapter five when she goes into elaborate to detail to discuss the scene. The setting appears dark and gloom, almost as if it is foreshadowing that something bad is going to happen. After Radcliffe places descriptive images of the setting, the readers see Emily, the main character, who is surrounded by the vivid scenery. In Eveline van der Lans’ work of literature, “Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho and the Function of Landscapes in Gothic Fiction” states, ” … Radcliffe provides the reader with a specific aesthetic experience, one that involves emotions of terror and suspense” (Van der Lans 12). Since Radcliffe provides a sequence of pictures throughout this novel, she invites readers on her toes imagining they are there in the story with the characters. 

4. ” ‘The colour is a diabolic die’ ” (Wheatley 6).

      Phyllis Wheatly, who is known for being the first African American woman to be a published writer, draws attention to her poem, “On Being Brought From Africa To America” as she discusses her journey from Africa to America. she places this line in quotes because she is recalling what she has heard people say about her race. The word diabolic is referred to as ” … belonging to, or involving the Devil or a devil” (Oxford English Dictionary). People are referring to African Americans as diabolic because of the color of their skin. 

5. “We were now landed upon the continent of Africa, the most desolate, desert, and inhospitable country in the world” (Defoe).

      In Daniel Defoe’s excerpts of “Captain Singleton,” the narrator refers to Africa as being as deserted and unwelcoming. Both the narrator, Captain Singleton and Defoe are taking the continent for granted. While Captain Singleton is on his journey, it seems that he is complaining about the hot desert, lack of food, and have come across in what he refers to as savages. As Captain Singleton continues on his voyage, he decided to ” … quarrel with some of the negro natives, take ten or twelve of them prisoners, and blinding them as slaves, caused them to travel with us, and make them carry out baggage; which I alleged would be convenient and useful many ways as well to show us the way, as to converse with other natives for us” (Manifold). By Captain Singleton coming to Africa and taking African citizens against their will is taking advantage of the continent. Captain Singleton seems selfish and only does what is best for him. 

                                                      Works Cited

Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko; or, The Royal Slave. Manifold, January 2007. 

Defoe, Daniel. “Captain Singleton.” Captain Singleton, Manifold, 1720.

            “Statuary.” Oxford English Dictionary.

Radcliffe, Ann. “Chapter 5.” The Mysteries of Udolpho , vol. 2, Manifold, 1794.

Van der Lans, Eveline. “Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho and the Function of   Landscapes in Gothic Fiction.” Leiden University, Leiden University, 13 June 2016, 

            openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/45784/MA%20Thesis%20Eveline%20va            n%20der%20Lans%20s1146947%20final.pdf?sequence=1.

Wheatley, Phyllis. “On Being Brought From Africa To America.” Manifold, 1773.