20 May 2020

Period Recap

Eng 302 was a survey course covering the “long” 18^th century spanning the years 1660 to 1815. Three important themes that run through this period are British Colonialism, the Transatlantic slave trade, and the emergence of gothic literature. In a way, all these themes are inextricably linked. In three novels of the period,  Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko, Daniel Dafoe’s Captain Singleton, and Olaudah Equiano’s, The Interesting Narrative, the reader is presented a world where the selling of slaves is not only commonplace, but it is made obvious that the labor provided by slaves provides the essential foundation on which British colonialism is based.

In Oroonoko, Behn explains rather matter-of-factly how slaves are acquired:

Those who want slaves make a bargain with a master or a captain of a ship, and contract to pay him so much apiece, a matter of twenty pound a head, for as many as he agrees for, and to pay for ’em when they shall be delivered on such a plantation: so that when there arrives a ship laden with slaves, they who have so contracted go aboard, and receive their number by lot; and perhaps in one lot that may be for ten, there may happen to be three or four men, the rest women and children. Or be there more or less of either sex, you are obliged to be contented with your lot (Behn).

During the long 18^th the British Empire grew exponentially with the colonization of India, the West Indies and the colonies in North America as well as Australia. Part of the study of English literature in this era involves how the authors explore British and colonist identity. That is, with the empire becoming so vast that at one point the sun never set upon it, the question of how colonists and slaves need to define themselves. In Behn’s narrative, Oroonoko reveals the complexity and nebulousness of this concept. He is described as better than the slave, even though he is a slave himself. This both helps and hinders him as he is alternately admired for being thought of as almost as good as a white man in one regard, while the same qualities of intelligence and charisma make him dangerous to the slave owners who fear he could instil a revolt among his fellow slaves.

The search for identity is also present in the gothic readings within the course. In Beckford’s Vathek, the themes of otherness are explored through Vathek’s renunciation of Islam, and through the name of the main antagonist, Giaour, whose names means non-muslim and is used mostly for Christians. This can be seen as a metaphor for both the assimilation and appropriation of colonized cultures by their colonizers, and the strict social boundaries between colonizer and colonist. Beckford’s novel in particular also illuminated another aspect of colonization in that the oriental—a metaphor for all things thought “exotic” by the western mind—is both feared and fetishized.

I found an interesting connection between Vathek and Coleridge’s poem Xanadu. In the novel, Beckford describes Vathek’s gaze. “When he was angry, one of his eyes became so terrible, that no person could bear to behold it; and the wretch upon whom it was fixed, instantly fell backward, and sometimes expired” (Beckford). Compare this to the end of the Coleridge poem, incidently also set in an oriental land.

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise  (Coleridge).