Oroonoko, Not An Anti-slavery

Part I of Essay
Upon first reading Aphra Behn's work Oroonoko, one might get the impression that this is an early example of antislavery literature that became so popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the short biography of Behn from the Norton Anthology of British Lit ....

Part II of Essay
.... that this is because of her position at the time. Behn, being a woman, faced many prejudices from male writers and critics, although she was praised by some. Yet the anthology introduction states that she openly signed her name and talked back to critics. If this is true why would she be afraid to take a more open stance towards the question of slavery. Why does the antislavery perspective have to come from a slave, someone who is obviously going to be antislavery and not that of someone with a higher rank in society whose feelings toward th ....