The late seventeenth century brought many significant changes in the political field of Great Britain. King Charles I was executed, but his son was soon reinstated after the failure of the Cromwell protectors. James II, the successor, was on the throne when Aphra Behn's book Oroonoko was published. His position was unsure, and within a year he would go into exile (Maier et al. 82). Behn privately sympathized with Jacobitism (loyalty to James II and his descendents) and saw the removal of a legal king as wrongdoing (Abrams et al. 2047). In the book Oroonoko she assumes the inherent nobility of royalty and this makes the removal of the king even worse. She uses slavery in her story, though she doesn't condemn it. Aphra Behn condemns what she sees as a corruption of noble values in the Christian world through Oroonoko's honorable character; slavery is merely an institution that makes the corruption clear.
In her book Behn emphasizes several characteristics of Oroonoko; two of the most important ones are greatness of soul and notions of true honor. The greatness of his soul is visible in the way he rises above common people at moments that others might lose their temper. During Oroonoko's travel over the Atlantic Ocean the captain of the slave ship swears "in the Name of a Great G O D" (Behn 32) to give him freedom. However, when they arrive in Surinam he is sold into slavery. The African prince does not become enraged; on the contrary, he cries to his captain, "Sir: "Tis worth my Suffering, to gain so true a knowledge both of you, and of your Gods by whom you swear" (Behn 34). His notions of true honor are visible in the way he trusts a man's word, and how he keeps his own promises. When the messenger on the slave ship assures him that he and his friends will be set free, he believes it. Therefore, he promises that he will "behave himself [and] obey the Command of the Captain" (Behn 32). Oroonoko keeps his promise; the captain does not.
