Oroonoko

Trefry is delighted by Caesar and Clemene’s reunion and he goes to tell the narrator the good news. Having befriended Caesar and having his story confirmed by his friend, the French gentleman, she has already promised Caesar his freedom as soon as the new Lord Governor arrives in the colony. She later reveals herself to be the daughter of the previous Lord General of Surinam, who died at sea.

From that day, everyone treats Clemene with increased respect and the two lovers live together as man and wife. When Clemene becomes pregnant, Caesar becomes increasingly impatient for his freedom and begins to suspect that the English intend to play another trick on him. He is particularly conscious of the fact that should Clemene give birth before they are freed, their child will be born a slave. Caesar’s increasing restlessness is a cause for concern among the English settlers; they worry that Caesar might use his influence over the other slaves to incite a rebellion. 

The narrator, whom Caesar respects and admires, tries to reassure him. She tells us that because he couldn’t drink alcohol, he came to prefer that company of women and the two of them spent many hours discussing the Romans, although she could not convert him to Christianity. Caesar promises her that he will not act against the White people and she endeavors to keep him occupied with physical activities such as fishing and searching for tigers.

She describes a number of occasions to illustrate Caesar’s strength and bravery, such as when he killed a tiger that no one else had managed to kill. Rather than shooting recklessly at the animal, Caesar took his time and aimed carefully, managing to shoot her in the eye. 

Elsewhere, the narrator mentions that Caesar laughed at tales of the numb-eel, a fish that could leave the strongest man in a dead faint with the slightest contact, as he “could not understand that Philosophy, that a cold Quality should be of that Nature” (70).

Around this time, tensions are rising between the native people and the English colonists and the English are afraid that the Surinamese will attack them—which, the narrator tells us, is what happened when the Dutch took over. This put an end to plans at Parham-House to visit a native village. However, Caesar tells them that he would go too, as their guard and hearing this, many people, including the narrator, agreed to go. Before reaching the village, they hire a fisherman who had lived there for years and who had traded with the natives and spoke some of their language. When the English approach the village, the people cry out in amazement. 

The narrator describes the native people’s wonder at the sight of these new people and they soon begin to inspect every part of them and their clothing. They eat together and the narrator and her brother entertain them all with music. She describes them as simple people among whom it would be easy to pretend to be a god. 

After the meal, Caesar asks to meet with their war captains, hideous men that the narrator compares to “Hobgoblins” (76) and “Fiends” (76). They explain that, in order to be a war captain, two warriors enter into a competition in which they mutilate their own faces until one of them yields or dies. The narrator describes their courage as “too brutal to be applauded by our Black Hero” (77). Caesar enables understanding between the English and the native people so that there is no fear on either side and they spend a pleasant time in the village.

On their way home, they meet a different group of Surinamese, from the mountains, carrying bags of gold dust they had found in a river and offering to act as guides to anyone who wanted to go. These men are taken to Parham-House until the Lord Governor arrives and they spark an interest in gold in the colony. So much so that travel on the Amazon River—described as “almost as broad as the River of Thames” (78)—is soon forbidden. The narrator mentions that she returned to England before anything came of this gold rush and she wonders what England lost by ceding control of Surinam to the Dutch. 

The narrator then returns to Caesar’s story and tells us that as Imoinda’s pregnancy advanced, Caesar’s dissatisfaction with his bondage grew. One Sunday, when the White people were drunk, Caesar held a feast for the slaves and tried to convince the men to escape. One slave, Tuscan, asks what they are to do about their wives and children, who will find travelling in such rough terrain difficult. Caesar replies that it is better to die trying to be free than to choose to be a slave. Tuscan is convinced and argues that they should travel towards the sea where they can commandeer a ship to return them to their own countries. The men are told to inform their wives and children and then gather whatever weapons they can find. They leave that night. 

When the English discover the slaves’ escape, they assemble the country’s militia, which the narrator describes as a “comical” army (83). A number of men who agreed with Caesar’s grievances would not join the pursuit. The leader of the militia is the Deputy Governor Byam, a man of poor character who arms his men with vicious whips. Trefry joins them to act as a mediator. 

They easily find and follow the slaves’ trail; when Caesar realizes they are being pursued, he chooses to fight rather than run. The battle is brief and disorganized. The slaves kill some of the English and wound others, while the English lash out with their whips. The “cowardly” (85) slave women run among the men, begging them to yield rather than be killed and many of the slaves abandon the fight, until only Caesar, Imoinda, and Tuscan remain. Imoinda injures Byam with a poison arrow but his “Indian Woman” (85) later sucked the wound clean for him and he survived. 

Byam negotiates with Caesar, promising him his freedom even as he harbors secret plans for revenge. Caesar has learned from his experience with the ship captain, however; he is suspicious of Byam’s promises and demands that the terms of his surrender be agreed to in writing. Caesar eventually does surrender and admits that he is ashamed of his attempt to free those “who were by nature slaves” (87). 

When they return to the plantation, however, Byam orders that Caesar and Tuscan be tied to the whipping posts, where they are lashed until the flesh comes away from their bones. Caesar makes no outward sign of pain but glares at Byam. After he is untied, his wounds are rubbed with “Indian pepper” (89) and he cannot move. Imoinda is spared this punishment and also spared the sight of Caesar’s—not out of kindness, but out of fear that she would die or miscarry, and the settlers would lose valuable slaves.

The narrator tells us that when the news of Caesar’s escape reached the English, all the women fled to the river to safety and so they were not there to prevent this cruel punishment. On the river, they meet Colonel Martin, a good man and a friend of Caesar’s who returns to Parham-House with them. They immediately visit Caesar and find him in terrible pain; indeed, the narrator admires his ability to bear so much suffering. They beg his pardon for the treatment he has received and he tells them it would have been better if Byam had killed him. He swears revenge on the deputy governor, though he assures his friends he would never harm them.

While Caesar is receiving medical attention in Parham-House, Byam calls together his council which, the narrator informs us, consists entirely of villains—some of whom were later hanged when the Dutch took over. This council concludes that they need to make an example of Caesar and that he should be hanged. Trefry, however, tells Byam that his authority does not extend to the Lord Governor’s estate and turns the whole council out of Parham. He then sets a guard on the door and will only admit those who are friends to Caesar.

Meanwhile, Caesar is plotting revenge against Byam even though he knows that any such action will result in his own death. Despite his determination to seek revenge, he worries what will happen to Imoinda when he is gone. When he is able to walk again, he gets Trefry’s permission to take a walk. He asks Imoinda to accompany him and explains his plan to her: he will kill her, then his enemies, and then himself. Imoinda, a “heroick Wife” (94) immediately begs for death and, pleased by her bravery, Caesar embraces and then kills her.

Although the narrator calls this a “beautiful” (95) act, Caesar is immediately overcome by grief and, having covered his wife’s body, lies down beside it and finds himself unable to move. He is tempted to kill himself there and then but his desire for revenge is still strong.

Caesar lies there for days, during which time his friends’ concern for him grows and they begin to search for him. In the woods, they smell a dead body and move towards it; when they find Caesar they ask him where Imoinda is and he merely points to her grave. They are stunned and ask him why he murdered his wife. Standing now, he tries to give them a message for Byam but his strength fails and his speech slurs. 

Some men try to seize him but he warns them off and holding up his knife, he cuts a piece of flesh from his throat and throws it on the ground. Then, admitting that he will never have his revenge, he plunges his knife into his stomach and rips out his intestines. An Englishman rushes towards him, but Caesar stabs him in the heart. At that point, Tuscan, declaring his love for Caesar, moves forward and take a blow to the arm but manages to grasp him. Where once Caesar was beautiful, he is now like “a Death’s-Head” (99). Miraculously, he is revived but he will not live long. 

While he is conscious, he explains what he had planned. The narrator leaves the plantation for fear of becoming ill. In her absence, Byam returns and occupies Trefry with some pretend business while his friend, “a wild Irish Man” (100) named Banister removes Caesar from the house. Banister then ties Caesar to a whipping post and lights a fire under it and tells Caesar that he will “die like a Dog” (101). Caesar replies that he is happy to die, but he will not endure the whip. The executioner arrives and begins to dismember Caesar; first cutting off his genitalia, then his ears, nose and arms, at which point he dies. 

The narrator tells us that her mother and sister were witness to all of it. Caesar’s body is then quartered and the pieces sent to different plantations in Surinam as a warning to other slaves. Colonel Martin received a piece but refused it, saying that he didn’t need “frightful Spectacles of a mangled King” (102) to keep his slaves under control. 

The novella ends with the narrator’s hope that her work has done justice to Caesar and that it will keep his memory, and that of Imoinda, alive.