Aphra Behn
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Aphra Behn, Comedy, and Gender Norms in the DisappointmentThis is a response paper written for my English 373: Restoration and Comedy class, which was graded as "fluently written, intelligent and agreeable," but requiring deeper analysis and the use of clearer meanings. Enjoy.- Moral Ambiguity in Aphra Behn's the History of the NunThis essay discusses Aphra Behn's novel, The History of the Nun and includes comparisons to Oroonoko.
- Oroonoko: The Supposed/Imposed "Abolitionist" TextBehn tried to write her novel as an abolitionist text by extolling the horrors of slavery and its effects. However, Behn is unable to understand Oroonoko outside of the context of a European consciousness, and frequently shows Oroonoko as the exception to his race.
- Aphra Behn and The Golden Age: Reproduction Without the Use of a PenisIn "The Golden Age"; Aphra Behn advocates the preference for a world in which procreation is achieved without the "aids of men" (34), suggesting that there is something more pure and less violent in a conception of a child accomplished without the use of penis.
- The Disappointment: Aphra Behn's Obsession with Desire, Shame and HonorAphra Behn's two poetic masterpieces The Disappointment and the Golden Age are both obsessed with the false important of honor upon women.
- Examining the Concept of Civilization in Aphra Behn's OoronokoThis paper explores the differing notions of civilization in Aphra Behn's short novel Ooronoko and raises the question of whether civilization can be defined so simply.
- England's First Tell-all AuthorProvocateur, mistress to a King, poet and author - Aphra Behn stood apart 300 years ago just as she does today.