ir sexual favors on their superiors whenever it is demanded of them.
Oroonoko completely dispairs when he discovers that Imoinda now belongs to the old king. Granted, he could attempt to rescue his beloved, but he is constrained by the laws of his society. It is a crime for a son to marry his father's wives or mistresses. Prince Oroonoko is more concerned about setting an undesirable precedent for his successors regarding the sexual status of women than he is in regaining his true love: "Imoinda is as irrecoverably lost to me as if she were snatched by the cold arms of Death" (Behn 1874).
Imoinda, the young beauty's, favored position with the old king is in sharp contrast to that of Onahal, one of the king's former mistresses. Onahal, advanced in age, is no longer privileged to keep company with the king. She, and others like her, are relegated to serving the king's younger mistresses. Most of the old wives treat the young mistresses severely out of jealousy: "These abandoned ladies therefore endeavor to
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