ly to her own female strength and dedication in the simple fact of her gathering and recording the events of the story.
Having said that, however, Behn's account can hardly be said to be radical in any sense in terms of her questioning conventional gender roles, in the areas of writing, sexuality, or any other area. If she breaks any conventional molds, it is in the area of narration and subjectivity. She makes it clear from the beginning that she aims not to create a wonderful, unique piece of poetic art as much as she wants to honor the man Oroonoko with a lively description of his character and heroics, including especially his love for Imoinda. In that context, Behn writes that "We who were perfectly charmed with the character of this great man were curious to gather every circumstance of his life" (Behn 1867).
Certainly the aggressiveness and personal involvement of Behn in the narrative is a departure from the approach of most women writers in the 17th century, but the content of her writing is certainly conventional in terms of gender and sexuality. Her writing could just as well have been that of a man in her presentation of the active hero Oroonoko, the passive lady-in-distress Imoinda, and the gender roles carried out by the men and women in the entirety of the story.
Phelps has praise for Behn's approach to writing, but there is nothing in his description indicating that it altered gender expectations
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