a prince and great war leader, but he is nevertheless a slave and as such has the rules of the colony enforced upon him as well as the indignity of not being a free man. As an outsider from a different culture, Oroonoko can see the truth of a system that he is not truly part of. Long before going to Surinam, he had learned to admire the values of the West from his French tutor, but he is disappointed to discover that the high notions of justice and honour that he had heard about did not exist in reality. In Surinam justice and honour were no more than a front that covered the white men's lies. Prince and Slave Oroonoko has the respect of other slaves and colonists, both as a Prince and for his skill in battle and his principles of honour. He is known to be very strong and skilled both at fighting and intellectual pursuits as he has learnt many languages. He is not treated as a common slave, and Behn tells us "he endured no more of the slave but the name" (8) , being allowed to spend his time talking to curious visitors such as the narrator rather than work on the plantation. This gives him a considerable amount of power despite the fact that he is in name (as a slave) a member of the oppressed. This means that when he tries to organise rebellion amongst the slaves, they are willing to follow