Measures of Civilization

Though it's been a while since our last discussion about the correlation and fluidity of how we define 'civilization' and 'savagery', the wide spectrum of opinions differing as to where each character stands has kept turning back up in my mind. There is no question that "Oroonoko" is meant to be a morally grey short story, but can any of the characters in there really be ranked in measures of civility? 

Take Oroonoko for example. The reason that my discussion group ended up splitting him into 'post' and 'pre-slavery' Oroonoko was because of just how drastically his character ends up fluctuating throughout the story. He almost ends up going through a circle of stages that all lead up to his sanity completely shattering. 

At first, he's easily the most civilized out of everyone, including the narrator herself. Upon imprisonment, he still manages to keep a little bit of his wits about him, but not for long. 

After killing Imoinda, that title of civility is taken away. Or is it? 

Before Oroonoko slices Imoinda's throat, he explains that he must kill her in order to have his revenge. Barbaric as this may seem (and it most certainly is), Imoinda responds not with resistance, but with pleadings for him to do what he must. She consents to her own death, and never once is there any mention of her resisting Oroonoko's treatment of her.

Now, by saying that, I'm not in any way condoning Oroonoko's actions as 'right'. However, can we argue that this very action of killing his wife as a means of protection is civilized it its own right? Certainly not by our own standards, but by the standards of a culture that Behn is trying to hammer into our heads is 'different', such behavior could be considered the most noble and 'civilized' around. Imoinda herself is always portrayed as being excessively passive, which is certainly a desired trait for both the white and black cultures that seem to clash on almost every other subject. Her kind and timid demeanor makes her the most neutral of the characters in the story, as well as the most civilized for her own culture.

Oroonoko's life ends with a pipe dangling at the edge of his mouth, and his limbs carelessly hacked off, yet still he smokes it. In that death, he proves that he is the most civilized in both polarizing cultures, his own and that of the narrator. He is born into of society, and dies in another with just as much dignity. 

We can't discuss such complex matters of civilization and savagery as being so black and white, because in the end, it's all a matter of perspective based on our own societal experiences.