b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2018-19as sticking to structure is very important. A similar ideaBehn, A. (1689) The Widow Ranter.is shown in Oroonoko whose fate comes to an end alongBurnett, M. T. (1997) The Noble Household, in Masters and Servants in with Aboan and Imoinda (Oroonokos wife). AlthoughEnglish Renaissance Drama and Culture, Great Britain: Macmillan Press, pp. it is their choice in the end, it is because they cant see a155-191. life worth living in slavery, especially with a child alongCampbell, M. B. (1999) My Travels to the Other World; Aphra Behn and the way, particularly for Oroonoko who has known theSurinam, in Wonder and Science: Imagining Worlds in Early Modern life of a prince. Is Southern suggesting that the end isEurope: Cornell University Press, pp. 257-284.not positive for Oroonoko because they didnt obey theirDharwadker, A. (2008) Restoration Drama and Social Class, in Owen, S. roles and attempted to disrupt class boundaries by causingJ. (ed.) Companion to Restoration Drama: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 140-160. a rebellion? This is further shown when Oroonoko saysGodsave, P. A. (2018) The Roles of Servant Characters in Restoration Comedy, but we were born to suffer (Southerne, Oroonoko 5.4).1660-1685, [Dissertation] Georgia State University. Whilst Oroonoko has been treated better than the otherJaher, D. (2008) The paradoxes of Slavery in Thomas Southernes slaves because of his prince status, his life comes to a fatalOroonoko, in Comparative Drama, Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring, pp. 51-71. end. The above quote is a possible reflection on their race and how no matter their place in social hierarchy, it wontLush, R. M. (2014) The Royal Frontier: Colonist and Native Relations in Aphra Behns Virginia, in Hamilton, A. T. and Hillard, T. J (ed.) Before the turn out well for them because of their race and havingWest was West: Critical Essays on Pre-1800 Literature of the American Frontiers, the English colonists taking over where they live; takingLincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, pp.130-160.control of them.Orr, B. (2001) New Habits on Stage, in Empire on the English Stage 1660-1714, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Class, therefore, is a principal theme in restoration playsPulsipher, J. H. (2004) The Widow Ranter and Royalist Culture in shown through the different characters. It is a fundamentalColonial Virginia, in Early American Literature, vol. 39, no. 1, pp.41-66.concept and organisation of the restoration periods society.Russell, G. (2001) Keeping Place: Servants, Theater and Sociability in The upper sort in The Widow Ranter are portrayed throughMid-eighteenth-century Britain, in The Eighteenth Century, vol. 42, no. 1, the council members, who have moved up in society fromSpring, pp.21-42.being ex-convicts to Justices of Peace; however, they areSoutherne, T. (1695) Oroonoko.cowardly and fail their mission, suggesting that they cannot be true nobles because they were not born into it. Royalist themes are shown through the Indian queen who is also of the upper class, conveyed by having ladies in waiting, her control in the Indian court and her relationship with the colonist Bacon. Hierarchy is shown through Oroonoko as he is first thought of as a slave, however upon other characters learning that he is a prince, his status moves up having more respect from the colonists who raise no other objection to slavery- protest Oroonokos enslavement purely on the basis of his rank (Jaher 2008; 55), resulting in him being praised upon by his master and treated better than the other slaves. Both these plays also explore the idea that when the class system is challenged it backfires resulting in characters ending in worse situations. If I were to continue developing my research, there is more I could look at to continue to explore class through other characters in the plays as well as race, how it questions class and the affects it has both in the plays and wider implications.32'