International Journal Online of Humanities (IJOHMN) ISSN: 2395-5155 Volume 6, Issue 2, April 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.24113/ijohmn.v6i2.172 www.ijohmn.com 15 Oroonoko: Royal or Slave; Bakhtinian Reading of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko Ma’soome Sehat Master’s of English Literature Yazd University Yazd, Iran masomehsehat@gmail.com Alireza Qadiri Hedeshi Dean of English Language and Literature Department Mehryar Institute of Higher Education Yazd, Iran a.r.qadiri@gmail.com Abstract Having had its protagonist in a carnivalistic world, Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko provides a polyphonic atmosphere in which different attitudes toward colonization can be heard. Oroonoko, who used to be the prince of Coramantien, is doomed to live as a slave in Surinam; a British colony. This degradation, beside other elements of Bakhtinian carnivalesque, makes his language a unique one, belonging neither to aristocrats anymore nor to the slaves, but simultaneously