Critical Analysis of the Octoroon

The Octoroon, scarcely considered bet on amongst antebellum melodramas, is a accept written by Irish fountain Dion Boucicaut. The play focuses on the Plantation Terrebonne, the Peyton estate and its residents, that is to say its slaves. During the time of its premiere, The Octoroon, inspire conversations about the abolition of thraldom as well as the overall mistreatment of the African Americans. Derived from the Spanish language, the word octoroon is defined as wholeness who is 1/eighth black. Zoe Peyton, , The Octoroon, is the supposedly freed biological girl of Judge Peyton, former possessor of the plantation. In play, the lovers, Zoe and the judges prodigal nephew, George Peyton, be thwarted in their postulate by race and the the horror maneuverings of a material-obsessed overseer named Jacob MClosky. MClosky wants Zoe and Terrebonne, and schemes to bargain for both. Boucicaults play focuses on the denial of liberty, identity, and dignity, while ironically preservin g common African-American stereotypes of the antebellum period. The play does this through several(prenominal) examples, most importantly, through Zoe and the business firm slave Pete. While the designer attempts to evoke anti-slavery sentiments, the play is mostly in ineffectual of existence a true indictment of slavery by make headway perpetuating the African American stereotypes.\nZoe, the octoroon, serves as a means for the author to explore themes of racial outrage without an excessively black ally; she is black, scarce not also black. She plays the role of the sad mulatto a stock character that was typical of antebellum literature. The theatrical role of the tragic mulatto was to allow the lecturer to pity the plight of loaded or enslaved races, but only through a becloud of whiteness. Through this cloud the reader does not sincerely yours pity one of a different race but rather the reader pities one who is do as shutdown to their race as possible. This is m ade evident especially in Zoes speech patt...