The Octoroon
(Dion Boucicault)
The Irish born playwright, Dion Boucicault turned melodrama into an art form. He wrote over a hundred plays and was one of the most popular playwrights of the mid-nineteenth century.
As with many melodramas that focus on a topical political or social problem of the day, The Octoroon centers upon the barbaric act of slavery in the American South. The rule at the time was that anyone with an eighth of a part of African American blood in them could not marry a full blooded white person. So if you great grandfather was African American, it made you of that color as well no matter what the color of your skin may be. Similar to the anti-semetic decrees of Nazi Germany, this ruling was also a bitter display of prejudice from the time.
The melodrama centers around the virtuous and beautiful heroine, Zoe, who is, of course, the octoroon of the title. She falls in love with George, who is the heir apparant of the Terrebonne plantation.
George will inherit the plantation from his aunt, Mrs Peyton. However, her late husband's extravagance has almost ruined them and if something is not done soon, they will lose the plantation to the banks. Mrs Peyton begs George to marry the rich Dora Sunnyside, but he finds his love for Zoe is so strong that he cannot marry another.
The plot is filled with the valiant heroes and dastardly villians of meledrama and poor Zoe is also the object of the evil M'Closky's lustful desires. When the house is up for sale, Zoe herself, as a slave, goes up at auction and M'Closky is able to pay the winning bid. As he finally has Zoe in his clutches, many attempts at rescue occur before the play comes to a close.
Performed only two years before the outbreak of the civil war, this play became a powerful anti-slavery piece for the time. Performed widely across America and Europe, Boucicault attempted to draw sympathy for the cause across widely diverse audiences.
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