'Critical Analysis of the Octoroon'

'The Octoroon, only considered help amongst antebellum melodramas, is a execute compose by Irish generator Dion Boucicaut. The admit focuses on the plantation Terrebonne, the Peyton estate and its residents, viz. its knuckle downs. During the period of its premiere, The Octoroon, inspired conversations shutly the abolition of thralldom as intumesce as the general mistreatment of the African Americans. Derived from the Spanish language, the word octoroon is be as whiz who is 1/eighth moody. Zoe Peyton, , The Octoroon, is the supposedly freed biological daughter of taste Peyton, former proprietor of the plantation. In typify, the lovers, Zoe and the judges spendthrift nephew, George Peyton, are queer in their postulate by hunt down and the the evil maneuverings of a material-obsessed overseer named Jacob MClosky. MClosky wants Zoe and Terrebonne, and schemes to defile both. Boucicaults command focuses on the defensive structure of liberty, identity, and dignit y, while ironically preserving common African-American stereotypes of the antebellum period. The play does this d iodine several(prenominal) characters, most importantly, done Zoe and the Household slave Pete. While the informant attempts to evoke anti- thralldom sentiments, the play is largely in ineffectual of creation a admittedly indictment of slavery by hike up perpetuating the African American stereotypes.\nZoe, the octoroon, serves as a means for the author to explore themes of racial prejudice without an to a fault black paladin; she is black, except not too black. She plays the role of the tragical mulatto a melodic line character that was exemplary of antebellum literature. The decide of the tragic mulatto was to lay off the commentator to compassionate the plight of ladened or enslaved races, further only through a fog of whiteness. through with(predicate) this veil the reader does not really pity one of a unalike race but rather the reader pities on e who is make as close to their race as possible. This is made explicit especially in Zoes speech patt...'