Critical Analysis of the Octoroon

The Octoroon, however considered scrap amongst antebellum melodramas, is a satisfy written by Irish indite 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, animate conversations about the abolition of slaveholding as well as the overall mistreatment of the African Americans. Derived from the Spanish language, the word octoroon is defined as unity who is 1/eighth black. Zoe Peyton, , The Octoroon, is the supposedly freed biological missy of Judge Peyton, former proprietor of the plantation. In play, the lovers, Zoe and the judges prodigal nephew, George Peyton, ar thwarted in their point by race and the the injustice maneuverings of a material-obsessed overseer named Jacob MClosky. MClosky wants Zoe and Terrebonne, and schemes to corrupt both. Boucicaults play focuses on the denial of liberty, identity, and dignity, while ironically preserving common African-American stereotypes of the antebellum period. The play does this through several(prenominal) causes, most importantly, through Zoe and the phratry slave Pete. While the causality attempts to evoke anti-slavery sentiments, the play is generally in ineffectual of world a true bill of indictment of slavery by gain ground perpetuating the African American stereotypes.\nZoe, the octoroon, serves as a means for the author to explore themes of racial blemish without an excessively black adorer; she is black, however not alike black. She plays the role of the sad mulatto a stock character that was typical of antebellum literature. The intend of the tragic mulatto was to allow the subscriber to pity the plight of crush or enslaved races, but only through a mask of whiteness. Through this wipe out the reader does not very pity one of a different race but rather the reader pities one who is make as almost to their race as possible. This is made evident especially i n Zoes speech patt... If you want to pop out a full essay, read it on our website:

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