The Octoroon, only considered second amongst antebellum melodramas, is a play written by Irish author Dion Boucicaut. The play focuses on the Plantation Terrebonne, the Peyton estate and its residents, namely it's slaves. During the time of its premiere, The Octoroon, inspired conversations about the abolition of slavery as well as the overall mistreatment of the African Americans. Derived from the Spanish language, the word 'octoroon' is defined as one who is 1/8th black. Zoe Peyton, "The Octoroon", is the supposedly "freed" biological daughter of Judge Peyton, former owner of the plantation. In play, the lovers, Zoe and the judge's prodigal nephew, George Peyton, are thwarted in their quest by race and the the evil maneuverings of a material-obsessed overseer named Jacob M'Closky. M'Closky wants Zoe and Terrebonne, and schemes to buy both. Boucicault's 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 characters, most importantly, through Zoe and the Household slave Pete. While the author attempts to evoke anti-slavery sentiments, the play is largely in ineffectual of being a true indictment of slavery by further perpetuating the African American stereotypes.
Zoe, the octoroon, serves as a means for the author to explore themes of racial prejudice without an excessively black protagonist; she is "black, but not too black". She plays the role of the "tragic mulatto" a stock character that was typical of antebellum literature. The purpose of the "tragic mulatto" was to allow the reader to pity the plight of oppressed or enslaved races, but only through a "veil of whiteness". Through this veil the reader does not truly pity one of a different race but rather the reader pities one who is made as close to their race as possible.
