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, University of Kent) Photo from first edition of The Octoroon, Act IV, by Dion Boucicault; compliments of Special Collections, Templeman Library, University of Kent.]] The Octoroon is a play by Dion Boucicault that opened in 1859 at The Winter Garden Theatre, New York City. Extremely popular, the play was kept running continuously for years by seven road companies. Among antebellum melodramas, it was considered second in popularity only to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Both were anti-slavery works.
Boucicault adapted the play from the novel Quadroon (1856) by Thomas Mayne Reid. It explores the lives of free whites, and enslaved mixed-race and black Americans resident at a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne. It sparked debates about the abolition of slavery and the role of Political drama. It contains elements of Romanticism and melodrama.
The word octoroon signifies a person of one-eighth African ancestry and typically seven-eighths white. In comparison, a quadroon would have one quarter African ancestry and a mulatto for the most part has historically implied half African ancestry.
The Oxford English Dictionary cites The Octoroon with the earliest record of the word "mashup" with the quote: "He don't understand; he speaks a mash up of Indian, French, and Mexican." Boucicault's manuscript actually reads "Indian, French and 'Merican." The last word, an important colloquialism, was misread by the typesetter of the play.
George is courted by the rich Southern belle heiress Dora Sunnyside, but he finds himself falling in love with Zoe, the mixed-race enslaved daughter of his uncle by one of the slaves. Dora, oblivious to George's lack of affection for her, enlists Zoe's help to win him over. McClosky desires Zoe for himself, and when she rejects his proposition, he plots to have her sold with the rest of the slaves. He knows that she is an octoroon and is legally part of the Terrebonne property. (Children born to enslaved women were considered slaves regardless of paternity or proportion of white ancestry.) He plans to buy Zoe and make her his concubine.
George and Zoe reveal their love for each other, but Zoe rejects George's marriage proposal. When George asks why, Zoe explains that she is an octoroon, and the law prevents a white man from Miscegenation anyone with the smallest black heritage. George offers to take her to a different country, but Zoe insists that she stay to help Terrebonne; Scudder appears and suggests that George marry Dora. With Dora's wealth, he explains, Terrebonne will not be sold and the slaves will not have to be separated. George reluctantly agrees.
McClosky has proved that Judge Peyton did not succeed in legally freeing her, as he had meant to do. Dora reappears and bids on Zoe – she has sold her own plantation in order to rescue Terrebonne. McClosky, however, outbids her for Zoe; George is restrained by his friends from attacking the man.
Scudder enters to deliver the good news that McClosky was proven guilty of murdering Paul and that Terrebonne now belongs to George. Despite this happiness, Zoe cannot be saved from the poison. She dies on the sitting-room couch with George kneeling beside her.
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