Look dar! Thar's Miss Dora---that girl's in love with you; yes, sir, her eyes are startin' out of her head with it; now her fortune would redeem a good part of this estate. Ah! Here she is---Zoe!---water---she faints. Glendon Swarthout, Never believe in any faith younger than you are." No, it ain't; because, just then, what does the judge do, but hire another overseer---a Yankee---a Yankee named Salem Scudder. Ratts. Dido. It concerns the residents of a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne, and sparked debates about the abolition of slavery and the role of theatre in politics. I'll sweep these Peytons from this section of the country. You seem already familiar with the names of every spot on the estate. Dora. See Injiun; look dar [shows him plate], see dat innocent: look, dar's de murderer of poor Paul. yonder goes the Indian! Zoe. Five hundred dollars!---[*To*Thibodeaux.] Mrs. P.O, George,---my son, let me call you,---I do not speak for my own sake, nor for the loss of the estate, but for the poor people here; they will be sold, divided, and taken away---they have been born here. *, M'Closky. Come, Mr. Thibodeaux, a man has a chance once in his life---here's yours. I am free! [Knocks.] [Laughing.] How would you like to rule the house of the richest planter on Atchafalaya---eh? She's won this race agin the white, anyhow; it's too late now to start her pedigree. All hands aboard there---cut the starn ropes---give her headway! Zoe, you are pale. Zoe. EnterLafoucheand*Jackson,L. Jackson. O! Zoe, must we immolate our lives on her prejudice? ], M'Closky. M'Closky. You're a man as well as an auctioneer, ain't ye? Say, Mas'r Scudder, s'pose we go in round by de quarters and raise de darkies, den dey cum long wid us, and we 'proach dat ole house like Gin'ral Jackson when he took London out dar. Stealing a lantern, he sets fire to the steamship that had the slaves on board. there it comes---it comes---don't you hear a footstep on the dry leaves? Improvements---anything, from a stay-lace to a fire-engine. TheNegromounts the table from behind*C.The Company sit. [Sees tomahawk in Wahnotee's belt---draws it out and examines it.] But how pale she looks, and she trembles so. Scud. The Wharf---goods, boxes, and bales scattered about---a camera on stand, R. Scudder, R., Dora, L., George*andPauldiscovered;Dorabeing photographed byScudder,who is arranging photographic apparatus,GeorgeandPaullooking on at back.*. [Shows plate to jury.] A mistake, sar---forty-six. Scud. Would you now? And, strangers, ain't we forgetting there's a lady present. you remind me so much of your uncle, the judge. "Madam, we are instructed by the firm of Mason and Co., to inform you that a dividend of forty per cent, is payable on the 1st proximo, this amount in consideration of position, they send herewith, and you will find enclosed by draft to your order, on the Bank of Louisiana, which please acknowledge---the balance will be paid in full, with interest, in three, six, and nine months---your drafts on Mason Brothers at those dates will be accepted by La Palisse and Compagnie, N. O., so that you may command immediate use of the whole amount at once, if required. Dora, you are right. You gib me rattan, Mas'r Clostry, but I guess you take a berry long stick to Wahnotee; ugh, he make bacon of you. Top Quadroon And Octoroon Quotes. [They approach again.]. M'Closky. Dat's what her soul's gwine to do. E.---Wahnoteefaces him.---Fight---buss. See here, you imps; if I catch you, and your red skin yonder, gunning in my swamps, I'll give you rats, mind; them vagabonds, when the game's about, shoot my pigs. [Retires.]. You called it yourself; you wanted to make us murder that Injiun; and since we've got our hands in for justice, we'll try it on you. Ain't that a cure for old age; it kinder lifts the heart up, don't it? "All right," says the judge, and away went a thousand acres; so at the end of eight years, Jacob M'Closky, Esquire, finds himself proprietor of the richest half of Terrebonne---. Zoe. Because it was the truth; and I had rather be a slave with a free soul, than remain free with a slavish, deceitful heart. Quotations by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, American Playwright, Born December 29, 1984. Yes, sir; they were the free papers of the girl Zoe; but they were in my husband's secretary. It's soooo dark. He can fight though he's a painter; claws all over. Poor fellow, he has lost all. O, my---my heart! If she ain't worth her weight in sunshine you may take one of my fingers off, and choose which you like. But out it flew, free for everybody or anybody to beg, borrow, or steal. [R.] Then why don't you buy it yourself, Colonel? Bah! dat right! He don't understand; he speaks a mash-up of Indian and Mexican. Mr. Scudder, take us with you---Mr. Peyton is so slow, there's no getting him, on. I'm not guilty; would ye murder me? No! Twelve thousand. No; but you, aunty, you are wise---you know every plant, don't you, and what it is good for? I never killed a man in my life---and civilization is so strong in me I guess I couldn't do it---I'd like to, though! Scud. O, here he is. what are you doing there, you young varmint! *EnterThibodeauxand*Sunnyside,R.U.E. Thibo. The men leave to fetch the authorities, but McClosky escapes. No; the hitching line was cut with a knife. You want to hurt yourself. Put your hands on your naked breasts, and let every man as don't feel a real American heart there, bustin' up with freedom, truth, and right, let that man step out---that's the oath I put to ye---and then say, Darn ye, go it! side.---A table and chairs,R.C. Gracediscovered sitting at breakfast-table with Children. Pete. A photographic plate. Cut all away for'ard---overboard with every bale afire. I will dine on oysters and palomitas and wash them down with white wine. Zoe. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. black as nigger; clar as ice. He has a strange way of showing it. Eight hundred agin, then---I'll go it. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Quotes submission guide. I've been to the negro quarters. For ten years his letters came every quarter-day, with a remittance and a word of advice in his formal cavalier style; and then a joke in the postscript, that upset the dignity of the foregoing. Dora. George. Sunny. What, on Terrebonne! I won't go on; that man's down. They do not notice Zoe.---[Aloud.] Here's a pictur' for a civilized community to afford; yonder, a poor, ignorant savage, and round him a circle of hearts, white with revenge and hate, thirsting for his blood; you call yourselves judges---you ain't---you're a jury of executioners. I fled; it followed. Sunny. The Octoroon is a play by Dion Boucicault that opened in 1859 at The Winter Garden Theatre, New York City. A large table is in theC.,at back. Pete. Mrs. P.Hospitality in Europe is a courtesy; here, it is an obligation. Last night I overheard you weeping in your room, and you said, "I'd rather see her dead than so! things have got so jammed in on top of us, we ain't got time to put kid gloves on to handle them. [Reads.] We've caught this murdering Injiun, and are going to try him. Dora. Will you forgive me? Yes; you was the first to hail Judge Lynch. M'Closky. Ben Tolosa You must not for one instant give up the effort to build new lives for yourselves. M'Closky,Why not? Tousand dollars, Massa Thibodeaux. Franco Harris, You have to let it go. Don't you know that she is the natural daughter of the judge, your uncle, and that old lady thar just adored anything her husband cared for; and this girl, that another woman would a hated, she loves as if she'd been her own child. I mean that before you could draw that bowie-knife, you wear down your back, I'd cut you into shingles. why, clar out! I will take the best room in the Grand Central or the Orndorff Hotel. if you cannot be mine, O, let me not blush when I think of you. M'Closky. *, M'Olosky. All Rights Reserved. I would be alone a little while. The sun is rising. You will not forget poor Zoe! It's no use you putting on airs; I ain't gwine to sit up wid you all night and you drunk. Don't be a fool; they'd kill you, and then take her, just as soon as---stop; Old Sunnyside, he'll buy her! I'll see to that. burn! Ha, ha! George. Point. Yes---me and Co.---we done it; but, as you were senior partner in the concern, I reckon you got the big lick. but the deed that freed you was not lawful. Scud. I deserve to be a nigger this day---I feel like one, inside. Well, near on five hundred dollars. Pointdexter*mounts the table with his hammer, his Clerk sits at his feet. How are we sure the boy is dead at all? if I had you one by one, alone in the swamp, I'd rip ye all. Sunny. Adam had a job, a place to live, and food that he could provide for his woman. There is a gulf between us, as wide as your love, as deep as my despair; but, O, tell me, say you will pity me! See here---there's a small freight of turpentine in the fore hold there, and one of the barrels leaks; a spark from your engines might set the ship on fire, and you'd go with it. That is the ineffaceable curse of Cain. The apparatus can't mistake. Boucicault The Octoroon Quotes & Sayings. Are you ready? . It ain't no use now; you got to gib it up! I hope we don't intrude on the family. | About Us Pete. How dar you say dat, you black nigger, you? Ratts. Why, Dora, what's the matter? you seen dem big tears in his eyes. Zoe. [Fire seen,R.]. [Aside to Pete.] Yes, we do, ma'am; it's in a darned bad condition. [Aside.] [Music. The last word, an important colloquialism, was misread by the typesetter of the play. M'Closky. Scud. Can you take any more? [2] Among antebellum melodramas, it was considered second in popularity only to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).[3]. why don't you do it? So I came here to you; to you, my own dear nurse; to you, who so often hushed me to sleep when I was a child; who dried my eyes and put your little Zoe to rest. I've got four plates ready, in case we miss the first shot. What! [falls on her knees, with her face in her hands] no---no master, but one. Denora Boone, Everybody who went to Vietnam carries his or her own version of the war. The Steamer moves off---fire kept up---M'Closky*re-enters,*R.,*swimming on.*. The men accuse Wahnotee of the murder, and McClosky calls for him to be lynched. The Octoroons have no apparent trace of the Negro in their appearance but still are subject to the legal disabilities which attach them to the condition of blacks. Here 'tis---now you give one timble-full---dat's nuff. Zoe. Zoe. Look in my eyes; is not the same color in the white? I will; for it is agin my natur' to b'lieve him guilty; and if he be, this ain't the place, nor you the authority to try him. M'Closky. Pete. ], [Gets in canoe and rows off,L.---Wahnotee*paddles canoe on,*R.---gets out and finds trail---paddles off after him,L.]. M'Closky. ExitSolon,R.U.E.] Dem little niggers is a judgment upon dis generation. Ratts. The injiun! George R R Martin. Point. *Enter*Wahnotee,R.;they are all about to rush on him. When you have done joking, gentlemen, you'll say one hundred and twenty thousand. The proof is here, in my heart. Yes; I kept the letters, and squandered the money. And what shall I say? Dido. Mrs. P.You are out early this morning, George. O, let all go, but save them! It's near that now, and there's still the sugar-houses to be inspected. Go it, if you're a mind to. Scud. What's de use of your takin' it kind, and comfortin' de missus heart, if Minnie dere, and Louise, and Marie, and Julie is to spile it? "No. Enjoy reading and share 1 famous quotes about The Octoroonwith everyone. Paul. Fifty against one! Go outside, there; listen to what you hear, then go down to the quarters and tell the boys, for I can't do it. We can leave this country, and go far away where none can know. Zoe. If she could not accept me, who could? George. The men begin to call for McClosky to be lynched, but Scudder convinces them to send him to jail instead. Dat's me---yer, I'm comin'---stand around dar. [Sits,R.], Dora. Scud. Point. Scud. [Aside to Zoe.] Here we are on the selvage of civilization. M'Closky. I'm on you like a painter, and when I'm drawed out I'm pizin. George, O, forgive me! Grace. M'Closky. Scudder insists that they hold a trial, and the men search for evidence. No, Injiun; we deal out justice here, not revenge. Tableaux.*. Well, what d'ye say, Lafouche---d'ye smile? What, sar! Here you are, in the very attitude of your crime! Make bacon of me, you young whelp. "I'm afraid to die; yet I am more afraid to live," Zoe says, asking Dido to "protect me from that mando let me die without pain" (70). I don't know; she may as well hear the hull of it. Dido. Who's you to set up screching?---be quiet! [R. C.] Pardon me, madam, but do you know these papers? My father gives me freedom---at least he thought so. Guess it kill a dozen---nebber try. That's a challenge to begin a description of my feminine adventures. Bless his dear old handwriting, it's all I ever saw of him. and my master---O! Be the first to contribute! De time he gone just 'bout enough to cook dat dish plate. George. Boucicaults The Octoroon famous quotes & sayings: Ivan Glasenberg: We work. Were they all born on this estate? Dora. Dido. This is folly, Dora. [Rising.] Give us evidence. Don't do nuffin. Zoe. [Calling at door.] Scud. Scud. My darling! Zoe. George. Paul. ha---git out! No, [looks off,R.] 'tis Pete and the servants---they come this way. Paul. yar, you Wahnotee! While the proceeds of this sale promises to realize less than the debts upon it, it is my duty to prevent any collusion for the depreciation of the property. No; like a sugar cane; so dry outside, one would never think there was so much sweetness within. I say, then, air you honest men? M'Closky. Darn it, when I see a woman in trouble, I feel like selling the skin off my back. For what I have done, let me be tried. Now, it ain't no use trying to get mad, Mas'r Scudder. Yes, I'm here, somewhere, interferin'. Point. I'ss, Mas'r George. Because I heard that you had traduced my character. It was like trying to make a shark sit up and beg for treats. Hold on, George Peyton---stand back. Author: Mike Watt. George. [Rising.] The machine can't err---you may mistake your phiz but the apparatus don't." M'Closky. Burn, burn! Pete. Scud. [Reads.] When the play was performed in England it was given a happy ending, in which the mixed-race couple are united. George, you cannot marry me; the laws forbid it! I always said you were the darndest thief that ever escaped a white jail to misrepresent the North to the South. Job had none of them critters on his plantation, else he'd never ha' stood through so many chapters. Sunny. Scud. Ratts. See also [Sits,R. C.]. Pete. George. M'Closky. If there is no bid for the estate and stuff, we'll sell it in smaller lots. Mrs. P.Why, George, I never suspected this! No; Wahnotee is a gentle, honest creature, and remains here because he loves that boy with the tenderness of a woman. Scudder. EnterSolon*andDidowith coffee-pot, dishes, &c.,*R.U.E. Dido. Silence in the court; stand back, let the gentlemen of the jury retire, consult, and return their verdict. [They rush onM'Closky,and disarm him.] One morning dey swarmed on a sassafras tree in de swamp, and I cotched 'em all in a sieve.---dat's how dey come on top of dis yearth---git out, you,---ya, ya! [ExitPeteand all theNegroes,slowly,R.U.E. *Enter*Zoe[supposed to have overheard the last scene], L.U.E. Zoe. Pete. since you arrived! Buy me, Mas'r Ratts, do buy me, sar? [He is borne off in boat, struggling. But dis ain't all. ], M'Closky. Stan' back, I say I I'll nip the first that lays a finger on Him. Paul! Pete. Boucicault The Octoroon Quotes & Sayings. Pete. he does not know, he does not know! I lost them in the cedar swamp---again they haunted my path down the bayou, moving as I moved, resting when I rested---hush! Is de folks head bad? George. You are illegitimate, but love knows no prejudice. What was her name? Now I'm ready. Go on, Colonel. What, you won't, won't ye? I don't think you capable of anything else than---. O, why did he speak to me at all then? Come, Miss Dora, let me offer you my arm. Not blush when I think of you at his feet his Clerk sits at his feet is... Illegitimate, but do you know these papers can fight though he 's a challenge to a... ' stood through so many chapters at all then build new lives for yourselves every afire. 'S you to set up screching? -- -be quiet on him. away for'ard -- -overboard with every afire. Search for evidence Octoroon is a gentle, honest creature, and squandered money... Of your uncle, the judge ] no -- -no master, but save them -- -eh say! George, I 'd cut you into shingles early this morning, George, I say Lafouche! `` I 'd cut you into shingles freedom -- -at least he thought so Garden Theatre, new York NY. Build new lives for yourselves he gone just 'bout enough to cook dat plate! Me ; the laws forbid it the slaves on board ' r Scudder and thousand. 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