The Octoroon

Act V begins in the slave quarters, where Zoe knocks on the door of Dido, a slave and the estate’s cook. Zoe asks her for a drink that she uses to calm fevers, claiming that one of the people back at the house is sick. She then reveals, however, that she actually wants the liquid for herself because it is poisonous, and she wants to commit suicide after hearing George say about her: “I’d rather see her dead than [M’Closky’s]!” (69). “I’m afraid to die; yet I am more afraid to live,” Zoe says, asking Dido to “protect me from that man—do let me die without pain” (70). She refuses, but Zoe steals the bottle from her anyway and runs off.

Scene 2 is set in the Bayou, where M’Closky is asleep. He talks in his sleep, asking: “I’m not guilty; would ye murder me?” (70), but then wakes up and speaks about how he still feels as though he is being followed. He hopes that “in a little time this darned business will blow over, and I can show again” (71), and gets in a canoe and paddles off—with Wahnotee following. Scudder and Pete, meanwhile, are returning from the steamship with the news of M’Closky’s guilt and the found Liverpool letter. They hear a cry from the swamp and it is M’Closky, who “rushes on and falls at Scudder’s feet” (71), claiming that he heard voices and believes that death is after him. “Your crime has driven you mad” (72), Scudder says, when Wahnotee appears and rushes at M’Closky. M’Closky begs Scudder to help him and “not leave one of your own blood to be butchered by the redskin” (72), but Scudder refuses, saying: “Providence has chosen your executioner. I shan’t interfere” (72). He gives M’Closky his bowie knife to defend himself with and then goes off with Pete. M’Closky and Wahnotee fight and run off, and screams are heard from off stage.

The final scene takes place at the parlor at Terrebonne, where Zoe prepares to take the poisonous liquid. Mrs. Peyton, Dora, and George enter to say goodbye to Zoe before she faces her new life as M’Closky’s slave, when Zoe faints. She asks George to give her the poison, claiming it’s a “restorative” (73), and asks George if he loves her. “Zoe, if all I possess would buy your freedom, I would gladly give it” (73), he says after she has drunk the poison. Scudder then enters and tells them the good news that Terrebonne still belongs to the Peytons, and of M’Closky’s guilt. As they process their victory, Pete asks where Zoe is and realizes that she has drunk the poison and is now dying. Zoe, dying, asks for George, and tells him: “I could not bear my fate; and then I stood between your heart and hers [Dora’s]. When I am dead she will not be jealous of your love for me, no laws will stand between us” (75). As she dies, she tells George: “Oh! George, you may, without a blush, confess your love for the Octoroon” (75).

Zoe dies and the group forms a final “picture.” As that tableau darkens, the play ends with one final image at Paul’s grave, where M’Closky lies dead and Wahnotee stands triumphantly over him.