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Melodrama, Race, and the Search for Moral Legibility in Nineteenth-Century America

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Melodrama, Race, and the Search for Moral Legibility in Nineteenth-Century America University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 1-1-2017 A Raucous Entertainment: Melodrama, Race, and the Search for Moral Legibility in Nineteenth-Century America Sarah M. Olivier University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, and the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Olivier, Sarah M., "A Raucous Entertainment: Melodrama, Race, and the Search for Moral Legibility in Nineteenth-Century America" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1271. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1271 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. A Raucous Entertainment: Melodrama, Race, and the Search for Moral Legibility in Nineteenth-Century America ______________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities University of Denver ______________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ______________ by Sarah M. Olivier June 2017 Advisor: Clark Davis, Ph.D. ©Copyright by Sarah M. Olivier 2017 All Rights Reserved Author: Sarah M. Olivier Title: A Raucous Entertainment: Melodrama, Race, and the Search for Moral Legibility in Nineteenth-Century America Advisor: Clark Davis, Ph.D. Degree Date: June 2017 ABSTRACT Gathering together episodes from American theater history, my dissertation focuses on the destabilizing identities and paradoxical resolutions of so-called “Indian” and slavery plays to address nineteenth-century melodrama’s fundamental engagement with race. Melodrama is a spectacular form that uses iconic images to move audiences to feel powerful emotions and to assign moral legibility to societal problems. Given the significant role of territorial expansion and chattel slavery in US history, race has always presented Americans with crucial moral dilemmas. Melodrama has long provided a dominant mode of representation for addressing such dilemmas that hinges upon racially inflected conceptions of good and evil. Yet melodrama’s search for moral legibility depends upon contentious performance rituals that make this search far more complex than it is generally conceived to be. I argue that its paradoxical resolutions provide a ritualized framework for the staging of contested identities and ideologies during the period of America’s national formation. My view of melodrama accounts for the interactive and raucous nature of nineteenth-century performance culture. It also incorporates the contributions of Native Americans and African Americans, which deserve more attention in studies of antebellum melodrama. I argue that melodrama has its origins in a colonial history—fraught with genocidal wars against indigenous peoples and the theft of African persons for slave labor—that shapes America’s socio-political structures throughout much of the nineteenth century. My account of melodrama’s rise ii throws into sharp relief how central the moral dilemmas posed by racial conflict have been to this influential American form since its beginnings. Placing Indian and slavery plays alongside one another, including Metamora (1829), Nick of the Woods (1838), The Forest Princess (1848), The Escape (1858), The Stars and Stripes (1848), and The Octoroon (1859), I emphasize the important points of connection between their representations of racialized victimization and vilification. Melodrama still influences the way we think and talk about race in America, and a look at our contemporary cultural moment shows that melodrama’s paradoxical search for moral legibility continues to unfold. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has benefitted enormously from the assistance and contributions of numerous institutions and individuals. I thank the staff from the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship at Emory University and the staff from the Lamont School of Music and Anderson Academic Commons at the University of Denver for their research assistance. Many thanks to the faculty and staff in the English Department at the University of Colorado at Denver for their support during the completion of this project. I offer deep gratitude to my dissertation committee: to Professor Jan Gorak for his inspiring encouragement and constructive feedback; to Professor Tayana Hardin for her fruitful conversations and support of my professional development; and to Professor Diane Waldman for the opportunity to explore melodrama outside the realm of literature. I offer a most special and heartfelt thanks to Professor Clark Davis for his close readings, insightful feedback, invaluable mentorship, and for being one of the finest teachers I have ever had. Thanks to Professors Adam Rovner, Billy J. Stratton, Gillian Silverman, Susan Linville, and Carolyn L. Karcher for their input and guidance. Mike, Kate, Audrey, Anthony, Nick, Jackie, and Danielle, thank you for keeping me sane and helping me to live a joyful life. George R. Olivier and Wanda Olivier, thank you for contributing so much to my education. Thanks to my mother for my love of literature; to my father for my appreciation of the intricacies of storytelling; and to both of my parents for their unparalleled constancy and encouragement. As with so many of the most cherished aspects of my life, this work would not be possible without Mario Zuccaro, who offered endless proofreading, stimulating conversations, and enduring support; to be melodramatic, words cannot express my love and gratitude for you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………..………1 Part One: The Rise of American Melodrama The Figural Theater in Colonial History and Indian Plays from the 1820s to the 1840s……………………………………………………………………………..26 Chapter One: “The Last of the Wampanoags” Melodramatic Portrayals of Metacomet by John Augustus Stone, Edwin Forrest, and William Apess………………………………………………46 Chapter Two: Villainous Indians and Virtuous Heroines Nick of the Woods from Page to Stage…………………………………...60 Chapter Three: A Melodramatic Intervention Theatrical Simulations of Pocahontas and Charlotte Barnes’s The Forest Princess…………………………………………………………………..76 Part Two: The Maturation of American Melodrama Sensationalized Suffering and Slavery Plays of the 1850s……………………..101 Chapter Four: A Populist Approach Sensationalized Suffering in Dion Boucicault’s The Octoroon………...114 Chapter Five: A Comic Approach Black Agency and White Authority in William Wells Brown’s The Escape…………………………………………………………………..138 Chapter Six: A Rationalist Approach White Abolitionist Identity and Black Strategies of Resistance in Lydia Maria Child’s The Stars and Stripes……………………………………160 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...196 Notes……………………………………………………………………………………208 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………225 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Portrait of Edwin Forrest as Metamora by Frederick Styles Agate……………52 Figure 2. Joseph Proctor as the Jibbenainosay in Nick of the Woods................................66 Figure 3. Illustration of Zoe on the auction block in The Octoroon................................127 Figure 4. Illustration of “Negro Dentistry”……………………………………………..148 Figure 5. Back cover of the 1843 Antislavery Almanac………………………………..168 vi INTRODUCTION A Raucous Entertainment On 18 November 2016, Vice President-elect Mike Pence went to the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City to see a performance of the melodrama Hamilton: An American Musical (2015). His presence provoked raucous outcries from the crowd throughout the performance, and the cast addressed him from the stage following the show. Upon entering the theater to take a prominent seat in the orchestra section, Pence was greeted with a loud outpouring of boos and hisses but also some supportive cheers. The crowd continued to make their sentiments known as the production’s popular musical numbers unfolded because, evidently, they perceived strong connections between the story of America’s revolutionary founding as a nation and the current political scene. While King George III (Rory O’Malley) cautioned a foundling America on the struggles of self-rule, singing lines like “Do you know how hard it is to lead?” and “When your people say they hate you / Don’t come crawling back to me,” audience members cheered, yelled, and pointed at Pence, forcing O’Malley and the band to pause the song several times. When Alexander Hamilton (Javier Muñoz) and the Marquis de Lafayette (Seth Stewart) commented on their participation in the Revolutionary War with 1 the famous line “Immigrants: we get the job done!” an impromptu standing ovation halted the performance. The creator of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the director, Thomas Kail, and the lead producer, Jeffrey Seller, along with input from the cast members, composed a statement for the actors to read to Pence following the show. As actors in eighteenth-century costume and crewmembers in jeans and t-shirts linked arms across the stage, Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, read aloud: We, sir—we—are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights [interrupted by cheers]. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold
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