The play opens up with…

George: [Bitterly.] I wish he’d never been born! I wish I’d never been born myself!

Eliza: [Sinking her head upon his breast and weeping.] Oh George!

Geo: There now, Eliza, it’s too bad for me to make you feel so. Oh! how I wish you had never seen me—you might have been happy!

Eliza: George! George! how can you talk so? What dreadful thing has happened, or is going to happen? I’m sure we’ve been very happy till lately.

Geo: So we have, dear. But oh! I wish I’d never seen you, nor you me.

Eliza: Oh, George! how can you?

To me this just screams melodrama from the beginning of the play. It sets the stage for an emotional roller coaster throughout the play. I wouldn’t typically picture a man acting that way when faced with something upsetting. This beginning leads me to believe that throughout the play every turn will be faced with different hardships and will consider the different approaches that the characters take as they are in different places in life. From the beginning we are introduced to the social setting and the struggle that Negros faced during the time.

via UTC I.