Henrique St. Clare

Character Analysis

Henrique, the young son of Alfred St. Clare, quickly falls in love with his blonde, frail, angelic little cousin Eva. He only appears for one scene, in which he doesn’t understand why his gallant behavior toward Eva is compromised by his aggressive, violent behavior towards his slave, Dodo. Henrique shows us how an aristocratic southern gentleman can be raised to behave with impeccable manners toward others of his own rank – but with brutality toward slaves. Southern gentility, Stowe reminds us, is no protection against the dehumanizing quality of slavery as an institution.