Uncle Tom's Cabin Characters

Uncle Tom is notable for his superhuman religious faith, his gentle nature, and his unfailing honesty. But he’s also notable for being a stereotype – a childlike "noble savage," an idea...

Let’s put it this way: if there had been a musical version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin made in the 1930s, Eva would have been played by Shirley Temple. She’s an incredibly beautiful, swe...

Tom’s last earthly master, the brutal Louisiana plantation owner Simon Legree, is one of the four most famous characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin – but he doesn’t appear until t...

Topsy is like Simon Legree in only one way: she’s one of the most famous characters in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but she appears in the novel relatively briefly. Still, the four characters fro...

George is an intelligent and innovative young man who happens to be the slave of a cruel, petty one – Mr. Harris. George is talented and inventive. When he’s sent to work in a bagging f...

Eliza Harris, wife of George Harris, is a relatively privileged slave of the Shelbys and a devout Christian. Although her life has been one of bondage, her mistress has been kind to her, her marria...

Augustine St. Clare, father of Eva and brief owner of Tom, is perhaps the most contradictory character in Stowe’s novel – he sees what’s right but fails to do it. In this, he remi...

St. Clare’s cousin Miss Ophelia is a pious, hard-working, abolitionist from the North. She's also unmarried, and beyond marrying age. When St. Clare brings her back to his Louisiana home to c...

Cassy, Legree’s literal sex slave, is a minor but important character who gives Stowe an opportunity to suggest, with a few broad strokes, the extent of the sexual mistreatment to which femal...

Marie, wife of Augustine St. Clare and mother of the angelic Eva, is a hard-hearted, selfish hypochondriac. Once the belle of the local ball, she is completely incapable of human sympathy, especial...

Tom’s first master, Mr. Shelby, is kind but careless. On his Kentucky farm, Mr. Shelby treats his slaves relatively humanely – but when his mismanagement of the household finances cause...

Mrs. Shelby is a kind, Christian mistress who takes her responsibilities toward her slaves and their souls very seriously. When her husband sells Tom and Harry, Eliza’s son, she is sickened b...

Mr. Haley, the unscrupulous slave trader who buys Tom and Harry from Mr. Shelby, is just out to make a buck as easily as possible. He’s not completely evil, but he’s not particularly go...

Aunt Chloe, Uncle Tom’s wife, is a good, faithful, Christian woman, an affectionate mother, and an excellent cook. We see little of her except when she’s performing a service for others...

George Shelby, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby, is a kind young man who loves Uncle Tom. When Tom is first sold away from the Shelby family farm in Kentucky, young George Shelby, not yet legally a m...

Emmeline, a beautiful fifteen-year-old slave girl, has been raised in an upper-class household by a Christian mother. Separated from her mom at the auction block, Emmeline is bought by Simon Legree...

Alfred St. Clare, Augustine’s twin brother, is his complete opposite – fully believing in a hierarchical, aristocratic society and in the right of the slave owner to control his slaves...

Senator and Mrs. Bird live in the free state of Ohio, through which fugitive slaves often passed on their way to Canada. Senator Bird helps pass the Fugitive Slave Act, which makes assisting runawa...

We hear about the slave-catcher Tom Loker early in the novel from his friend Haley, who boasts about Tom Loker’s brutality toward his slaves. Hired by Haley to catch Eliza and Harry, Tom plot...

The Quakers are members of a religious sect committed to pacifism and abolition; they help many slaves reach Canada. The Quakers shelter Eliza, George Harris, and their son, along with other slaves...

Mr. Wilson, George Harris’s boss at the bagging factory, is a timid but good-hearted man. He tries to stick up for George when his master decides to humiliate him, take him away from his job,...

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 gal...

Separated from her brother George when they were children, Madame de Thoux was lucky enough to have been bought by a man who freed and married her. When he died, she became a wealthy woman. When Ma...

Phineas converted to the Quaker faith because he fell in love with a Quaker woman – but he struggles with its non-violent, pacifist principles. In fact, when threatened by Tom Loker, he pushe...