Character guide

William Wells Brown

major

Also known as W. Wells Brown, Mr. Brown, William, Brown, Wells Brown, Mr. William Wells Brown, Mr. Willis, William W. Brown

William is a tall, full-bodied mechanic whose countenance beams with intelligence, a man who has earned more than his purchase price and saved one hundred and fifty dollars toward his own liberty. Moved to tears by Clotel's story, he surrenders that hoard in an instant, then argues against her daring scheme even as he agrees to play the loud, grumbling servant in it. His generosity and his fear of recapture pull against each other, making him the moral hinge on which the novel's first flight to freedom turns.

Clotel

major

Also known as Miss Clotel, poor Clotel, Clotel The

Clotel is a fair-skinned enslaved woman whose beauty and near-white complexion let her pass as a free lady, a fact she turns into a weapon when she disguises herself as the invalid Mr. Johnson and books passage north. Her love for Horatio Green survives his abandonment, yet she refuses to answer his pleading letters and prays his new wife never learns she exists, choosing another woman's peace over her own heart. That self-denial, paired with her fierce devotion to her daughter Mary, drives the novel's central ache: a mother who can be sold away from her child at any moment.

Georgiana Carlton

major

Also known as Georgiana, Carlton, Georgy, Miss Georgy

Georgiana is a planter's daughter who has read about woman's rights but cannot nerve herself to speak to Carlton until Sam's idle remark about love shames her into action. Once married, she and her husband scrap the overseer's regime, dismiss the preacher who tells slaves to be content, and debate whether freedom means Liberia, the Free States, or Canada. Her insistence that this land is as much the negro's as her own makes her the novel's clearest white ally and a counterweight to every hypocritical master around her.

Horatio Green

supporting

Also known as young Green, Horatio

Horatio Green is the man whose uneasy slumbers murmur Clotel's name, whose lips quiver and face turns deadly pale when he sees her and their child on the street. He chose ambition over the woman he truly loved, and now endures the wintry chill of his wife's polite propriety while sending remittances and begging letters Clotel never answers. His cowardice and lingering guilt make him the novel's portrait of respectable Northern complicity, a man who feels everything and dares to do almost nothing.

Sam

supporting

Also known as Mr. Sam, Marser Sam, Marser

Sam is the servant who lingers in Carlton's room with the boots in his hands, wishing aloud that Marser Carlton and Miss Georgy would marry so the household might have good times. His casual remark about love haunts Georgiana all night and pushes her to propose, and the servants' delight at the wedding shows how closely the enslaved watch their owners' hearts. Comic on the surface, Sam is also a strategist: his chatter is the small lever by which the plantation's whole regime begins to shift.

Mr. Peck

supporting

Also known as Peck, The Rev. John Peck, John Peck

Mr. Peck is the slaveholding parson whose sermons Snyder-style comfort the enslaved into accepting their lot, making them better satisfied and more valuable as property without preparing them for the world to come. He embodies the book's charge that Southern religion has been enlisted in slavery's service, a man whose collar and his ledger never contradict each other. His ownership of Clotel places her directly under the hand of respectable hypocrisy, raising the stakes of every escape attempt she makes.

Mr. Carlton

supporting

Also known as Carlton, Mrs. Carlton, Mr. and Mrs. Carlton, Miles Carlton, the Parson Carlton

A wealthy slaveholder whose buried past with Clotel resurfaces when his young wife glimpses the child he cannot acknowledge.

Currer

supporting

Clotel's mother, a woman whose love for her daughter survives every sale, separation, and cruelty that slavery can devise.

Mr. Green

supporting

Also known as George Green, little George, George, Mrs. Green, Mary Green, Mary

A slaveholder's son whose whiteness and conscience collide when he joins an uprising and faces the price of freedom.

Henry Morton

supporting

Also known as Morton, Harry, James Morton, Mrs. Morton, Dr. Morton

A young Vermont doctor newly arrived in New Orleans who marries Althesa and dares to love across the color line.

Althesa

supporting

Also known as poor Althesa, Poor Althesa, The good and generous Althesa

Clotel's sister, sold into bondage yet determined to build a life of dignity with the doctor who loves her.

Mr. Devenant

supporting

Also known as Devenant, Mrs. Devenant

A French planter whose cruelty toward Althesa exposes how slavery corrupts even those who claim to love.

Ned Huckelby

minor

Also known as Huckelby, Ned, Edward

Slave overseer known for cruelty.

Aunt Polly

minor

Also known as Mary

Elderly slave woman who cares for children.

Pompey

minor

Slave who assists in the slave market.

Johnson

minor

Also known as Mr. Johnson, Sally Johnson, Sally

Slave trader who buys and sells Clotel.

Mr. Walker

minor

Also known as Walker, Dick Walker, Dick

Slave catcher who pursues runaways.

Gertrude

minor

Also known as Poor Gertrude

Slave woman who suffers under cruel masters.

Jones

minor

Also known as neighbour Jones, Mr. Jones, the Rev. C. C. Jones

Neighbor and fellow slaveholder who interacts with Mr. Peck.

The Judge

minor

Presiding judge in court cases involving slaves.

Mr. Smith

minor

Also known as Smith

Northern man who helps slaves escape via the Underground Railroad.

Snyder

minor

Also known as Mr. Snyder, Marser Snyder, Hontz Snyder

Cruel slaveholder who tortures his slaves.

Captain Price

minor

Also known as Captain Enoch Price, Enoch Price, Mrs. Price

Slave ship captain who transports slaves.

Mrs. French

minor

Also known as Mr. James French, Mr. French, Jim

Woman who helps slaves escape via the Underground Railroad.

Miss Peck

minor

Daughter of Mr. Peck, briefly courted by Horatio.

Salome

minor

Also known as Salome Miller

White woman reduced to slavery through fraud.

Bruin

minor

Also known as bruin

Slave trader who operates in New Orleans.

Old Virginia

minor

Also known as Jane

Elderly slave woman on the Carlton plantation.

Mr. Webster

minor

Lawyer who assists in legal matters regarding slaves.

John Gosling

minor

Also known as Mr. John Gosling, cousin John

Relative of the Carlton family who visits the plantation.

Aaron

minor

Also known as Byron

Slave who attempts to escape with Clotel.

Uncle Simon

minor

Elderly slave on the Green plantation.

Tobias

minor

Also known as Toby, Mr. Tobias

Slave who works as a servant in the Carlton household.

Mr. Boon

minor

Slave catcher who pursues Clotel.

Shakespeare Crawford

minor

Also known as James Crawford, Crawford

Actor who performs in the South and interacts with slaves.

Volney Lapuc

minor

Also known as Volney

French traveler who comments on American slavery.

Jerry

minor

Also known as Jeremiah

Slave who escapes with Sam.

Mrs. Marshall

minor

Woman who shelters runaway slaves.

Dinah

minor

Also known as Miss Dinah

Cook in the Peck household.

Nell

minor

Also known as Ellen

Slave woman who helps Clotel during her escape.

Buddington

minor

Slave trader who buys Clotel at auction.

Dogget

minor

Slave catcher who tracks runaways.

Freeland

minor

Also known as a Mr. Freeland

Slaveholder who treats his slaves relatively well.

Emperor

minor

Slave who works on the steamboat.

Alexander Hastie

minor

Also known as Sandy

Scottish abolitionist who helps slaves escape.

Mr. Hobbs

minor

Also known as Mr. J. C. Hobbs

Slave trader who buys Clotel.

Peter

minor

Slave who assists in the escape of others.

Agnes

minor

Also known as Miss Agnes

Slave woman on the Green plantation.