# Pharaoh — Poetry character guide

> Pharaoh in Poetry by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0025-moses

## Snapshot

The hard-hearted king whose refusal to release a captive people brings plague and ruin, a warning to every power that traffics in human bondage.

## Who they are

He is the archetypal oppressor, deaf to suffering until destruction sweeps his land and the wings of dark destruction stretch from strand to strand. In Harper's hands his story becomes a mirror held up to slaveholding America, a nation warned that its own night of death is being written. He matters because his fall is the poem's promise that no empire built on cruelty stands forever.

## Relationships

### [Moses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/moses)

_rivalry_

Moses confronts Pharaoh as a divine adversary, demanding the release of Israel amidst plagues and hardened resistance.

### [The People](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/the_people)

_rivalry_

Pharaoh oppresses the People of Israel, creating a dynamic of ruler versus subjects.

### [Israel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/israel)

_rivalry_

Israel is enslaved by Pharaoh, creating a fundamental conflict between oppressor and oppressed.

### [Moses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/moses)

_rivalry_

Moses confronts Pharaoh as a divine adversary, demanding the release of Israel amidst plagues and hardened resistance.

### [The People](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/the_people)

_rivalry_

Pharaoh oppresses the People of Israel, creating a dynamic of ruler versus subjects.

### [Israel](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/israel)

_rivalry_

Israel is enslaved by Pharaoh, creating a fundamental conflict between oppressor and oppressed.

## In the story

### [Moses](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/moses)

Implied as the ruler whose officers oppress the Hebrews and whose daughter raised Moses.

### [The Parting](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/i-the-parting)

Appears in Charmian's memory as the stern father who initially decreed the death of Hebrew male children but relented for his dead wife's sake.

### [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/ii)

Present at the ceremony in On; his brow darkens when Moses refuses to swear allegiance.

### [Flight Into Midian](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/iii-flight-into-midian)

Pharaoh is building a pyramid and oppressing Israel with cruel tasks.

### [The Burning Bush and the Commission](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/iv)

Pharaoh receives Moses and Aaron with scorn, refusing to heed the God of Israel.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/v)

Pharaoh convenes a council, heeds the advice of Amorphel and Rhadma to increase the Israelites' burdens, and later defies Moses' request for a sign, only to relent after the tenth plague.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/vi)

Blindly pursues Israel after the death of his firstborn, leading his army to destruction in the sea.

### [Deliverance](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/chapters/deliverance)

The oppressor from whose hand the sons of Abraham are thrust out.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/pharaoh
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters