# Princess Charmian — Poetry character guide

> Princess Charmian in Poetry by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Charmian

**First appearance:** 0025-moses

## Snapshot

A royal woman whose remembered tenderness and faith shape a speaker's sense of honor, a mother-figure whose voice still guides him past fame and silver hair.

## Who they are

She exists in the poem as memory and blessing, the hand that pressed something sacred on the speaker's brow and first taught him how to wear his manhood as a crown. The world has since given him honor, wealth, and laurels, but none of it outweighs the thoughts that gather round her name. Her quiet faith is the moral foundation on which the speaker's public life rests.

## Relationships

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

Princess Charmian is a noble figure encountered by the narrator, possibly in a historical or imaginative context.

### [Father](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/father)

_social_

Father and Princess Charmian share a connection within the narrative, possibly as acquaintances or symbolic figures.

### [Father](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/father)

_social_

Father and Princess Charmian share a connection within the narrative, possibly as acquaintances or symbolic figures.

### [Unknown Narrator](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/poetry_7_se/characters/unknown_narrator)

_social_

Princess Charmian is a noble figure encountered by the narrator, possibly in a historical or imaginative context.

## In the story

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

Pharaoh's daughter who raised Moses; she parts from him sorrowfully when he chooses to join his people.

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

Pleads with Moses to stay, recounting how she saved him twice as an infant; her love and grief are palpable as he departs.

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

Pharaoh's daughter; an ashen terror creeps over her face as Moses refuses adoption into the royal line.

## Links

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