# Rhadma — Poetry character guide

> Rhadma in Poetry by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0000-eliza-harris

## Snapshot

A watchful presence whose pronouns thread through the verse, bearing witness to suffering and weighing the worth of a deathless soul against all earthly wealth.

## Who they are

Rhadma hovers at the edge of Harper's poems as a consciousness that gathers evidence — the fleeing mother, the broken household, the scales brought forth to weigh a soul against gold and gems. The tension lies in what such witnessing costs: to see clearly is to be implicated, to measure truly is to find the world wanting. This figure matters because the collection's moral force depends on someone refusing to look away, insisting that a soul outweighs every mine and crown.

## In the story

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

Rhadma, an aged lord, recounts Moses' past and warns Pharaoh of his intentions, supporting the decree to make the Israelites gather their own straw.

## Links

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