# Miss Hester Prime — The Uncalled character guide

> Miss Hester Prime in The Uncalled by Paul Laurence Dunbar.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Miss Prime, Hester Prime, Hester

**First appearance:** 0000-i

## Snapshot

A stern spinster who takes in the orphaned Freddie as a matter of dooty, Miss Prime raises him with iron discipline and an unbending sense of righteousness.

## Who they are

Miss Hester Prime is the woman who, amid the gossip and grudges of Margaret Brent's deathbed, astonishes her neighbors by claiming the child as her own burden. She spars openly with women like Mandy Warren, defending her charity while refusing to soften her judgment of Margaret's life, and she shapes Freddie after a pattern of her own devising. Her fierce, unyielding love — expressed as duty rather than tenderness — becomes the anvil against which Fred's ambitions and rebellions are beaten.

## Relationships

### [Fred Brent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/fred_brent)

_romantic_

Fred is deeply in love with Hester, but their relationship is complicated by social pressures and his internal conflicts.

### [Eliphalet Hodges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/eliphalet_hodges)

_family_

Eliphalet is Hester's uncle and guardian, exerting strict religious authority over her life.

### [Mrs. Hester Hodges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/mrs_hester_hodges)

_family_

Hester is the daughter of Mrs. Hester Hodges, sharing a close but strained bond due to family secrets.

### [Melissy Davis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/melissy_davis)

_friendship_

Melissy is Hester's close friend and confidante, offering her support and gossip.

### [Elizabeth Simpson](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/elizabeth_simpson)

_rivalry_

Elizabeth sees Hester as a rival for Fred's affections, leading to jealousy and coolness between them.

### [Fred Brent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/fred_brent)

_romantic_

Fred is deeply in love with Hester, but their relationship is complicated by social pressures and his internal conflicts.

### [Mrs. Hester Hodges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/mrs_hester_hodges)

_family_

Hester is the daughter of Mrs. Hester Hodges, sharing a close but strained bond due to family secrets.

### [Eliphalet Hodges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/eliphalet_hodges)

_family_

Eliphalet is Hester's uncle and guardian, exerting strict religious authority over her life.

### [Eliphalet Hodges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/eliphalet_hodges)

_family_

Eliphalet is Hester's uncle and guardian, exerting strict religious authority over her life.

### [Fred Brent](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/fred_brent)

_romantic_

Fred is deeply in love with Hester, but their relationship is complicated by social pressures and his internal conflicts.

### [Melissy Davis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/melissy_davis)

_friendship_

Melissy is Hester's close friend and confidante, offering her support and gossip.

### [Mrs. Hester Hodges](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/mrs_hester_hodges)

_family_

Hester is the daughter of Mrs. Hester Hodges, sharing a close but strained bond due to family secrets.

## In the story

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/i)

A stern, duty-bound woman who stays to prepare Margaret's body despite her disapproval of Margaret's life.

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

Moves about the death chamber with solemn face and quiet tread, arranging things with maidenly neatness; attends the funeral in the procession.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/iii)

A stern spinster who volunteers to take Fred out of a sense of religious duty, despite the women's surprise and her own lack of experience with children.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/iv)

Takes Freddie into her home; struggles with how to care for a child; reflects on her own disciplined life.

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

Takes charge of Freddie after his mother's death, asserting her intention to raise him strictly and piously.

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

Fred's guardian who enforces a strict, repressive upbringing; takes Fred to church and forces him to apologize to Willie Tompkins.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/vii)

Scolds Fred for ruining his suit but shows affection; conspires with Rev. Simpson to bring Fred to religion; feels possessive of Fred's spiritual progress.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/viii)

Announces her decision to make Fred a preacher; dismisses Eliphalet's romantic advances.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/ix)

Determined to make Fred a preacher; she arranges for him to work half-days at Mr. Daniels's store and attend the Bible Seminary the other half.

### [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/chapters/x)

Referenced in the context of her harsh discipline that would have turned Fred to bitterness.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters/miss_hester_prime
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_uncalled_se/characters