# Mistress Epps — Twelve Years a Slave character guide

> Mistress Epps in Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Epps, Mrs. Epps

**First appearance:** 0011-viii

## Snapshot

Master Epps's wife, whose jealousy of the enslaved girl Patsey curdles into a cruelty that demands whipping as casually as she orders supper.

## Who they are

Mistress Epps occupies the strange position of a white woman with power over slaves but no power over her husband's desires, and she takes her humiliation out on Patsey's back. She orders Solomon to whip the girl without provocation, and when he refuses, she escalates her campaign of torment. Her jealousy is not tragic but vicious, and it spreads to Epps himself, turning both master and mistress into a single engine of punishment. She matters because she shows how slavery corrupts even those it supposedly protects, making cruelty a household routine.

## Relationships

### [Master Epps](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters/master_epps)

_romantic_

Epps and his wife have a volatile marriage marked by his infidelity with Patsey and her jealous rage.

## In the story

### [Chapter XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/chapters/xiii)

Jealous and cruel, delights in Patsey's suffering, even tempting Solomon to kill her.

### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/chapters/xiv)

Driven by jealousy; torments Patsey; described as once kind but now consumed by vengeance.

### [Chapter XVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/chapters/xviii)

Sews up Uncle Abram's wound and censures her husband, yet her jealousy contributes to Patsey's misery.

### [XXI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/chapters/xxi)

Expresses regret at losing Solomon and says she would rather lose any other servant.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters/mistress_epps
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters