Uncle Tom’s Cabin · Character

Marie St. Clare

A faded Southern belle turned chronic invalid, she exacts love like a debt and rules her household through complaint rather than care.

supporting

Also known as Marie, Miss Marie, old Missis

First appearance: XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters

As a supporting figure in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Marie St. Clare is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Augustine's wife, a beautiful but intensely selfish and hypochondriac woman who resents her husband's attention to their daughter Eva.

In the storyXV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other MattersOpen this moment free

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Marie St. Clare presides over a New Orleans household where her sick-headaches and imagined ailments dictate everyone's schedule but her own. Once a blooming belle, she now resents her husband's devotion to their daughter Eva and treats the enslaved people around her with casual cruelty. Her bottomless demand for sympathy exposes how slavery corrupts even the women it supposedly protects, setting the moral stage for the St. Clare chapters.

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See Marie St. Clare in XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters

Character Web

43 connections

A slice of how Marie St. Clare sits in the book — open the reader for the full interactive map.

Relationship types

Family
Other

Character groups

St. Clare household and Shelby family
Diverse minor characters and slave traders
Quaker and abolitionist helpers

+38 more in the full Character Web

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point

The "Endnotes" chapter serves as the dramatic climax because it abruptly shifts the narrative focus from the c…

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Relationships

Eva St. Clare
family · ambivalent
Eva is the beloved but spiritually distant daughter of the self-absorbed and… How this plays out →
Uncle Tom
professional · negative
Mammy
professional · negative
Eva St. Clare
family · ambivalent
Eva is the beloved but spiritually distant daughter of the self-absorbed and… How this plays out →
Eva St. Clare
family · ambivalent
Eva is the beloved but spiritually distant daughter of the self-absorbed and… How this plays out →
Mammy
professional · negative
Uncle Tom
professional · negative
Uncle Tom
professional · negative
Mammy
professional · negative

Eva St. Clare
Eva is the beloved but spiritually distant daughter of the self-absorbed and hypochondriac Marie.
Uncle Tom
Marie is Tom's self-centered and neglectful mistress after Augustine's death, viewing Tom as a mere servant to be managed.
Mammy
Mammy is Marie's long-suffering enslaved maid, enduring Marie's constant complaints and demands with weary patience.
Eva St. Clare
Eva is the beloved but spiritually distant daughter of the self-absorbed and hypochondriac Marie.
Eva St. Clare
Eva is the beloved but spiritually distant daughter of the self-absorbed and hypochondriac Marie.
Mammy
Mammy is Marie's long-suffering enslaved maid, enduring Marie's constant complaints and demands with weary patience.
Uncle Tom
Marie is Tom's self-centered and neglectful mistress after Augustine's death, viewing Tom as a mere servant to be managed.
Uncle Tom
Marie is Tom's self-centered and neglectful mistress after Augustine's death, viewing Tom as a mere servant to be managed.
Mammy
Mammy is Marie's long-suffering enslaved maid, enduring Marie's constant complaints and demands with weary patience.

Relationship notes

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See Marie St. Clare in XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters

In the story

Marie St. Clare appears across 9 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters
Augustine's wife, a beautiful but intensely selfish and hypochondriac woman who resents her husband's attention to their daughter Eva.
Tom's Mistress and Her Opinions
Marie complains about her slaves, especially Mammy, and expresses selfishness and lack of empathy. She defends slavery as necessary for her comfort.
Miss Ophelia's Experiences and Opinions Continued
Dismisses sympathy for Prue, claiming her own trials are greater; defends harsh treatment of slaves.
XXII: “The Grass Withereth—The Flower Fadeth”
Marie dismisses Eva's concerns about educating the enslaved, citing social norms and her own headaches. She shows Eva a diamond necklace, planning for her future in society.
XXIV: Foreshadowings
Marie remains self-centered, dismissing Eva's illness and focusing on her own imagined sufferings.
The Little Evangelist
Complains of heart trouble and advocates harsh punishment for Topsy.
XXVI: Death
Eva's mother, who is self-centered and prone to hysterics, complaining of her own health.
XXVII: “This Is the Last of Earth”
Self-absorbed in her grief, she criticizes St. Clare's lack of visible emotion.
The Unprotected
Reveals her unfeeling and tyrannical character after her husband's death, ordering whippings and planning to sell the slaves.

Chapter companion notes

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See Marie St. Clare in XV: Of Tom’s New Master, and Various Other Matters