# Simon Legree — Uncle Tom’s Cabin character guide > Simon Legree in Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. **Role:** major **Also known as:** Mr. Legree, Legree, Simon **First appearance:** 0031-volume-ii-xxxii-dark-places ## Snapshot A coarse, violent plantation owner whose calloused fists and bottomless cruelty turn the novel's argument about slavery into flesh-and-blood horror. ## Who they are Legree is a Yankee by birth who has come south to make his fortune in cotton, and he runs his Red River plantation on fear, whiskey, and the absolute power the law gives him over the bodies of the people he owns. He is not a hypocrite like St. Clare or a gentleman like Shelby—he is the system stripped of its genteel excuses, a man whose only interest in his slaves is what they can produce before they break. His arrival in Tom's life marks the point at which the novel stops asking whether slavery can be humane and starts showing what it looks like when it is not. ## Relationships ### [Uncle Tom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/uncle_tom) _rivalry_ Legree is Tom's brutal, sadistic master who seeks to break Tom's faith and will through violence and intimidation. ### [Cassy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/cassy) _psychological_ Cassy is Legree's enslaved mistress, trapped in a relationship of hatred, manipulation, and shared trauma, plotting against him. ### [Emmeline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/emmeline) _psychological_ Emmeline is a young enslaved woman bought by Legree to be his sexual victim, living in constant terror of his brutality. ### [Uncle Tom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/uncle_tom) _rivalry_ Legree is Tom's brutal, sadistic master who seeks to break Tom's faith and will through violence and intimidation. ### [Cassy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/cassy) _psychological_ Cassy is Legree's enslaved mistress, trapped in a relationship of hatred, manipulation, and shared trauma, plotting against him. ### [Cassy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/cassy) _psychological_ Cassy is Legree's enslaved mistress, trapped in a relationship of hatred, manipulation, and shared trauma, plotting against him. ### [Emmeline](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/emmeline) _psychological_ Emmeline is a young enslaved woman bought by Legree to be his sexual victim, living in constant terror of his brutality. ### [Uncle Tom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/uncle_tom) _rivalry_ Legree is Tom's brutal, sadistic master who seeks to break Tom's faith and will through violence and intimidation. ## In the story ### [XXX: The Slave Warehouse](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxx-the-slave-warehouse) Legree is the bullet-headed buyer who purchases Emmeline, Tom, and two other men at the auction, becoming their new master. ### [XXXI: The Middle Passage](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxi-the-middle-passage) Legree asserts dominance over Tom and the other slaves, boasting of his brutality and threatening them with violence. ### [Dark Places](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxii-dark-places) Legree drives the wagon, drinks, forces the slaves to sing, and makes threatening advances toward Emmeline. ### [The Quadroon's Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxiv-the-quadroon-s-story) Legree is the brutal master who ordered Tom's beating and is the object of Cassy's hatred. ### [XXXV: The Tokens](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxv-the-tokens) Haunted by the memory of his mother and the lock of hair, Legree struggles with guilt and superstition, becoming more brutal yet internally tormented. ### [Emmeline and Cassy](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxvi-emmeline-and-cassy) Legree experiences a haunting nightmare about his mother and wakes in a rage. He is momentarily swayed by Cassy's manipulation but vows future revenge on Tom. ### [XXXVIII: The Victory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxviii-the-victory) Legree torments Tom, beats him, and is enraged by Tom's newfound cheerfulness and faith. ### [The Stratagem](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xxxix-the-stratagem) Falls for Cassy's tricks, organizes a hunt, and is outwitted. ### [The Martyr](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xl-the-martyr) In a rage over the escape of Cassy and Emmeline, he tortures Tom to death. ### [The Young Master](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xli-the-young-master) The brutal slave owner who beat Tom; he confronts George and is knocked down after taunting him. ### [An Authentic Ghost Story](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/chapters/volume-ii-xlii-an-authentic-ghost-story) Haunted by ghostly rumors and a terrifying nocturnal vision, he drinks heavily and experiences a supernatural encounter. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters/simon_legree - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/uncle_tom_s_cabin_se/characters