Simon Legree as Devil and Metaphor in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Introduction: Simon Legree as Villain and Metaphor

In Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, few characters loom as large as Simon Legree and his great cruelty toward the slaves he managed. Simon Legree is certainly the villain of this story about a gentle Black slave and his life. In fact, the name "Simon Legree" has come to signify cruelty and bitter hatred in American culture. Legree's character may be a larger-than-life villain, but he represents many of the most cruel and inhumane slave owners of his time. He may seem exaggerated today, but when Uncle Tom's Cabin was written in the 1850s, men like Simon Legree were quite common, which makes the character all the more chilling.

Legree serves an important purpose in the novel. He is a metaphor for the atrocities some slaves had to endure and for why they hoped so passionately for freedom. Beyond that, he represents the devil — or ultimate evil — in the world.

Legree's Cruelty and His Role as a Realistic Portrait

There is no doubt about it: Simon Legree is a cruel and uncaring master. Stowe introduces him to readers as he ransacks Tom's trunk, throws away personal items important to Tom, and steals Tom's clothing. Immediately it is clear that Simon Legree is an evil, cruel master who will hurt and degrade Tom as much as he can. Sadly, he is not as fictional as he may seem, and that is one reason so many white abolitionists like Stowe fought to free the slaves. They knew cruel masters personally, and they knew that many enslaved people suffered atrocities most readers could barely imagine.

Violence, Fear, and the Devil's Control

Stowe creates Legree as a man so evil that he could be a metaphor for the devil himself — and for the hellish practice of keeping slaves in the first place. Some of the first words he says to Tom are: "I have none o' yer bawling, praying, singing niggers on my place; so remember. Now, mind yourself," he said, with a stamp and a fierce glance of his gray eye, directed at Tom, "I'm your church now! You understand — you've got to be as I say" (Stowe 397). He is not a religious man, and he does not want his slaves practicing religion either, because they would then recognize just what a cruel and evil man he is. He is the devil, which is why he rejects religion and why he is such a hateful, spiteful, and wicked person.

Legree is a violent man who uses violence to keep his slaves in order. He tells them soon after he purchases them: "Well, I tell ye this yer fist has got as hard as iron knocking down niggers. I never see the nigger, yet, I couldn't bring down with one crack," said he, bringing his fist down so near to the face of Tom that he winked and drew back (Stowe 400). By keeping his slaves cowed with fear, he ensures their obedience and maintains the upper hand. It would be difficult for one man to control a group of people who had risen in revolt; however, if he keeps them fearful from the outset, he has a far better chance of maintaining control over a much larger number of people. Legree understands this, and knows that violence is something all people fear and shrink from. In this, he is very much like the devil, who maintains control over the souls in Hell through violence and terror.

The slaves see through Legree soon enough, as do the people around him. He tells one man aboard the ship that his arm is as hard as iron. The man replies, "practice has made your heart just like it." Legree answers, "Why, yes, I may say so. I reckon there's as little soft in me as in any one going. Tell you, nobody comes it over me! Niggers never gets round me, neither with squalling nor soft soap — that's a fact" (Stowe 401). Legree is hard as nails and possesses no soft or sentimental heart. Again, this shows he is the devil at heart. He shows no mercy even to the weak or the infirm, and he prides himself on his total lack of sentiment or feeling for others.

Conclusion: Legree's Purpose in Uncle Tom's Cabin

It is clear that the character of Simon Legree is central to Stowe's book. He must make Tom suffer to make Tom value freedom even more. He is a metaphor for every slave owner who mistreated enslaved people in the South, and ultimately he represents the devil with his cruel and evil ways. Without Simon Legree, the reader could not fully understand the cruelties and conditions that many enslaved people faced as they worked themselves to death.

By creating such a villainous and evil character, Stowe makes characters like Tom even more sympathetic and makes the reader hope that Tom and his family and friends will someday reach freedom and a decent life owned by no one but themselves. The abolitionist purpose of Uncle Tom's Cabin is inseparable from Legree's role: his cruelty is what gives the novel its moral urgency. Of course, in the end, Legree triumphs over Tom and kills him, which makes him even more hateful in the eyes of the reader — and underscores, more powerfully than any argument could, why the institution of slavery had to be destroyed.

References

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.