The role of women in Uncle Tom’s Cabin undergoes
a slight complication in these chapters, as the reader encounters
women who do not fit into the religious feminine ideal that Stowe
has offered so far. Not only does Ophelia differ from previously
presented women; Marie offers a sharp contrast to those ideal types.
The grating presence of Marie may serve to emphasize the goodness
of the women whom Stowe seeks to uphold as models. Moreover, Marie
seems to be intended to represent a white woman who is inferior
to her own slaves in her personal qualities. This inferiority of
character challenges the assumed white-black moral hierarchy.
