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Charlotte is a beautiful and well-educated, light-skinned enslaved woman who is one of Mr. and Mrs. Henry’s enslaved workers. She befriends Hannah when Hannah is staying with the Henrys. Although she’s a particular favorite of Mrs. Henry, and although Mrs. Henry celebrates Charlotte’s wedding to William with as much merriment as if Charlotte were her own daughter, Charlotte nevertheless lacks the dignity of freedom and autonomy. When her husband’s enslaver (Mr. Cropp) decides to break the couple up by selling William to a distant plantation, the couple decide to run away and ask Hannah for help. She demurs but wishes them the best. And, despite odds stacked against them, Charlotte and William do make it to freedom in New Jersey, where they live out the remainder of their lives in contentment.
Charlotte Quotes in The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The The Bondwoman’s Narrative quotes below are all either spoken by Charlotte or refer to Charlotte . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 11: An Elopement Quotes
I answered plainly that however just, or right, or expedient it might be to them to escape my accompanying their flight would be directly the reverse, that I could not lightly sacrifise the good opinion of Mrs Henry and her family, who had been so very kind to me, nor seem to participate in a scheme, of which the consummation must be an injury to them no less than a source of disquiet and anxiety. Duty, gratitude and honor forbid it.
“And so to a strained sense of honor you willingly sacrifise a prospect of freedom” said William. “Well, you can hug the chain if you please. With me it is liberty or death.”
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Chapter 17: Escape Quotes
Marriage like many other blessings I considered to be especially designed for the free, and something that all the victims of slavery should avoid as tending essentially to perpetuate that system. Hence to all overtures of that kind from whatever quarter they might come I had invariably turned a deaf ear. I had spurned domestic ties not because my heart was hard, but because it was my unalterable resolution never to entail slavery on any human being. And now when I had voluntarily renounced the society of those I might have learned to love should I be compelled to accept one, whose person, and speech, and manner could not fail to be ever regarded by me with loathing and disgust.
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Charlotte Character Timeline in The Bondwoman’s Narrative
The timeline below shows where the character Charlotte appears in The Bondwoman’s Narrative. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 9: The Slave-trader
...least until she wonders what the future will hold for the bride (later identified as Charlotte) and groom (later identified as William). After all, how can they fully take on the...
(full context)
Chapter 10: The Henry Family
...parlor. In the hallway, she runs into Anna, who tells her that she just caught Charlotte weeping, too, but that Charlotte wouldn’t tell her why. Moreover, Charlotte forbade Anna to tell...
(full context)
Chapter 11: An Elopement
...two weeks late. This gives Hannah ample time and opportunity to discover the source of Charlotte’s tears. First, rumors of a ghost begin to circulate among the enslaved workers of Forget...
(full context)
...her to protect him from the ghost, which he saw in the hallway outside of Charlotte’s room. Hannah sends Jo back to bed in his own hut and sneaks outside to...
(full context)
...that someone—although not a ghost—has been visiting the farm at night. Mrs. Henry, suspecting that Charlotte and William may be plotting an escape and aware of the legal ramifications if anyone...
(full context)
That night at the appointed hour, Hannah finds not only Charlotte but also William waiting for her in a shady part of the moonlit garden. They...
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In the morning, Charlotte is missing. Mrs. Henry weeps, less because of her own loss than because of her...
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Chapter 12: A New Mistress
Two days later, the Henry family learns from Mr. Cropp that Charlotte and William evaded their pursuers. Although the slave-trader still hopes to catch them farther north,...
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Chapter 21: In Freedom
...husband is a Methodist preacher. To make her happiness complete, she’s also been reunited with Charlotte and William, who live in a beautiful and flower-bedecked white cottage just next door. Hannah...
(full context)
