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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | He pantomimes. There's barely a welt on her. That's what your n*****'s makin' you—a fool for the takin'. | „ |
| ~ Mrs. Epps provokes her irate husband. |
Mary Epps is the secondary antagonist of 2013 film 12 Years a Slave. She is the wife of the main antagonist Edwin Epps, a deranged plantation owner who abuses his slaves, especially Patsey, whom he is obsessed with. Mary abuses Patsey in turn out of envy and racism.
She was portrayed by Sarah Paulson, who also played Nurse Mildred Ratched in Ratched.
Her Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Her Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
- Mary is abusive towards the African American slaves and dehumanizes them, believing them to be inferior and disgusting.
- It's clear through the interactions between Mary and Edwin that there's no real love on either side; the two hardly tolerate each other, and Epps even expresses annoyance with her. In Mary's case, she manipulates her husband's emotions, exploiting his mental instability to get him to do what she wants, albeit to a limited degree with Patsey.
- Upon noticing Solomon reading a list she gives him, she asks if he is literate and he claims (falsely) that he hardly is, and she tells him not to bother with reading/writing but only his purpose of working and threatens him with a hundred lashes otherwise.
- Mary constantly makes demands of her husband to treat the slaves harshly, claiming they look upon the two of them with silent contemptuous rage. She chastises him for being "lenient" (nothing could be further from the truth), even attacking his masculinity and calling him a eunuch.
- Abuses Patsey, a female slave which her husband Edwin has taken a disturbing interest in and goes so far as to rape and beat her to satisfy his lust. She abuses Patsey for this fact as well as because of her disgust towards black people, envious of her husband's preference to her, especially since she's black. Instances of the abuse include:
- Throwing a heavy decanter at Patsey's face while Epps watches her and the other slaves dance, and demands Epps sell her, which he refuses.
- Refusing to let Patsey eat the food she's prepared while letting the others and attempts to convince her husband that the slaves need to be beaten to kept in line, then scratching Patsey's face with her nails and demanding Epps beat her in particular, and he complies.
- When Patsey returns to the plantation with soap after leaving without informing Epps, Epps believes she stole the soap and strips her bare and ties her to the whipping post. Mary provokes Epps into "striking the life" out of Patsey, and when Solomon is made to do it instead, she pushes Epps to make him whip her harder. She watches while Patsey's skin is flayed, and she is left barely conscious or alive.
What Prevents Her from Being Pure Evil?[]
- She fails the in-story standard to her husband, who is also brutally abusive with the slaves (both physically and sexually with Patsey) and is part of the reason why Mary does what she does to Patsey, even if her abusive nature is also horrific.
Trivia[]
- Mary's Near Pure Evil status would be nullified if she inherited more of her qualities from Solomon's novel, as she was genuinely disdainful of her husband's excessive violence on the slaves (though she is a hypocrite in this regard because of her abuse of Patsey) and was affable, even towards them, save for Patsey.
External Links[]
- Mary Epps on the Villains Wiki
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 Near Pure Evils
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Animated Films Live-Action Films See Also | ||