The Mistress: Patron, Abuser, and Haunting Memory in The Vaster Wilds
Overview: A Woman of Contradictions
The Mistress—never named in the text—is one of the most contradictory figures in Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds. She is the girl’s former employer and the mother of Bess, the child the girl loved fiercely. In the girl’s memories, the Mistress appears as a harsh, demanding presence whose conditional affection left deep scars. Yet she is also a woman of culture, wit, and desperation, who ultimately becomes a victim of the same colonial greed that forces the entire household into the New World. This analysis traces her arc through the novel, drawing on explicit flashbacks and the girl’s haunted recollections, while distinguishing what is directly shown from interpretations that readers might infer.
Plot Role: The Voice That Haunts
The Mistress never appears in the present timeline of the girl’s flight. She exists only in memory, dream, and the scolding voice the girl hears in her own mind. In Chapter 1, the girl silences “her dead mistress scolding” as she escapes the fort. That internal voice represents the moral and social authority the Mistress once held over the girl—an authority that persists even in the wilderness. The Mistress’s influence shapes the girl’s sense of worth, her understanding of love, and her guilt. In this sense, the Mistress functions as a psychological antagonist, but also as a dark mirror of the girl’s own potential future: a woman whose survival instincts lead to moral compromise.
Motivations and Traits Shown Through Actions
The retrieved evidence reveals several key traits of the Mistress, demonstrated through her actions rather than stated directly.
Vanity and Control: From her first appearance, she is obsessed with appearance. She wears "a ruff so large" that she seems "a dark head upon a platter." She uses lead white paint, carmine, and belladonna to maintain beauty—eventually consuming these cosmetics when food runs out. This vanity is not mere frivolity; it is a tool of survival in a society where a woman’s worth depends on her looks and connections.
Conditional Affection: The Mistress takes the girl from the poorhouse as a "replacement pet" after her monkey dies. She calls the girl Zed—the monkey’s name—and uses her as a footwarmer. Yet she also teaches her songs, dancing, and riddles. This dual behavior shows that the Mistress’s love is contingent on the girl’s usefulness and entertainment value. The girl is valued as a "parrot," not as a person. This conditional care leaves the girl with a lifelong hunger for acceptance.
Greed and Complicity: The Mistress is complicit in the colonial venture. She marries the minister for status, then follows him to Jamestown despite her jealousy. She bargains hard when taking the girl, ensuring the poorhouse receives the girl’s wages. Later, she reluctantly lends the girl to her son Kit and his friends, knowing the danger. Her complicity is motivated partly by social pressure and partly by her own desire for power.
Jealousy and Passion: The Mistress is fiercely jealous. When the minister announces his plan to go to the New World, she drives her nails into her palms until they bleed. She fears being left behind. This jealousy stems from her passionate nature—she loved the goldsmith and later the minister with intensity.
Maternal Grief and Desperation: The most harrowing moment comes after Bess’s death. When the settlers exhume her body for food, the Mistress reaches for a piece of fried brain. This act is not shown as malice but as the ultimate breakdown of a mother driven mad by starvation and loss. It confirms the novel’s theme that survival in extremis erodes all moral codes.
Chronological Arc
The Mistress’s story is told in fragments, but a clear arc emerges.
England: She is a wealthy patron of the arts, witty, musical, and beautiful. She takes the girl from the poorhouse, names her Zed, and raises her as a companion and servant. She hosts artists and poets, and after the goldsmith’s death, she marries the handsome minister.
Decision to Sail: The minister decides to join the colonial venture, and the Mistress, despite her rage, chooses to follow rather than stay behind. The household is sold; Kit is set up separately. She, the girl, and Bess board the ship.
The Crossing and Jamestown: The journey is brutal. Bess barely survives. In the fort, the Mistress begins eating her cosmetics, her appearance deteriorating rapidly. Some men whisper she is a witch. She hides her grief as Bess slowly starves herself.
Bess’s Death and Aftermath: After Bess dies, the girl buries her, but the settlers later exhum the body. The Mistress’s act of reaching for the fried brain is the climax of her degradation. Shortly after, the girl stabs the minister and flees. The Mistress’s fate is not stated, but she likely dies in the fort.
Relationships
With the Girl (Zed): This is the central relationship of the novel’s backstory. The Mistress is both mother figure and exploiter. She gives the girl culture, music, and language, but also a new identity that is an insult. She teaches her to dance for guests but uses her as a footwarmer. The girl’s love for Bess is partly a displacement of the unconditional love the Mistress never gave.
With Bess: The Mistress loves Bess, but her love is complicated by Bess’s disability. She calls Bess a “simple child.” When Bess refuses to eat, the Mistress cannot force her. In the end, her maternal instinct is distorted by hunger—she consumes her own daughter’s body.
With the Minister: She marries him for status and beauty, but he proves hypocritical and greedy. Their relationship is one of mutual manipulation: he uses her wealth, she uses his position. Yet she follows him to the New World, unable to bear separation.
Key Decisions and Consequences
- Taking the girl from the poorhouse: This decision saves the girl’s life but also subjects her to conditional love and eventual sexual danger when she is lent to Kit.
- Naming the girl Zed: This act of renaming strips the girl of her given name (Lamentations Callat) and marks her as property. The girl struggles even in the wilderness to find a name that feels her own. See theme page: Identity and Naming.
- Lending the girl to Kit and his friends: The Mistress initially refuses but eventually relents. This leads to the girl’s sexual assault and leaves her traumatized. The girl later tells the Mistress she would poison them, and the Mistress responds by advising tansy tea.
- Consuming her cosmetics: This accelerates her aging and makes her a target of superstition. It symbolizes her internal consumption of her own vanity.
- Reaching for Bess’s flesh: This irreversible act cements the girl’s horror and her decision to flee. It also underscores the theme of colonial violence and the breakdown of all bonds under starvation. See theme page: Colonial Violence and Guilt.
Theme and Symbol Connections
Naming and Identity: The Mistress’s renaming of the girl as Zed is a key example of how identity is imposed by authority. In the wilderness, the girl cannot shed this imposed name.
Survival and Resourcefulness: The Mistress’s survival methods—eating paint, using cosmetics to maintain status—mirror the girl’s own resourcefulness, but in a social rather than natural context. The Mistress fails because she cannot adapt to the breakdown of society.
Memory and Trauma: The Mistress haunts the girl’s memories, appearing as a scolding voice that must be silenced. Her reappearance in flashbacks demonstrates how trauma is stored in the body. See theme page: Memory and Trauma.
Nature’s Indifference: The Mistress’s fate illustrates that colonial society cannot protect against the wilderness. Her degradation from elegant patron to starving cannibal shows that nature offers no moral system. See theme page: Nature's Indifference.
Class and Power: The Mistress’s power over the girl is absolute in England, but in the New World it evaporates. She becomes as powerless as her servant.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why does the Mistress name the girl Zed?
Evidence: The Mistress’s pet monkey was named Zed; when it died, she started calling the girl by the same name. The text states this was done “in jest, then forgetfully.” This is an explicit action in the narrative. Interpretation: The naming reduces the girl to the level of an animal companion, showing the conditional nature of her care.
2. Does the Mistress love the girl?
Evidence: The Mistress teaches her songs and dancing, strokes her cheek, and lets her sleep on the bed. She also uses the girl as a footwarmer and denies her protection from Kit. Interpretation: The text shows a mix of affection and exploitation. The love is real but limited, always contingent on the girl’s utility.
3. What happens to the Mistress after Bess’s death?
Evidence: In the final chapters, the girl recalls that the settlers exhumed Bess’s body and butchered it for food. The Mistress reaches for a piece of fried brain. The girl then escapes; the Mistress’s subsequent fate is not described. Interpretation: It is likely she died in the fort, either from starvation or violence, but the novel leaves her end ambiguous.
4. Why does the Mistress allow Kit to take the girl?
Evidence: The Mistress initially refuses, but when Kit insists, she relents. The text shows her struggle: she looks at the girl and says “No,” but eventually gives in. Interpretation: This decision reveals her limited power over her adult son and her inability to truly protect the girl. It also reflects her prioritization of social harmony over the girl’s safety.
5. Is the Mistress a purely negative figure?
Evidence: The character is shown as witty, musical, and capable of tenderness—e.g., stroking the girl’s cheek, laughing kindly about the girl’s sea legs. She also suffers profound loss. Interpretation: She is a product of her time, shaped by vanity, class, and the pressures of a patriarchal and colonial society. While her actions are often harmful, the novel presents her as a complex, fallen human rather than a simple villain.
For further reading, see the ending explained page, which discusses the girl’s final visions, and the questions and answers page for more discussion.