Flem Snopes is the central figure of the novel, and most of the action in The Hamlet revolves around his rise to prominence and power. Despite this, he is rarely physically present. Even in his first appearance, when he exchanges his help in keeping Ab from committing arson in exchange for a job at the Varner’s store, he does so while hidden and barely responds to Jody beyond what is necessary. As the store’s clerk, he offers no conversation that doesn’t have to do with money. When Flem is first described, his appearance is similarly unobtrusive: “He had a broad flat face. His eyes were the color of stagnant water. He was soft in appearance like Varner himself, though a head shorter, in a soiled white shirt and cheap gray trousers” (22). Flem is capable of being silent and unobtrusive, Ratliff noting how little noise he makes when he walks, a constant yet silent presence.

His separation allows him to cast a specter over all the events of the novel. As he is clever enough to rarely be physically involved with his own schemes, it becomes difficult to tell when Flem is involved in a chain of events.