Tale of Two Cities had numerous interesting characters with different actions and backgrounds. There were certain characters who specifically suck out to me because of their drastic actions. There was one that stuck out the most in terms of being immoral or evil, Madame Defarge. Her character development throughout the story progressively became an even more vicious human. Madame Defarge was an interesting and brutal character to analyze. She was a very important in terms of the revolution taking place in the story. Because of the time setting of the story that amplified her harsh actions. There is no doubt that Madame Defarge’s actions best fit those of evil character. As the story starts Madame Defarge sit in her wine shop knitting. Her …show more content…
Soon Madame Defarge finds that Dr. Manette's daughter is about to marry someone who is no on her registry for being related to the revolution. After this event she shows her true colors. As all the Jacqueses get ready to go to war, Madame Defarge rallies the women. They storm the Bastille and the crowd has captured the governor who defended the Bastille. As they wait for Defarge to emerge the guy passes through the crowd, however, he gets beaten and knifed. Madame Defarge, angry and shouting, steps on him and cuts off his head. Madame Defarge wants nothing but revenge. This shows how much she want this revolution to be brutal and merciless. Madame Defarge last display of evil is, in my eyes, the worst. She decides that she will never stop pursuing revenge for the rape and death of her sister. To her this means all of the Evrémonde race must die. This shows how much hate she really has inside of her. To kill people who really may have no connect to what happened to her sister, but need to die because of their blood relation to it, is brutal of her. She decides even Lucie and her young daughter need to die. Killing an innocent young girl will never solve what happened to her sister, but she doesn't
Madame Defarge’s anger is generated because of the fact that her sister was raped and her brother was killed. The crimes committed against her family have little to do with helping the people even though she doesn't want to admit it. She feels the only way to relieve herself of this hatred is to kill all of them. “ my husband has not my reason for pursuing this family to annihilation, and I have not this reason for regarding this doctor with any sensibility. I must act for myself therefore” (Dickens 424). Madame Defarge explains that her anger is strictly taken out on the Evremonde family and no one else. The issue she has with the Evremonde family is
Throughout the novel, the power of love triumphed over evil. When Miss Pross fights Madame Defarge to protect Lucie it shows Miss Pross’s love towards Lucie. Miss Pross is like a mother to Lucie and has been taking care of her for some time. Miss Pross
reaction of wanting revenge. You can argue that madame defarge’s big part in the french
Madame Defarge begins acting radical and while she believes her actions are justified, it cannot be ignored that committed heinous crimes. She quickly murders Foulon, someone who disrespected the “starving people” by telling them “to eat grass” (213) by swiftly removing his head and placing it “upon a pike” (215). Madame Defarge’s radical actions are shown through her commitment of murder, but her sabotage against Charles Darnay. Despite, Charles Darnay’s verdict of innocence, she made it her mission for Charles Darnay to be “denounced” “from Saint-Antoine” (280), because remains insistent that the “Evremonde people are to be exterminated” (343). Madame Defarge’s murderous and destructive actions showcase her inner true side revealing the monstrous aspect in the Hidden Monster archetype.
She witnessed the tragic death of her own family members being raped and murdered, she was the only survivor in her family and it is unclear if she grew up with a family or who she lived with. Madame Defarge was known to be somewhat of a cruel unstable woman, in which she was considered to be very violent and most people could not understand why she acted like this. During the time of the French revolution, the citizens of France were completely enraged with how their government was treating them. Therefore, they were susceptible to taking action in any way they could to end the tyranny of their government.
In Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens wrote the characters involved in and their contribution to the bloodshed French Revolution. Madame Defarge is the main antagonist connected with the Revolution, however throughout Tale of Two Cities, she becomes increasingly cold-hearted and vengeful. As Monsieur Defarge’s wife, Therese Defarge is constantly knitting the revolutionaries name in the quilt, and keeps her vigilant eye on the Manettes, Charles Darnay, and the aristocracy. At the Wine Shop, “Madame Defarge.. [sits] behind the counter.. she was a stout woman.. with a watchful eye that seldom seemed to look at anything… Her knitting was before her..”(Dickens 35). In the beginning of the book, Madame Defarge is calm and hushed, taking no interest in the chaos that is quietly sitting around her town. In Book the Third,
Madame Defarge is the main example of the hatred and anger toward the aristocracy, she suffers from the aristocracy, especially the Evermonde because her sister and mother were invaded by the brothers Evrémonde, her father died of grief and her brother was killed trying to avenge his sister's honor. “She has been motivated by an overwhelming desire for revenge on the descendants of the family responsible for the ruin of her family; she is an incarnation of total evil, keeping her husband and others to their pursuit of retribution and vengeance.” (Jeffares27)She becomes in a great depression. Losing her family and her happiest life motivated her anger and she decides to play a big role in the revolutionary attempts to overthrow the aristocracy
In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, revenge plays a crucial role in the motivations of some of the characters, such as Madame Defarge and Gaspard. In fact, Madame Defarge’s entire motivation for her participation in the French Revolution is out of want for revenge for her family (Dickens 445), not true justice. This is known because had justice been her true goal, Madame Defarge would not have attempted to kill everyone in the Evremonde family by marriage or blood, just Darnay - a direct descendant to Monseigneur the Marquis. Had Madame Defarge’s family not been killed by the Evremondes, she would not have been vengeful and would not be calling for the death of all of the aristocrats; Madame Defarge would be satisfied with the death
Hundreds of people die on account of Madame Defarge, but she feels no concern and regards this loss of human life as a rightful tribute to the revolution. Her hatred and desire for vengeance has swallowed her whole, and nothing good is left of Madame Defarge:
These statements are in complete contrast to each other, weapons replacing her “soft” habit of knitting a list of those who deserve to die, showing that Madame Defarge is never innocent after all. Her revolutionary wishes are coming true completely change her, and she represents the revolution, killing everyone who gets in her way, regardless of whether they are really guilty or not. The word “composed” is used in both sentences, but one is her composing herself to hold back her desires of revenge until she can fully release them. The second time the word “composed” is used, it foreshadows her maddening frenzy, and she has yet to unleash her fury in the revolution. Like Madame Defarge, Jacques Three experiences a change. It was always foreshadowed that the man craved rampage and unfair punishment, but encumbered his cravings, and lived his life as a regular townsperson. When he is first introduced, he has “a strikingly greedy air,”“hunger[ing]” for neither food or drink, but something more (169). He eventually goes on to control Darnay’s trial, where the language tells the reader that he is much more fulfilled by the violence around him, and he “satisfies” the brutal crowd with his unforgiving
Standing up for one’s beliefs and actions is imperative in maintaining justice. After all, being pushed around and submissive to threats and pressures only exacerbates the situation. Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities can smoothly be described in this position. She has gone through severe trauma in her childhood and has been pushed by the French aristocracy her whole life. Her thought of retaliation and vengeance is no surprise to the reader. In fact, her revenge extends to the Evremonde family line which includes Charles Darnay and his wife Lucie Manette. Although some might say her longing for revenge is intemperate, Charles Dickens proves in A Tale of Two Cities that Madame Defarge is justified in her extreme desire for revenge throughout the plot.
(403). The extent of Madame Defarge’s revenge plot–for that is what it is by the end
Like as Gaspard, she wanted revenge for her death. That’s why she was always putting in the names of each person she wanted revenge upon. She was going to give up her life finding a way to get her revenge. When Charles Darnay was denounced in her wine shop Madame Defarge publicly spoke why she wanted justice. Why she doesn’t stop her pursuits “I communicate to him that secret.
She worked tirelessly, not only during the French Revolution, but plotting her long held revenge against both the Manette’s and Darnay’s. This, according to Madame Defarge, was her understanding of Justice – that revenge is the only thing that can be done to achieve justice or fairness. Of course, it is understandable why she wanted
She then makes it clear to the reader that no one else can do the job because she exclaims, “My husband has not my reason for pursuing this family in annihilation, and I have not not his reason for regarding this Doctor with any sensibility. I must act for myself, therefore” (424; bk.2, ch. 14). Her ideals of doing this on her own to get the correct justice shows her loyalty and determination to bring classes to equilibrium of rights. Even though she gets revenge so gruesomely, she still does get her idea of justice. Madame DeFarge’s way of being merciless when staying loyal to her family shows parallels to a lion being loyal to her