Vengeance, Vendetta and Vanity: the Women of a Tale of Two Cities

     The women in A Tale of Two Cites behave in extremely opposing ways.  Lucie Manette is a frail young woman.  She constantly becomes overwhelmed and faints at even the thought of danger.  She has never been exposed to poverty nor suffered through severe hardships.  Lucie is genteel; she is  constantly pampered and always has people looking out for her.  She is constantly being treated like a small child; "she softly laid the patient [Lucie] on a sofa, and tended her with great skill and gentleness" (23).  Madame Defarge is a ruthless, bloodthirsty, vengeful, and poor woman.  She is best described by Ms. Pross as "the wife of Lucifer" (336).  She readily cuts off a man's head and "she never missed [an execution]" (342).  Madame Defarge's sadistic nature is seen best during the execution of Foulon, an aristocrat.  She tortures him,  "as a cat might have done to a mouse" and his head is impaled "upon a pike, with grass enough in the mouth for all of Saint Antoine to

The character Madame Defarge plays a role as one of the leading villains in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, whose actions turn out to be one of the major causes of the French Revolution in the book. The main influence of Madame Defarge's hatred is fueled by a self-centered issue that was germinated by another family who happens to be aristocratic. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge is justified in her hatred against the St. Evremonde family because her sister was raped and her brother was killed by the two patriarchs.

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.

It all started off with how Madame Defarge’s sister was raped by the Evremonde, her father died of heartbreak, and her brother was killed when trying to avenge his sister. Although she had an unpleasant past she still still holds her hatred close to her heart, for example in the revolution she doesn’t just want justice for her past but wants the extermination and killing of the whole Marquis’ family. Through out the book Madame Defarge’s hatred is shown by the words and actions that she uses constantly, for example one quote in the book shows how she will stop at nothing until her revenge is succeeded, “tell the wind and the fire where to stop; not me.” This quote is great because it shows how fueled and how filled with rage she is, she will stop at nothing until everyone who she hates is

She witnesses firsthand all of the hardships the French commoners are enduring and it fuels her rage and anger toward the nobility. Madame Defarge channels all of this anger into exacting her revenge, but we cannot help pitying her for her wretched childhood. We comprehend the reasons behind the madness, but that does not justify her actions.

“ A strong woman is a woman determined to do something others are determined not be done”(Piercy). The women in A Tale of Two Cities show this rare type of strength just being who they are. The author, Charles Dickens, creates them as individuals who break barriers with their masculine behavior. Each, in effect of their special qualities, are determined in all they do. Madame Defarge, is a sinister middle-aged woman who strikes fear in all from her keen brute. But due to this uncivilized aggression, she becomes a key-figure in the choreography of the French Revolution in the book. Miss Pross is Lucie’s house maiden, and is closer to her than anyone else. She goes out of her way to roughly and shaggily

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is about a time where the citizens of both France and England are falling to oppression and violence by the government. With corrupted politicians taking place; is making the citizens live their lives ruled by twisted people. One of the big themes in A Tale of Two Cities is oppression and violence, which is making life difficult for those who are innocent and want to live their life without pain as the corrupt government ends up making everyone feel suffering. Politics is a main contributor to oppression and violence as they tend to care more about themselves. The politicians are pleasing those who are in a high social class than those who are in a lower social class such as the poor.

Madame Defarge is a central character in A Tale of Two Cities whose optimism and quick wits make her a key leader of the future French Revolution. To start off, Madame Defarge is optimistic about the future. As a response to her depressed husband, who believes that they will not live to see the Revolution, she says, “We shall have helped it...nothing we do is done in vain, I believe, with all my soul, that we shall see the triumph” (Dickens 180-181). Her inspirational advice is able to motivate Monsieur Defarge to persevere and keep going. Her compassion and her sympathetic ability to support others are traits that emulate leadership. Additionally, Madame Defarge has the ability to conceal her emotions, which is essential during this drastic

Although there are some potential subversive elements within this text, especially regarding the education of properly domestic upper-class women, overall a close reading of this story seems to offer a poignantly non-feminist message. It is unproductive to position Susanna Centlivre’s The Basset Table as a proto-feminist text because it seems to essentialize female speech and obscure the ways in which Centlivre is participating and perpetuating the marginalizing and patriarchal discourse of the Restoration Period. Granted it is important to contextualize Centlivre as one of the view popular female playwrights of English history and to recognize the unusual proliferation of female literary and dramatic voices during the Eighteenth century, this should not take president over a close reading of the deeply seeded patriarchal underpinnings of her text. Through a comparison of William Congreve’s The Way of the World and Susanna Centlivre’s The Basset Table I will show the similar ways in which both of these texts, one in which is often criticized for its sexist and satirical treatment of female characters and the other which is hailed as progressive, engage with and perpetuate patriarchal anxieties around the potential destabilizing power of widows through their participation in the public environment and the

By strange stern ways, and through much staining of blood, those feet had come to meet that water” (3.14.376). Since she is one of them, she is already passionate about exterminating the nobility, but it also fits in well with her goal of exterminating the Evrémonde family. Hence, this revolution and her surroundings stop Madame DeFarge from recovering from her childhood and it serves as a constant opportunity that will allow her to exact revenge from her family. In addition, this revolution lets her love take the wrong direction.

Throughout literature, many authors have written and hinted about the concept of conformity. A present relationship between the concept of conformity and perspective is observed in Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” in which Frost creates an analogy about the unforeseen consequences of nonconformity. Before diving into the poem, it is important to keep in mind that the title is “The Road Not Taken,” as opposed to “The Road Taken.” The added “not” is important in the interpretation of the poem, for it emphasizes the doubt that the speaker later reveals towards their choice. As the poem begins, the speaker creates a calm mood as they write of “two roads” diverging “in a yellow wood” (1.1-2). Yellow is an archetype of contentedness, and as

The author Joseph Conrad once remarked, "Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists principally in dealing with men." In analyzing Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and Voltaire's Candide, it is intriguing and revealing how these male authors deal with women. Through understanding how these seminal works portray women one can gain the literary criticism tools to examine similar social issues in other texts.

Among the leaders of the revolution is Madame Defarge. Madame Defarge is filled with hatred due to the personal tragedy caused by the aristocrats. Her sister is raped, her brother is killed, and her father also ends up dying. Because of her hatred, Madame Defarge refuses to help Lucie and her family when Darnay is on trial. Madame defarge also leads the revolutionaries to go and punish Foulon, a wealthy man who tells the starving people to eat grass." 'See', cried Madame, pointing with her knife. 'See the old villain bound with ropes. That was well done to tie a bunch of grass upon his back. Ha ha! That was well done. Let him eat it now. Madame put her knife under her arms and clapped as at a play"(230, Dickinson). Madame Defarge is being very cruel in the death of Foulon and laughs at his corpse. The cruelty shows how the revolution has changed her character to a more bloodthirsty and sinister level. The aristocracy’s violence and abuse in power has lead Madame Defarge to oppress her victims. Throughout Paris, Madame Defarge and the revolutionaries continue spreading bloodshed. It is because of the aristocracy’s oppression that havoc doesn’t stop. “Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind”(Dickinson, 381). The goodness the lower class originally had, is now corrupted by the

Literary critics who have examined this narrative have failed to recognize the importance of Defoe’s choice in creating a female individual character within the neoclassical time period. Taking into consideration the time period itself, the concept of the individual had been newly introduced. It was the decision of the writer to construct his or her own characters, personalize their behavior and characteristics, and determine the role they play in society. Not only was it incredibly unusual for a male writer to write from the female perspective, but within The Fortunate Mistress, Defoe is able to further examine the notion of identity by using Roxana as an archetype for an early feminist individual. The concept of a male writer inviting a female character who is opposed to the societal ideas, primarily the patriarchal hierarchy of the time, is incredibly significant since modern feminist thought can be found rooted in the time period through socially aware individuals such as Defoe and his heroine Roxana.

Three women, in particular, have huge roles in the text though they are quite different from each other. Lucie Manette is the caring, nuturing, and healing force throughout the book and completely changes the life of Dr. Manette, her father, and Sydney Carton, her lover that dies for her husband; Madame Defarge is a living representation of the revolution and its values and is used to translate to the reader the brutality and cruelness of the radical movement; and the poor seamstress is a well-positioned character that highlights the injustice and chaos of the French Revolution at the end of the piece but also acts as a vehicle that drives the reader to a conclusion Charles Dickens wanted to show in his novel that is society will only change if the people within it change first. Universally, many writers, especially Charles Dickens, use his or her characters to carry along his or her storylines in their different roles. It is extremely evident in Charles Dickens’ works, especially in A Tale of Two Cities, that he does so intricately and intentionally to end up with a story that one absolutely cannot put down. It is almost like Dickens is a carpenter, shaping his characters perfectly, in his or her differing but important roles, to fit perfectly together in his masterpiece. Each of his characters has a specific role in his text that makes his story better, and in A Tale of Two Cities, the three women listed above play crucial roles in that