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What Is The Theme Of Fate By Chame Dearge

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Throughout A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens develops a suspenseful plot in which misfortune seems to take over every character's life. Though it appears that one’s actions determines the consequences they face, Dickens proves that this is not the case by developing the theme of Fate through the characters Madame Defarge and Charles Darnay. Madame Defarge, the wife of a wine shop owner, is constantly seen knitting other people’s names, sentencing them to their deaths. Meanwhile, Charles Darnay returns to France with good intentions, but is ultimately imprisoned for his family’s wrongdoings. Madame Defarge controls the Fates of the others, specifically French aristocrats, while the inevitable force that is Fate catches up to Darnay through his family history. Regardless, both characters reveal that Fate cannot be controlled. Madame Defarge, a peasant who has been mistreated by aristocrats her whole life, is the brain of the Revolution and the character who has been controlling the Fates of everyone. Throughout the book, her victims are “to be registered” (174) into Defarge’s knitting, which she does by using “her own stitches and her own symbols” (174). Her knitting is an allusion to The Fates from Greek mythology—three sisters who determine human destinies through knitting. By knitting the names of her victims, Madame Defarge is sentencing them to death. Through this, Dickens develops her as an allegorical character for Fate; she quite literally is dictating the

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