Who Is Madame Defarge In A Tale Of Two Cities

reaction of wanting revenge. You can argue that madame defarge’s big part in the french

Justice is one of the main theme from this book, as each character tries to get justice. In this book we see the distress and agony that Madame Defarge suffers with. Mainly because of her sister’s deaths and family suffering, due to the Evremonde brother’s, Charles Darnay’s father and uncle. Ever since that happened she’s wanted justice for her and her family. The justice that Madame Defarge wanted later turn into retribution, which lead her to a path of darkness, making her wanting the death of Charles Darnay and his family. At the same time, she was fighting for justice for France, which made her want more lives to be dead for the good of her people. those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me!’… “Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop,” … “but don’t tell me.” (Dickens 339) Many readers might portray her as the “villain” of this book, but she really is not. All she wanted is justice for what was done

Revenge is an urge that one might seek to feed after their sister cleans the toilet with their toothbrush. As the saying goes, “Revenge is a dish best served cold”. In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens prolongs the theme of revenge, as it develops throughout the entirety of the novel. As tensions arose between the aristocrats and peasants, the French Revolution was born. Sixty years later, Charles Dickens addresses the war through through the stark revenge among the people, which is demonstrated by many characters. As the novel progresses, the reader is exposed to the strong desire of revenge from Madame Defarge, who is the embodiment of the pure

The literature that came out of the French Revolution often shares common themes of death, rebirth, and destruction. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is much the same way. Throughout the novel, Dickens clearly supports the revolution but also depicts the brutality of the revolutionaries. Dickens uses powerful metaphors of a sea to symbolize the revolutionaries destroying old France and the belittling name of “Jacques” to depict the narcissistic views of the French aristocracy to show his support for the revolution.

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.

A Tale of Two Cities, involves many complicated situations in which the characters must choose between chance or death, career or family, honor or revenge. As a result, ambiguity has evolved in multiple characters because of these difficult choices. Two prominently ambiguous characters are John Barsad and Monsieur Defarge. While Barsad recognizes the importance of career and honor, Defarge sees more prominence in family and revenge.

These individuals with extreme power were defeated partially because of the lower-class females, a group of individuals who had never before taken control over the people, as they were viewed as incapable. Lastly, Madame Defarge’s constant obsession with killing all who have hurt her personally and her class, is repeated multiple times in the novel. As the novel progresses, Madame Defarge becomes more obsessed and blood thirsty until she reaches one man , who she believes is worth killing after she simply “[observes] his face”(263). She goes on to demand that her husband allow her to “take care of his face.”(263) It is clear that Madame Defarge has reached a point of hysteria that makes her an extremely bloodthirsty individual, constantly searching for victims. Dickens uses Madame Defarge once again, to explain the extreme amounts of killings that were due to a woman’s decision. Through Dickens’ repetition of these phrases however, the reader can understand the power that women were able to execute over other females and the men, as the idea of a powerful female is visited multiple times throughout the

It’s important that we understand the dichotomy of Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge. Both are separate, complex (and in some cases, simple) creatures. The most obviously identifiable similarity between the two is that they are women. Lucie, feminine, sensitive, and kind is in complete antithesis to the dark, masculine Madame Defarge. Lucie recalls men to life and Madame Defarge sentences them to death at “La Guillotine”.

Charles Dickens uses the ambiguity of Madame Defarge, Sydney Carton, and Charles Darnay to demonstrate how passion for something or someone can dictate our actions and ultimately bring about a new persona in his novel A Tale of Two Cities.

Madame Defarge, a very bold but cruel revolutionary, is very sadistic towards nobles, especially the Evrémondes, because of how the family had treated her family in the past. The woman who had been stolen away by the younger twin was Madame Defarge’s sister, so the Evrémondes tore her family apart. She had been waiting to get her revenge on the family her whole life, and once the revolution starts, she seizes her chance. The very kind and generous son of the older brother, Charles Darnay, travels back to France from England to try and save his employee, and she immediately takes the opportunity to put him into jail. After multiple trials he is found guilty and condemned to death via La Guillotine. Although Charles Darnay has never actually wronged her, “it was nothing to her, that an innocent man has to die for the sins of his forefathers; she saw not him, but them” (281). Madame Defarge is not satisfied by Darnay’s death, however, and wants to kill his wife, Lucie Manette, and their daughter. It was this inhumanity that leads to her death. Madame Defarge goes to the Manette’s home to try and find Lucie in the act of a Guillotine-worthy crime, mourning a Guillotine victim. Instead of finding Lucie, however, she finds her housemaid, Miss Pross. Miss Pross and Madame Defarge begin to fight because Madame Defarge wants to find Lucie, and eventually she draws a gun, but “Miss

When terrible things happen to good people there are two paths that can be traveled: forgiveness can be offered, or vengeance can be pursued. Madame Defarge from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, takes the latter of these two options and religiously lives by it, seeking revenge on the cruel heartless aristocracy plaguing France with famine, poverty, and oppression; however, the reasons behind her malice force the reader to understand why she performs such hateful acts during the French Revolution. Madame Defarge, though intelligent, is consumed by her hatred and has transformed into something just as bad, if not worse, than the members of the aristocracy.

He describes the women as "a sight to chill the boldest" as they “lashed into blind frenzy, whirled about, striking and tearing at their own friends until they dropped into a passionate swoon.” Madame Defarge’s behavior is especially disturbing, for she is the one woman who seems to remain calm. She watches Foulon "silently and composedly" beg for mercy. Her behavior portrays her as heartless, and shows her potential for cruelty, preparing us for her ruthlessness at Darnay’s trial. However, this scene is not included in the movie.

The violence in France will not stop until equality is reached. The revolutionaries picture a time when all the people of France live equal. This reasoning is the core factor of why they are fighting against the system. When we learned the motive for Madame Defarge’s reasoning for hating the Marquis and anyone associated with him, she replies that everyone against the revolution should “...tell the Wind and Fire where to stop; not me!” (326). We learn here that she has not intent to stop until she gets even with the Evrémonde family. Madame Defarge’s idea of equality is the death of Charles Darnay and everyone associated with him. When Madame Defarge and Defarge were discussing the end of the revolution Defarge asked the question, “but one must stop somewhere. After all, the question is still where?” (324). Defarge questions Madame Defarge’s intent to stop somewhere but Madame Defarge replies with “At extermination” (324). This strengthens the fact that Madame Defarge believes the revolution will be complete with the death

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

While young, Defarge witnessed an aristocrat named Evrémonde invade her house, raping her older sister and stabbing her brother. Since then, she has sought revenge against the Evrémonde family and will stop at nothing to exterminate them from the earth. The Madame is even in high favor of killing the innocent Lucie Manette and her daughter because they were married into the Evrémonde family. Though this happened long ago, she responds with ruthlessness and bitter anger consistently. Lucie Manette alike has suffered through many trials such as being the caretaker of her father in her twenties which she felt was degrading - for she was to be courting for marriage at this time, not acting as a housewife to an enfeebled old man. Additionally, her husband was convicted and almost sentenced to death for returning to his home country of France. She responded with prayer and being in a certain area for her husband to see her. When he was finally released, Lucie and her family “reverently bowed their heads and hearts” (292). This exhibits Lucie response to misfortune in a elegant manner and separates her from Madame Defarge.