Madame Defarge's Clotting In A Tale Of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens uses descriptions of Madame Defarge’s knitting to evince the theme of secrets being best kept in plain sight. While Madame Defarge and her husband Defarge perform closing duties after their wine-shop closes for the evening, Defarge describes the British spy John Barsad for record keeping to his wife. Shortly after, Madame Defarge “began knotting [the descriptions] up in her handkerchief, in a chain of separate knots, for safe keeping through the night” (Dickens 183). The handkerchief in this context plays a key role because of its normalcy and common use in daily life, especially during this time period. Because of its frequent use and displayal to the public eye, it appears almost foolish to “knot” such