Madame Defarge's Revenge

The French Revolution was a period of social unrest between the aristocracy and the people in the late 1700’s. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens describes the major opinions of revolutionaries and aristocrats in France towards one another and the actions they take to acquire higher social status and authority. During this revolution, many vengeful people attempt to retaliate in honor of their families and overcome discrimination against their social class. Many of the characters in Dickens’s novel seek revenge on members of the opposite rank for terrible events concerning their families and helpless others. Fatal consequences resulting from unjustified revenge arise from the relationships between characters, including Gaspard and the
The peasant family harmed by the Evremondes years ago was the family of Madame Defarge. Madame Defarge clarifies, “that peasant family so injured by the Evremonde brothers… is my family. Defarge, that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was my sister, that husband was my sister’s husband, that unborn child was their child, that brother was my brother, that father was my father, those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me!” (264). She feels that it is her responsibility to exact revenge on the entire Evremonde race and other members of the aristocracy for their cruelty towards the peasants. In later context, Dickens explains, “It was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for the sins of his forefathers… It was nothing to her, that his wife was to be made a widow and his daughter an orphan; that was insufficient punishment, because they were her natural enemies and her prey, and as such had no right to live,” showing that Madame Defarge does not care that Darnay is completely innocent of all charges and wants nothing to do with his family (281). Because she was so affected by the massacre of her family many years ago, she feels the need to punish the entire Evremonde lineage, which includes Darnay, Lucie, and their child. For that reason, she goes on a mission to avenge
Manette and Charles Darnay, and Madame Defarge and the Evremonde family show how gratuitous revenge leads to deadly consequences. Although many are aware that inflicting deadly revenge upon others is wrong, the misconduct of others against loved ones leads people to take those extreme actions. Whether justified or not, revenge is most often meant to honor the memory of another through enforcing suffering upon the alleged wrongdoer. All things considered, we learn that being merciful and righteous will lead to a better end than being barbaric and