Who Is Madame Defarge In A Tale Of Two Cities
Madame Defarge is a character in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities that will live forever in the reader’s memory due to her desire for revolution and thirst for vengeance. Madame Defarge is so driven for vengeance over the Evremonde family and the French aristocrats that have wronged the poor citizens in France. One reason Madame Defarge will always always stay in the mind of the reader is how Madame records people’s names, descriptions, and history in her knitting. The author writes “It would be easier for the weakest poltroon that lives to erase himself from existence, than to erase one letter of his name or crimes from the knitted register of Madame Defarge”(161). The author uses this to show the reader how smart and organized Madame Defarge is at keeping information secret while still having it out in the open for her to see.
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I will always remember Madame Defarge as a very cunning individual.
Madame Defarge will wait for as long as it takes for the perfect opportunity to get revenge and one way the author shows this is when Madame says “It does not take a long time… for an earthquake to swallow a town.. Tell me how long it takes to prepare the earthquake?”(167). This is an example of how revenge can be a swift, but good revenge can take a long time to prepare. Not only does the reader remember Madame Defarge as a cunning revolutionary, but also as a patient avenger. Madame Defarge get a chance at revenge when they find a captured wealthy man who despises peasants and once said that they should all be eating grass. When they find him Madame Defarge is struck with joy, “Let him eat it now! Madame put her knife under her arm, and clapped her hands as at a play”(209). It shows Madame’s cruel sense of humor and the reader will never forget that moment of the book after he/she reads it. I thought that part of the book is the started of when Madame Defarge will be remembered as a cruel and evil
person. Another example of how the author shows how evil Madame Defarge can be is when a revolutionary says “but one must stop somewhere. Afterall, the question is still where where?” and Madame Defarge answers “At extermination”(312), referring to the Evremonde family and the French aristocrats who devalue the poor. Madame Defarge’s response to that question will stick with me for a long time and with the reader too, it really shows how obsessed with revenge she really is. Madame Defarge will finally forever live in the reader's memory for how other non-revolutionary people she her. When she goes to Charles Darnay's house to kill his wife, knocks on the door, and says “The wife of Evremonde; where is she?”(335) as if she thinks that they will just hand her over. Madame Defarge demands to know where she is like she has the right to kill her then and there, and her ignorance leads to her downfall. Later on in that seen, Miss Pross says to Madame Defarge “you might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer”(335), which means that her wickedness makes others see her as the devil. The reader, after reading this, will forever remember Madame Defarge as an evil, evil woman consumed by revenge.
I will always remember Madame Defarge as a very cunning individual.
Madame Defarge will wait for as long as it takes for the perfect opportunity to get revenge and one way the author shows this is when Madame says “It does not take a long time… for an earthquake to swallow a town.. Tell me how long it takes to prepare the earthquake?”(167). This is an example of how revenge can be a swift, but good revenge can take a long time to prepare. Not only does the reader remember Madame Defarge as a cunning revolutionary, but also as a patient avenger. Madame Defarge get a chance at revenge when they find a captured wealthy man who despises peasants and once said that they should all be eating grass. When they find him Madame Defarge is struck with joy, “Let him eat it now! Madame put her knife under her arm, and clapped her hands as at a play”(209). It shows Madame’s cruel sense of humor and the reader will never forget that moment of the book after he/she reads it. I thought that part of the book is the started of when Madame Defarge will be remembered as a cruel and evil
person. Another example of how the author shows how evil Madame Defarge can be is when a revolutionary says “but one must stop somewhere. Afterall, the question is still where where?” and Madame Defarge answers “At extermination”(312), referring to the Evremonde family and the French aristocrats who devalue the poor. Madame Defarge’s response to that question will stick with me for a long time and with the reader too, it really shows how obsessed with revenge she really is. Madame Defarge will finally forever live in the reader's memory for how other non-revolutionary people she her. When she goes to Charles Darnay's house to kill his wife, knocks on the door, and says “The wife of Evremonde; where is she?”(335) as if she thinks that they will just hand her over. Madame Defarge demands to know where she is like she has the right to kill her then and there, and her ignorance leads to her downfall. Later on in that seen, Miss Pross says to Madame Defarge “you might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer”(335), which means that her wickedness makes others see her as the devil. The reader, after reading this, will forever remember Madame Defarge as an evil, evil woman consumed by revenge.