Role of Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities

Madame Defarge is the wife of Ernest Defarge. She is a cruel, embittered, and vengeful woman. She was a watchful eye and records, in her knitting, the names of all those who had to die. She represents the bloody and violent aspect of the revolution.

Madame Defarge is a symbol of fate. She spends a good deal of the novel knitting. Her knitting is a symbolic of maintaining register of the names of everyone who must die for the revolutionary cause. Thus, on the surface level she stitches a registry, or list of names, of all those condemned to die in the name of a new republic. But on the deeper level, the knitting constitutes a symbol in itself, representing the stealthy, cold-blooded vengefulness of the revolutionaries. In fact she sentences her victims to death. Dickens’s knitting imagery also emphasizes an association between vengefulness and fate, which, in Greek mythology, is traditionally linked to knitting or weaving.

Madame Defarge has a history. She did not get involved in the revolution by accident. In fact, her association with the Manettes is not an accident. Notice that she is introduced in Book 1, in the story’s exposition. She’s an important character. She is part of recalling Dr. Manette to life. She is actually part of his back story. Her sister was raped by the Marquis St. Evremonde. This is the incident that Dr. Manette was called to.

The symbolism of Madame Defarge’s knitting is not to be discounted. She represents the entire rebellion, and not just her own grudge but the careful planning that went into every step. A rebellion does not happen overnight. With each name she knitted, she was one step closer. Symbolically, the rebellion was planned.

Madame Defarge’s symbolic value to the story contributes to the themes of revenge, greed, and the destructive nature of passion. Madame Defarge has not had an easy life. She is single-minded and focused on one goal. She is herself a symbol of the rebellion, and of a long-festering grudge.

Although Madame Defarge functions in the plot by being the center of the rebellion, giving the Jaques a place to hang out and collude, and storing names in her knitting, and recalling Dr. Manette to life, she also contributes to the latter end of the plot when the Darnay-Manette clan returns to France, and she even targets Lucy and Charles’s little daughter. This is a demonstration of how her desire for vengeance runs so deep that it has clouded her judgment. Thus Madame Defarge functions both practical and symbolic roles in the novel.

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