A Tale of Two Women: Lucie Darnay and Madame Defarge
A Tale of Two Women: Lucie Darnay and Madame Defarge in Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" Charles Dickens' novel "A Tale of Two Cities" presents two entirely opposite personalities in the characters of Lucie Darnay and Madame Defarge. Although both women share French descent, they are otherwise at exact opposites with each other in terms of family, social position, temperament, and even fate. From his 19th century standpoint, Dickens shows us the upper middle class feminine ideal in Lucie Darnay. In the character of Madame Defarge, he presents his version of an individual who embodies the very antithesis of 19th century feminine ideals. In Madame Defarge, Dickens offers us the character of a woman of the type, as he puts is, "such as the world would do well never to breed again" (186). In his "insistence on the female as the gentler, purer sex," Dickens never allows Lucie to depart from Victorian convention (Robson 313). As Lisa Robson states in her essay "The Angels in Dickens' House," Dickens implies that Lucie is a "redeemer " of feminine values. Robson states that in "A Tale of Two Cities," Lucie acts most noticeably as a redeemer by reclaiming her father, Doctor Manette "from his mental abstraction, b
Evremonde; the road mender finds his stay at the Defarges' wine shop in Paris to be "very new and agreeable," with the exception of "a mysterious dread of [Madame Defarge] by which he was constantly haunted" (Dickens 175). She is "a valued and trusted confidante of her husband, Ernest, and his circle of lower-class companions" (322). In conclusion, "A Tale of Two Cities" is built around the differences in these two female characters. Madame Defarge, on the other hand, meets a violent death. Lucie is honored and remembered by her children; Madame Defarge leaves behind no children. Lucie represents all that is fair and bright, while Madame Defarge represents the dirty working class. " To "those who love her," Lucie is "compassionate friend and moral inspiration. Madame Defarge, Robson tells us, is painted in a different light. Madame Defarge is missed only by her bloodthirsty husband and her circle of knitting women who await her at the guillotine (Dickens 364). For Charles Dickens such a character as Madame Defarge is indeed of the sort "such as the world would do well never to breed again" (186). Madame Defarge is an exact opposite of Lucie Darnay in social standing and physical appearance. By so being, Madame Defarge "appears to avoid some of the restrictions placed on other women in the novel," as Lisa Robson notes (322).
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