How Is Madame Defarge An Evil Figure In A Tale Of Two Cities

“‘Is that his child?’ said Madame Defarge, stopping in her work for the first time, and pointing her knitting-needle at little Lucie as if it were the finger of Fate.” (Dickens 277). Is Madame Defarge just a scary old woman, about to poke little Lucie’s eyes out with her gargantuan knitting needles, or do Dickens’ words about the “finger of Fate” have more meaning than first meets the eye? Although many people who read Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities come away with the impression that Madame Defarge is just a classic evil figure because all she does is look for revenge, Madame Defarge is also meant to represent the 3 Fates from Greek mythology through her knitting, and through bringing justice to France. Many will assume that Madame Defarge is just a normal evil figure within A Tale of Two Cities because she never changes from her position of killing off everyone she does not like, and trying to get revenge. Madame Defarge is the wife of a wine shop keeper who holds meetings for Revolutionaries. She keeps their

The opposition would state that Madame Defarge was just a basic evil figure because she always was thinking of getting revenge. However, they failed to recognise that not only did Madame Defarge constantly knit, a key trait of the Fates, but she also handed out justice to those who deserved it. Although Madame Defarge is a scary old woman, pointing her knitting needles at little Lucie, she is not just evil. Dickens words about the “finger of Fate” clearly illustrate that there is more to many people than meets the eye (still not little Lucie’s). In this case, it was to understand clearly that even though Madame Defarge seemed evil, she was meant to represent the Fates, and to hand out justice to a world that needed it so