A Tale of Two Cities Essay
Throughout history, the powers of love and hate have constantly been engaged in a battle for superiority. Time and time again, love has proven to be stronger than hate, and has been able to overcome all of the obstacles that have stood in the way from it reaching its goal. On certain occasions, though, hate has been a viable foe and defeated love when they have clashed. In the novel A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens presents several different power struggles between love and hate.
One of the more famous power struggles takes place between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge, towards the end of the novel. When Madame Defarge, who because of her evil nature and devilish appearance is compared to "the wife of Lucifer", appears at the Manettes' residence to accuse the remaining members of the household of ridiculous crimes, she is confronted by Miss Pross. The result is a struggle between these two magnificent women, who are complete opposites of each other: "It was in vain for Madame Defarge to struggle and to strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate, clasped her tight…" (p. 360). Miss Pross loves Lucie with all her heart and would never allow any harm to come to her. Madame Defarge, on the other hand, does not just hate Lucie, but she hates the Manettes and all Evremondes. One would think that such a strongly fueled hatred would permit Madame Defarge to overpower Miss Pross, but, as the reader finds out, Miss Pross' determination to keep her darling "Ladybird" safe, from any harm that might come to her or her family, allows her to overpower and kill her enemy. This time, the power of good overcomes the power of evil due to Miss Pross' true love and dedication for Lucie.
Another struggle between love and hate can be found within Monsieur Defarge. In this particular case, it is evil that eventually triumphs. Monsieur Defarge can be considered a true revolutionary, as his actions prove throughout the novel: "… and still Defarge of the wine - shop at his gun, grown doubly hot by the service of four fierce hours" (p. 215). Monsieur Defarge tirelessly works alongside his fellow revolutionaries to defeat the aristocracy that has treated his countrymen so harshly.
Madame Defarge was taking out her anger on the whole family, which she thought had killed her sister. So Madame Defarge was going after all of the Marquis, no matter if they had anything to do with the murder or not.
She plays the Force of Evil, as she plots against Darnay and those around him, despite occasional disapprovals from her husband. “‘One must stop somewhere. After all, the question is still where?’ ‘At extermination,’ said Madame’” (263). She’s described as a, “ruthless woman, now taking her way along the streets. Of a strong and fearless character, of shrewd sense and readiness, of great determination… but, imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress” (281). Madame Defarge did what she thought was right in order to try and compensate for the damage done during her childhood, “that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was my sister, that husband was my sisters husband, that unborn child was their child, that brother was my brother, that father was my father”
Response : Many of the shadows mentioned in this book are represented by the great wickedness of Madame Defarge. She casts a shadow of hate and burden to almost everyone she interacts with. Unlike Lucie, Madame Defarge, is the total opposite of an angel-like figure. In fact, she is compared to the wife of the devil himself. The contrast between both ouf their characteristics is inevitable. Lucie’s pureness represents the good times, while Madame Defarge represents the bad times. It is a constant struggle between lightness and darkness… Between love and hate.
“Love and hate are two sides of the same coin” (anonymous). While these emotions are thought of as positive and negative respectively, they are really just different forms of passion. Passion drives everyone to make decisions in their life, and love and hate are the most common forms of passion. Everyone experiences love and hate and is prisoner to the reactions that these elicit from them. Emotions simply happen, and while they can be hidden or covered up, they cannot be consciously changed by the victim. People cannot control the emotions they feel, but they often choose to work towards intensifying their hate or love once they know they are experiencing it. Although these emotions are encountered by everyone at one point or another, they are misunderstood by society and usually accepted as opposites. Though love and hate are often thought of as antonyms, Nathaniel Hawthorne, in his novel The Scarlet Letter, examines how they are fundamentally the same because of their intimacy and the power with which they shape people and society.
...to revenge. She turned into this cold killer to kill the entire Evermonde family for what they had done to her family. She uses her power in the revolution to take revenge on the Evermonde family. Madame Defarge loses her true self and becomes someone who disregards the lives of people include hers. Dickens’s theme of how history repeats itself appears again when Madame Defarge kills innocent people similar to what the Marquis of Evermonde did.
Madame Defarge was the individual who drove the revolution forward because she showed extreme ruthlessness that was more extensive than her husband. During a certain discussion between the two Defarges, Madame explained to her husband that she had no significant weaknesses, unlike her spouse. Part of the conversation included Monsieur stating.. Afterwards, Madame defended herself by claiming, “‘I too, my dear, will stop at nothing’” (Defarge to Madame) (Dickens 205). “‘Yes! But it is your weakness that you sometimes need to see your victim and your opportunity, to sustain you. Sustain yourself without that’” (Madame to Defarge) (Dickens 205). Madame stated that her husband had a
Madame also shows that she is ruthless in her efforts to get her revenge as, “It was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for the sins of his forefathers; she saw, not him, but them. It was nothing to her, that his wife was to be made a widow and his daughter and orphan;” (Book 3 ch 14). This exhibits Defarge’s ruthlessness as she never considers that obtaining her revenge could damage Darnay’s family similar to how significantly the tragic events of her past damaged her. Although, all of Defarge’s vengeful and ruthless moments stem from one thing, her damaged past. The Evremonde’s ruined her life as they raped her sister, her father died of grief, and her brother was killed trying to avenge their sister’s honor. This created a life of trauma for Defarge, forever damaging her heart, and creating her thirst for
Dickens’ most brutal female character is Madame Defarge, and her downward spiral from advocate to beast does not occur until Book the Second. The truculent manner she adopts from other revolutionaries forms an uneasy feeling amongst the audience. The reader views her at first as a thoroughly thought out insurgent to someone who is willing to kill children to Mme. Defarge’s lack of control as the book progresses, is symbolic to the control that the oppressed population lose as the French Revolution continues. Madame Defarge’s opposite, Miss Pross does not change her attitude on the misconducts of other, but learns to forgive, which is something Madame Defarge forgets to do.
...d longs for her elder sister and mother. Frances is a good person – at heart – and is always looking out for her younger sister. Moreover, even though she has different views that her father and will always do the opposite of what is expected of her, it is seen that this insecurity is caused by James indeed. Frances feels that in order to gain security in her life, she must perform these actions. She feels compelled to live her life the way she does. Frances’s naughty and mischievous behaviour can be viewed as a weakness she possesses, and she longs to correct these weaknesses by her actions. She is not a role model by any means, but she is by no means the Devil’s advocate. A sincere heart – compelled by circumstances – does its best to make the situation turn out for the better than the worse, and Frances, through her love for her mother, inevitably does just that.
In every great novel there is a theme that is constant throughout the story. One of the better known themes portrays the fight of good verses evil. Different authors portray this in different ways. Some use colors while others use seasons to show the contrast. Still others go for the obvious and use characters. But what makes them all so different is the authors point of view. In Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, he portrays good and evil in somewhat of a unique way. Dickens shows this difference by using characters, although we sometimes have to think about the difference between the good and the evil and wonder if they are not the same in the long run. Good and evil differs with the characters in this novel, yet sometimes coincides.
Dickens is often held to be among the greatest writers of the Victorian Age. Nonetheless, why are his works still relevant nearly two centuries later? One reason for this is clearly shown in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. In the novel, he uses imagery to sway the readers’ sympathies. He may kindle empathy for the revolutionary peasants one moment and inspire feeling for the imprisoned aristocrats the next, making the book a more multi-sided work. Dickens uses imagery throughout the novel to manipulate the reader’s compassion in the peasants’ favor, in the nobles defense, and even for the book’s main villainess, Madame Defarge.
In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens’ choice of sentimental expression had an excellent effect on the readers’ responses to the characters. The use of exaggerated sentimentality helped create a clear picture of the story’s issues in the readers’ minds; it gave a feel for the spirit of the times, and made it easier to understand the characters’ points of view. It was this very sentimentality that Dickens strived to achieve.
Throughout A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens repeats a number of symbols and motifs. By employing these two literary devices throughout the duration of the story, Dickens is working to emphasize the importance of these specific components of the story. Motifs and symbols represent repeating ideas that help the reader to understand, as well as highlight the author’s central idea. Dickens employs the usage of symbols and motifs, such that by using both he adds a layer of significance and deeper meaning to actions, people, as well as objects. Additionally, by using symbols and motifs, Dickens is able to create a story in which both the characters, and the plot are interwoven.
Lucie Manette, daughter of Dr. Manette and the perfect wife of Charles Darnay. Her strength could be derived from her early life and upbringing by Miss Pross. To Charles Darnay, she is the ideal wife. She even fights Madame Defarge when she exclaims ' “As a wife and mother…I implore you to have pity on me and not to exercise power that you possess against my innocent husband, but use it in his behalf. O sister-woman, think of me. As a wife and mother!"(278) This strong yet very compassionate woman is able to confront Madame Defarge who she clearly fears, especiall...
Charles Dickens is a talented author who wrote many notable novels, including A Tale of Two Cities. Barbara Hardy notes that at a young age Dickens’ father was imprisoned for debt, leaving young Charles to support himself and his family alone (47). Dickens strongly disliked prisons, which shows as a motif in A Tale of Two Cities. Many of his interests contributed to the formulation of the novel. In the essay “Introduction” from the book, Charles Dickens, Harold Bloom claims Dickens hoped “to add something to the popular and picturesque means of understanding [the] terrible time” of the Revolution (20). Dickens’ reading and “extraordinary reliance upon Carlyle’s bizarre but effective French Revolution” may have motivated him to write the novel (Bloom 21). Sir James Fitzjames Stephen believed that Dickens was “on the look-out for a subject, determined off-hand to write a novel about [French Revolution]” (Bloom 20). In Brown’s book Dickens in his Time, Dickens guided the writing of the play Frozen Deep where two rivals share the same love, and one ultimately sacrifices himself for...