We know that France is in complete chaos during the time of this book and that everyone is
acting in ways they never imagined they ever would, but one person seems to stick out more so
than others. Madame Defarge. I think one of the biggest questions that has really occurred throughout most of the book is: What is wrong with Madame Defarge? At first, all she does is knit, but she comes off as sinister and unwelcoming. It makes me wonder whether something bad happened in her past, what grudges she has against some of the main characters in the book (such as Darnay and the Manettes), and overall, why she is so mean. One action of hers that seems very over dramatic occurs on page 229,
"...she remained immovable close to him when he was got near his destination, and began to be struck from behind; remained immovable close to him when the long-gathering rain of stabs and blows fell heavy; was so close to him when he dropped dead under it, that, suddenly animated, she put her foot upon his neck, and with her cruel knife- long ready- hewed off his head."
We know that every one is acting in a crazed way based on the word choice Dickens uses to describe the way the people were stabbing this man. However, Madame Defarge is the one who in a sense, "finishes him off," and she has no problem in doing so. It does not affect her one bit, which is actually kind of scary. Another thing about Madame Defarge that is somewhat off putting, is seen multiple times in book three, such as on page 330.
"In a dead silence and stillness- the prisoner under trial looking lovingly at his wife, his wife only looking from him to look with solicitude at her father, Doctor Manette keeping his eyes fixed on the reader, Madame Defarge never taking hers from the prisoner, Defarge never taking his from his feasting wife..."
We know two things about Madame Defarge from this passage: one, she has a strong desire for proving Darnay guilty and sending him to the guillotine, and two, her husband seems to be afraid of her. Often times throughout the story, he will look to his wife for permission of some sorts, which was not a common thing to see back then. Everything about Madame Defarge is eerie, but was she always this way? And if not, what brought about this hatred that she has for so many people? Dickens tends to answer all of our questions at some point throughout the book, but for now, we can only wonder.
Our two blog posts are very similar, and I’ve seen other that talk about Madame DeFarge too, so I wonder what it is about this character that everyone seems to take notice of. So far what I, and most others, have noticed is how she has really flipped, whereas I used to think she was such a nice frenchwomen, to what I now think, that she is an evil revolutionist who has gone so far. I wonder if she has another personality we haven’t seen yet, or if she will be stopped.
ReplyDeleteIts really great that you did a sort of biography on madame Defarge. This post is so unique but i think it is very necessary. I like how you asked what happened in her past, and also why she hates the Manettes so much, even though she was his servant. Really good quotes aswell, i think they describe her perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI think Dickens, as a writer wants the reader to have questions about Madame Defarge. Even this far in the book her character is somewhat of a mystery. Madame Defarge clearly wants Darnay to be executed. We aren't really told exactly why. One reason I thought of is that as we found out in chapter ten, Defarge was Dr. Manettes servant (or at least it says in the letter). Defarge then knows that Darnay is aristocracy because it was said that he was the son on the Marquis and I am assuming that Defarge would have known that if he was working with the Marquis. If Defarge knew that Darnay was aristocracy he probably would have told Madame Defarge. Just because Madame Defarge may know that Darnay is aristrcracy may be the reason behind her hatred for him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Tori, I think Dickens wants us to still be questioning why Madame Defarge is like this? Also, yes I agree with Tori that Madame Defarge may want to get revenge on Darnay because he was the son of the Marquis, but is that enough to want to kill Darnay even if Darnay is nothing like his father and uncle? I do not think it is right to just punish someone just because they are born into a certain family. I feel like there must be some information that Dickens has not yet revealed. Furthermore, why does Madame Defarge so more "want" for revenge than Defarge?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that Madame DeFarge is crazy and a killing machine. I think it's great that someome finally compiled enough evidence to prove it. It's not necessarily the fact that she wants to kill all of these people, it's that she has no remorse or inhibitions about killing.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Katie. It's great that you're looking so closely at word choice in these passages from the book. Keep reading carefully!
ReplyDelete