While pursuing revenge, it is said to start digging a grave along with the grave of the person being avenged. In Book 3, Chapter 14 of A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge reaped that which she sowed. It was made evident that concerning Madame Defarge, the revolution in France is in fact just a euphemism for the revenge she wants to execute against the Marquis Evremonde. She adopted compensating that which the Marquis stole from her, which was all her living relatives, as her personal mission.
Despite achieving her goal of capturing Charles Darnay, and having him sentenced to death by the guillotine, she is still not satisfied. Madame Defarge goes in search of Lucie, Darnay’s wife, in hopes of catching her in the act of lamenting for a prisoner. Consequently, when she reaches the house, Lucie and her family have already fled and is met by Miss Pross, who is the last person to see her alive. Through the use of reversal, situational irony, juxtaposition, and incongruity, Dickens demonstrates that the obsessive desire for revenge drives a person to their grave.
Revenge can start out as a small urge, but can easily develop into a compulsive yearning which causes the disregard of all consequences, including that of destroying relationships. Accordingly, the desire over consumed Madame Defarge to the point where she had no regard for the fact that Lucie was Doctor Manette’s daughter; Doctor Manette being a close friend of her husband. She wanted all those related to the Marquis dead, just like he caused the death of all her loved ones. Calling out to those that relate to the man who caused her sorrow, “Citizen Doctor!
Wife of Evremonde! Child of Evremonde! “(381). she refers to herself as “Citizeness Defarge,” and demands for them to answer to her. Initially, Defarge’s revenge was solely directed toward the Marquis, which then evolved to making Darnay pay for his uncle’s crimes, and now has spiraled onto his innocent family. In reference to the previous quote, seeing as the Evremondes are part of the aristocracy, and Madame Defarge is just a wine shop owner, she is reversing the normal order this would’ve been in, before the revolution and shift in power to the lower class citizens.
One of the more immediate causes of the French Revolution is the discontent of the third estate on the lack of goods to sustain their basic human rights whilst the upper class live extravagant, lavish lifestyles. The Defarges play a principal role in A Tale of Two Cities during the uprising, and assisted in moving it along. Hence, Madame Defarge believes that she is now of higher standing. This is made evident in her condescending tone; she refers to Lucie, and her family like a queen would beckon her subjects, who serve no other purpose than to obey her every command.
Dicken’s consistent use of foil characters, and duality highlights the opposite attributes of their partner. Pross is very much a foil character to Defarge. The blatantly obvious difference between the two is where they come from, each from one of the two cities the book focuses on; Defarge being from France, and Pross from England. In fact, in this scene, it is emphasized as both women speak in their own mother tongue, oblivious what the other is saying, although able to detect that they are enemies.
Incongruently, Miss Pross, the emotional woman who references to Lucie as her “Lady Bug”, who has never been presented as hostile, nor vicious, except in relation to protecting her “Lady Bug” declares that if Madame Defarge so much as touches her, she “will not leave a handful of that dark hair upon [Madame Defarge’s] head” (381). In the very next paragraph, after Miss Pross delivers her threat, it is revealed that she has “never struck a blow in her life. “(381) These two paragraphs side by side is an example of juxtaposition; despite it being described that violence is not in her nature, Miss Pross still manages to browbeat Madame Defarge.
Dickens placed these two contradicting ideas together to not only highlight the extent in which Miss Pross was willing adhere in order to protect Lucie, but also to exhibit that Madame Defarge had picked a fight with the wrong person. Defarge then later realizing that Lucie was already gone, starts making her way to the door, but is interrupted when Pross drags her into an altercation. By using these devices, Dickens demonstrates that one may act out of their normal behavior in order to protect those that they love; relationships between individuals greatly impact their decisions.
Miss Pross going against her nature, “clasped [Defarge] tight and even lifted her from the floor in the struggle that they had”(382). Defarge stood no chance, for “It was in vain for [her] to struggle and to strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenancy of love, always so much stronger than hate…. ” had gained the upper hand. Ironically, earlier on in the passage, before this transpired, as Miss Pross blocks the doorway, restricting Madame Defarge from entering, the “Citizeness Defarge” declares that she “will tear [Miss Pross] to pieces but I will have [her] from that door”(381).
Miss Pross obtaining leverage on Madame Defarge is very unexpected. Not only is it unexpected, but is a form of reversal. Defarge being a frontrunner in the French Revolution is painted as this strong, powerful woman who will stop at nothing to achieve what she set her mind to, yet Miss Pross who’d devoted a great part of her life to taking care of a girl, was able to subdue her. Madame Defarge’s previous threat was rendered false. Due to letting the revenge getting to her head, it is illustrated by Charles dickens that the consequence to Madame Defarge’s consequence is being in her current predicament.
Nevertheless, if Madame Defarge’s hunger for revenge was not as intense, she would have made it to the end of the novel. Instead of being satisfied with what she had already achieved, she drove it further, and by going after Darnay’s family she dug her own grave. The conflict between the two women is ended with one shooting the other, but we are unsure of who has been shot. All throughout the brawl, there is anticipation created, leaving the reader unsure of how the scene would pan out.
As it is revealed by Miss Pross that “[a gun] is under [her] arm,” Dickens foreshadows the death of one of the two women. Miss Pross herself even says it declaring “one or the other of us,”(382) will be killed by the other. Madame Defarge reaches for the pistol located at Miss Pross’s side and the gun is shot. Instead of just naming the woman who’d been killed by the other, he describes the smoke from the gun clearing, “leaving an awful stillness, it passed the air like the soul of the furious woman whose body lay on the ground”(383).
Any person who had read the book up until that point understood who was dead. Madame Defarge’s bitterness had been incorporated into her character and had caught up to her. Revenge is not easily satisfied. Like in the case of Madame Defarge, the longing will continue to push further, and further, until one finds themselves in an unfortunate predicament. The appetite for revenge causes obliviousness, making it unclear how much damage has been done, until it is too late. Seeking for revenge does you more harm than good because ultimately, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”, Mahatma Gandhi.
