In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens presents a story that cannot be found in textbooks. By juxtaposing different experiences of femininity and domestic life in the late 18th century, Dickens highlights a duality in French and English contemporary thought towards the role of the family in state and war. Ultimately, this serves as a commentary on the position of ethics that value compassion and order in the context of revolutionary war and major social upheaval.
Two women in particular clearly embody Dickens’s commentary: Madame Defarge, whose unrelenting loyalty to revolution and deviation from feminine norms leads to a loss of rationality; and Lucie Manette, who embraces and internalizes the ideals of British family life and rejoices in the pleasures of love. Defarge’s transition from quiet animosity to belligerence establishes her as the French ideal of the Mother of Revolution. Lucie on the other hand, is unrelenting in her loyalty to family, positing her as the British ideal of femininity.
Madame Defarge is overwhelmed with hatred of her oppressed condition, the state, and everyone tied French clergy and aristocracy. She waits benignly for years as atrocity upon atrocity is amassed upon herself and the French people. When provoked, she transforms into a perverse representation of the Mother of Revolution, committing merciless acts of violence for the sake of progress and protest, ignoring virtue in favor of rationality. Her transition from animosity to brutality can be traced as the anticipation of Revolution draws nearer.
When Madame Defarge learns that Lucie Manette intends to marry the nephew of the Marquis St. Evremonde, she hopes, for Lucie’s sake, that “Destiny will keep her husband out of France,” acknowledging his impending death upon returning to his country (191). Although she wishes Lucie well, she simultaneously knits her fiancee’s name into the list of people to be killed. Here, Madame Defarge does not show any interest in examining Charles Darnay’s character or situation. He is family of the evil Marquis, so his death is necessary for the abolition of the entire French aristocracy.
Later, as the Revolution is underway, Madame Defarge turns into a merciless killing machine. She stabs an opposing officer, and after he “dropped dead,” she “put her foot upon his neck, and with her cruel knife —long ready—hewed off his head” (229). To Madame Defarge, this act is justifiable and revolutionary. The successful slaughter of another human for the sake of social and political progress enlivens her. Madame Defarge has no pity for anyone, even herself. The narrator observes that “it was nothing to her, that an innocent man was to die for the sins of his forefathers; she saw, not him, but them” (376).
Her complete detachment from compassion and empathy causes her to justify unnecessary death and eventually leads to her own violent end. Although Madame Defarge is defensibly rational at the beginning of her long fight, she loses that credibility quickly when she calls for the “extermination” of everyone in the Evremonde family (373). The war has caused Defarge to lose her sense of humanity. From the relatively peaceful state of England at this time, the narrator is able to use the portraits of Madame Defarge and Lucie Manette to comment on the social discrepancies between the two countries.
When Defarge is confronted with a challenge and handed a knife, she stomps maternity and femininity into the dirt. She is the chosen Mother of the Revolution. Defarge represents the rational brutality of the French Revolution, but the entirety of her character can only be understood in comparison to the virtuous Lucie Manette of England. Lucie Manette is compassionate, lovely, and loyal. She is the “Golden Thread” of family and country. From her very entrance into the novel, Lucie’s entire purpose is to restore her father to “life, love, duty, rest and comfort” (28).
She serves this duty fully by caring for her father and putting him before herself and her love-life for years. In addition to the kindness with which she treats her family, she extends this compassion to even one of the most unpleasant people she associates with, Mr. Carton. When Charles Darnay criticizes Mr. Carton for his drunkenness and vulgarity, she asks that he be less judgmental: “I would ask you, dearest, to be very generous with him always, and very lenient on his faults when he is not by. I would ask you to believe that he has a heart he very, very seldom reveals, and there are deep wounds in it.
My dear, I have seen it bleeding” (217). Darnay fears Mr. Carton “is not to be reclaimed,” but agrees to listen to Lucie anyway, and admits that he must be “capable of good things, gentle things, even magnanimous things” (217). Eventually, Mr. Carton fulfills this prophecy by volunteering his life to save her husband. Lucie has the ability to see past the dark side of people, and convince others to do the same. Although she may seem like an idealist, her optimism prevails in the end. As Madame Defarge represents the barbarism of the French revolutionaries, Lucie Manette represents the perfection of the British.
The contrast in characters is reflective of the British attitude toward the French. Therefore, Lucie illustrates what the French lack and the British esteem themselves of; compassion, order, loyalty, and family. The extreme contrast between the women of these two countries provokes an ethical duality in the midst of war. On one hand, Madame Defarge’s triumph of “uberrationality” neglects the individual and emotion. On the other hand, Lucie’s unending kindness and understanding is not provocative of revolution. Lucie serves to undermine and challenge the Madame Defarge’s moral order.
The reader views Lucie as the epitome of femininity and compassion. She does not hate or judge; she treats everyone with dignity and respect, no matter their character or context. By juxtaposing Lucie and Madame Defarge, Dickens implies that she would fare well to take a lesson from Lucie, a peaceful perpetuation of the feminine ideal. Lucie and Charles Darnay represent an ideal scene of domesticity. Lucie never challenges or quarrels with her husband, she births him wonderful children, and he, in return, is completely devoted to the happiness and safety of their family.
Charles is torn between French blood and British character; consequently, he is torn between rationality and virtue. When he revokes his property and country, the Marquis warns him to “be a rational creature,” and worries that he is already “lost” (109). In this scene, Charles is simultaneously choosing England over France, and choosing virtue over rationality. Lucie and Charles are hybrids of French romance and British order. They attain this level of angelic purity by removing themselves from the revolution and living relatively docile lives in England.
This perfection serves to contrast the upheaval of order and family that Madame Defarge represents as the Mother of Revolution. Madame Defarge tries to obscure her truly uncontrolled and chaotic nature by knitting obsessively and drawing attention to her traditionally feminine hobby. However, this domestic surface does not run deep. Unlike Lucie, Madame Defarge acts independently and even contrarily to the demands of the men she encounters. Her interactions with men range from bossing her husband around to slitting the throats of officers. She is dangerous, powerful, and uncontrollable.
Although she is probably about the same age as Lucie, she bears no children, or at least never mentions them. Madame Defarge, in the eyes of the 19th century English patriarchy, is the downfall of domesticity and maternity. Her disregard of domesticity is the result of her obsessive drive for revolution and bloodshed. Madame Defarge and Lucie Manette illustrate the incompatibility of peaceful, docile women and revolution. The stark contrast between these two characters shows that Dickens is no fan of revolution. Unfortunately, the reality of it is, France cannot be recalled to life simply with love, compassion, and comfort.