Charles Dicken presents numerous dualities in his book A Tale of Two Cities, one of which are the characters Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge. These two characters represent two very different themes of purity and hatred, respectively, shown by analyzing their physical traits, character traits, and their past. Lucie Manette has the purity of an angel. The first time she is introduced in the book, she is described as “ a short, slight, pretty figure, a quantity of golden hair, a pair of blue eyes…” (Dickens 33). The blue eyes and blonde hair of Lucie gives her the appearance of an angel, as though her golden hair is her halo. However, not only does Ms. Manette look like an angel, she acts like one too by giving people new life. For instance,
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Madame Defarge is always surrounded by shadows this sense of coldness. For example, “A figure entering at the door threw a shadow on Madame Defarge…” (Dickens 317). In this quote, a visitor enters the Defarges’ wine shop and in doing so they cast a shadow over Madame Defarge. Also, after meeting Lucie for the first time, Lucie enthusiastically shakes her hand. However, Madame Defarge was not as enthusiastic. Her “the hand made no response—dropped cold.” (Dickens 472). The shadow represents how dark Madame Defarge’s soul is and her cold hand symbolizes the coldness of her heart and her willingness to kill anyone associated with the …show more content…
However, this is not true. Although they both have the ability inspire people, they do it in completely different ways. When Lucie inspires people, she inspires them to lead better lives, as seen with Sydney Carton. When Madame Defarge inspires people, she inspires them to murder and kill people as seen when she led the mob to the Bastille. In spite of the fact that both Madame Defarge and Lucie Manette can inspire people, this fact alone is not enough to say that these two characters are similar as even in inspiring people they do it differently. Furthermore, although both Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge have had their lives directly impacted due to the cruelty of aristocrats, what they do with their past is what truly makes them different. Lucie takes her past and morphs it into compassion and caring for others while Madame takes it and morphs it into hatred and the need to seek revenge on the aristocrats. This variation in how Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge deal with their pasts and inspire others is the essence of their
Madame Defarge is always surrounded by shadows this sense of coldness. For example, “A figure entering at the door threw a shadow on Madame Defarge…” (Dickens 317). In this quote, a visitor enters the Defarges’ wine shop and in doing so they cast a shadow over Madame Defarge. Also, after meeting Lucie for the first time, Lucie enthusiastically shakes her hand. However, Madame Defarge was not as enthusiastic. Her “the hand made no response—dropped cold.” (Dickens 472). The shadow represents how dark Madame Defarge’s soul is and her cold hand symbolizes the coldness of her heart and her willingness to kill anyone associated with the …show more content…
However, this is not true. Although they both have the ability inspire people, they do it in completely different ways. When Lucie inspires people, she inspires them to lead better lives, as seen with Sydney Carton. When Madame Defarge inspires people, she inspires them to murder and kill people as seen when she led the mob to the Bastille. In spite of the fact that both Madame Defarge and Lucie Manette can inspire people, this fact alone is not enough to say that these two characters are similar as even in inspiring people they do it differently. Furthermore, although both Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge have had their lives directly impacted due to the cruelty of aristocrats, what they do with their past is what truly makes them different. Lucie takes her past and morphs it into compassion and caring for others while Madame takes it and morphs it into hatred and the need to seek revenge on the aristocrats. This variation in how Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge deal with their pasts and inspire others is the essence of their