Women’s Power Over Men
There are multiple female characters in A Tale of Two Cities who are used to show different characteristics of women. Charles Dickens uses many of these women to display his thoughts on gender stereotypes. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens displays that women can be more powerful than men through Madame Defarge’s knitting, leadership role in the Revolution, and disregard for her husband’s opinions. Madame Defarge has a huge amount of power in the French Revolution because of her knitting. She knits the list of people who will be killed in the Revolution, in a code that none of the men know. Madame Defarge has knitted her hit list “in her own stitches and her own symbols, it will always be as plain to her as the sun” (182). …show more content…
“Madam Defarge held darkly ominous council with The Vengeance and Jacques Three of the revolutionary jury” (385) to discuss matters of the revolution of which her husband is a supposed leader. Even without Defarge there, the revolutionaries listen to Madame Defarge and her ideas about the revolution, agreeing with her instead of her husband, thus giving her more power than her husband. Defarge cares deeply about Dr. Manette, but Madame Defarge “care[s] nothing for this doctor... He may wear his head or lose it for any interest [she has] in him” (385). Though Defarge is one of the biggest figures in the French Revolution, the other revolutionaries side with his wife on this issue. This gives her power over him in one of his biggest concerns about the war. Defarge also believes that Darnay should be the only one in the family killed and “would leave the matter there. I say, stop there” (366). Madame Defarge disregards this opinion of his completely, as she wants “the Evrémonde people…to be exterminated, and the wife and child must follow the husband and father” (385). Other revolutionaries take her side on this, again, showing that she has more power in the revolution than a major male figure in the war does. Madame Defarge goes against her husband’s wants in the French Revolution, and because others follow her, she gains more power than her
There are multiple female characters in A Tale of Two Cities who are used to show different characteristics of women. Charles Dickens uses many of these women to display his thoughts on gender stereotypes. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens displays that women can be more powerful than men through Madame Defarge’s knitting, leadership role in the Revolution, and disregard for her husband’s opinions. Madame Defarge has a huge amount of power in the French Revolution because of her knitting. She knits the list of people who will be killed in the Revolution, in a code that none of the men know. Madame Defarge has knitted her hit list “in her own stitches and her own symbols, it will always be as plain to her as the sun” (182). …show more content…
“Madam Defarge held darkly ominous council with The Vengeance and Jacques Three of the revolutionary jury” (385) to discuss matters of the revolution of which her husband is a supposed leader. Even without Defarge there, the revolutionaries listen to Madame Defarge and her ideas about the revolution, agreeing with her instead of her husband, thus giving her more power than her husband. Defarge cares deeply about Dr. Manette, but Madame Defarge “care[s] nothing for this doctor... He may wear his head or lose it for any interest [she has] in him” (385). Though Defarge is one of the biggest figures in the French Revolution, the other revolutionaries side with his wife on this issue. This gives her power over him in one of his biggest concerns about the war. Defarge also believes that Darnay should be the only one in the family killed and “would leave the matter there. I say, stop there” (366). Madame Defarge disregards this opinion of his completely, as she wants “the Evrémonde people…to be exterminated, and the wife and child must follow the husband and father” (385). Other revolutionaries take her side on this, again, showing that she has more power in the revolution than a major male figure in the war does. Madame Defarge goes against her husband’s wants in the French Revolution, and because others follow her, she gains more power than her