In Charles Dickens' novel, "A Tale of Two Cities," the character, Madame Defarge, is used to enhance the disturbing entity of the French Revolution. Dickens uses Defarge's evolution as a character to emotionally connect the reader to the Revolution, as her personal life parallels the story of the French people as a whole. The pain and betrayal caused by the French aristocracy sparked a desire for revenge in Madame Defarge, ultimately leading to a merciless, blood-thirsty mind-state. As Defarge transforms from a supposedly idle character to a woman whose haunted past justifies the cold determination of her personality, she mirrors the progress of the French Revolution, making the historical context of the novel more relevant to readers. .
When Madame Defarge makes her debut in the novel, she seems to be a stereotypical Victorian era woman, quietly knitting in the corner as her husband handles business and social affairs. "Madame Defarge knitted with nimble fingers and steady eyebrows, and saw nothing." Similarly, when the concept of the Revolution is first introduced in the book, it is through the Woodsman and the Farmer, both working steadily at their profession. "But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread." Nothing seems out of the norm, yet as both Defarge and the Woodsman reappear over the novel, the real purpose of their work becomes clear. Defarge's seemingly innocent knitting is a registry of those doomed to death after the Revolution, and the Woodsman is cutting down trees to build the Guillotines. As they began their work, the rage behind their actions remained hidden, which demonstrates the sinister patience and pent up anger of both Madame Defarge and the French people. The narrator foreshadows the terror of the coming Revolution when describing the work of the Woodsman and Farmer, as "To entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous.
