In Charles Dickens’, “A Tale of Two Cities” the use of archetypes among the primary female characters projects an idea that when it comes to the human condition, emotions are the most abundant. Archetypes are characters, symbols and motifs that frequent in literature, generally to represent a thought or idea. Meanwhile, the human condition consists of events, ideas and characteristics that are not only recurring, but essential aspects of life. Among the female characters are archetypes that don’t fit hand in hand, but work together to create different messages and appeals to the human condition.
Lucie Mannette covers a variety of archetypes, ranging from mother to platonic ideal. Lucie’s mother archetype (Nurturing and feeding) is shown in
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regard to her actions referring to and for Little Lucie. Knowing the status of her husband and his role in the Revolution, Lucie always tried to ensure that Little Lucie was safe; especially from Madame Defarge. “‘As a wife and a mother,’ cried Lucie, most earnestly, ‘I implore you to have pity on me and not to exercise any power that you possess, against my innocent husband, but to use it in his behalf. O sister-woman think of me. As a wife and a mother’” (Dickens 208). Lucie is also portrayed as the Lover Archetype because of her marriage to Charles Darnay. She remained constantly devoted to him, and always believed that he was innocent and didn’t deserve any of his trials of punishments. Once Darnay was imprisoned in La Force, Lucie’s father introduced her to a window where she could see her husband from the street. The Idea made her so excited, saying, “O show me the place my father, and I will go there every day” (214). Lucie went through with her promise, and, “In all weathers, in the snow and in the frost of winter, in the bitter winds of spring, in the hot sunshine of summer, in the rains of autumn, and again in the sun and frost of winter, Lucie passed two hours of every day at this place; and everyday on leaving it, she kissed the prison wall” (215). Lastly, Lucie is portrayed as a Platonic Ideal due to her nurturing and intellectually compatible self. To Doctor Mannette, Lucie is his inspiration, “Only his daughter had the power of charming his black brooding from his mind.” Miss Pross was a mentor throughout the book, older and caring for the Mannette’s, and often a mother-figure towards Lucie.
Having practically raised Lucie, she was very familiar with the Mannette’s, “The Doctor was a pleasant sight too, looking on at them, and telling Miss Pross how she spoilt Lucie, in accents and with eyes that had as much spoiling in them as Miss Pross had, and would have had more if it were possible” (75). It was also evident that she would make any sacrifice necessary to make sure that the Mannette’s were safe and in good company, “She knew full well that Miss Pross was the family’s devoted friend; Miss Pross knew full well that Madame Defarge was the family’s malevolent enemy” (285). She even ultimately risked her life to make sure that the Mannette’s had what was best for them, “Miss Pross, on the instinct of the moment, seized her round the waist in both her arms, and held her tight. It was in vein for Madame Defarge to struggle and strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate, clasped her tight, and even lifted her from the floor in the struggle that they had.” …show more content…
(286). The final primary female character, Madame Defarge, is generally seen as the main antagonist in the novel.
She plays the Force of Evil, as she plots against Darnay and those around him, despite occasional disapprovals from her husband. “‘One must stop somewhere. After all, the question is still where?’ ‘At extermination,’ said Madame’” (263). She’s described as a, “ruthless woman, now taking her way along the streets. Of a strong and fearless character, of shrewd sense and readiness, of great determination… but, imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inveterate hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress” (281). Madame Defarge did what she thought was right in order to try and compensate for the damage done during her childhood, “that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was my sister, that husband was my sisters husband, that unborn child was their child, that brother was my brother, that father was my father”
(264). The female archetypes written in Dickens’, “A Tale of Two Cities”, work together and arrange a message about the human condition, mainly in the form of emotionality. Lucie’s motherly, loving, and nurturing attributes show love and passion. Miss Pross’ instinctive and protecting emotions come into play as nurturing and caring for someone, something. Madame Defarge’s horrendous actions are sprouted from childhood scars, unhealable wounds, and her resentment comes from wanting to make what she couldn’t fix better. She acted onto what others couldn’t even comprehend. Madame Defarge represents anger, independence, and a ground to be even on. All of these emotions, love, passion, care, nurturing, anger, independence and equilibrium are things that are a part of a life; steps everyone achieves in a life time.
Madame Defarge was taking out her anger on the whole family, which she thought had killed her sister. So Madame Defarge was going after all of the Marquis, no matter if they had anything to do with the murder or not.
While Madame Ratignolle, Madamoiselle Reisz and Edna are very different characters, all of them are unable to reach their potentials. Madame Ratignolle is too busy being the perfect Louisiana woman that she no identity of her own; her only purpose in life is to care for her husband and children. Madamoiselle Reisz is so defiant and stubborn that she has isolated herself from society and anyone she could share her art with. Edna has the opportunity to rise above society’s expectations of females, but she is too weak to fight this battle and ultimately gives up. While these three characters depict different ideas of what it truly means to be a woman and what women’s role in society should be, none of them can reach their full individual potential.
I have chosen George Milton from the book of mice and men to do this essay on. George' archetype is "the hero" in this book. This means that this character has overcome obstacles, is morally good and face challenges throughout the book. George is able to stay true to himself throughout every hardship that he has to overcome. He is a devoted character who is always sticking up for himself and his close friend Lennie. Dealing with finding work and handling money during the Great Depression is hard enough but having a person by your side all the time that depends on you makes it even harder but George finds a way to deal and cooperate with it all. This shows how caring George is and how his character is truly "the hero" archetype.
Although Madame Defarge’s hatred is initially fixed solely on the Evrémondes brothers, the revolutionary atmosphere extends this hatred to Lucie and her family. Dickens portrays Madame Defarge’s enemies, the Darnays, as the protagonists of the novel by provoking sympathy from the audience. As a result of Madame Defarge’s struggle to deal with her family’s death, the conflict between the opposing forces arises. Originally, Madame Defarge’s goal was to bring justice to the guilty. Due to the rise in the Revolution, her motives become based more on executing cruelty without
Monsieur Defarge is a revolutionary disguised as a mere bartender. He communicates secretly with his fellow revolutionaries in the bar and helps to orchestrate the plot to overthrow the French aristocracy. Despite the power he holds, he is overshadowed by his ruthless wife, Mrs. Defarge. Mrs. Defarge is a very powerful woman with a lot of influence, and she is ultimately the driving force behind the revolution’s plot. She decides who to kill and knits their name into a coded list. Monsieur Defarge is cooperative and submissive to her, as seen when he agrees with every part of the story she tells without being prompted. Monsieur Defarge is a masculine character with a lot of influence, but his relationship with his wife is not reflective of what was typical during the time period of the French revolution. This is used by Dickens to show that society’s attitudes towards masculinity and femininity are
In every great novel there is a theme that is constant throughout the story. One of the better known themes portrays the fight of good verses evil. Different authors portray this in different ways. Some use colors while others use seasons to show the contrast. Still others go for the obvious and use characters. But what makes them all so different is the authors point of view. In Charles Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, he portrays good and evil in somewhat of a unique way. Dickens shows this difference by using characters, although we sometimes have to think about the difference between the good and the evil and wonder if they are not the same in the long run. Good and evil differs with the characters in this novel, yet sometimes coincides.
”(3) Marie, Jeannette’s mother, completely refuses to take care of her own children. She doesn’t care for her children as any mother should. Any child, even at the age of three, should not be making hotdogs in a hot oven. This act shows how much independence her father has instilled in her.
“Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?”. So, asked Socrates of Euthyphro, in Plato’s Euthyphro. Put into modern terminology, “Is morality commanded by God because it is moral, or is it moral because it is commanded by God?”. Those who take the stance of the first horn are called moral universalists or objectivists. Those who take the stance of the second horn are theistic voluntarists or divine command theorists. This passage suggests a theistic voluntarist stance. This passage is in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens in 1859. This passage can be found in Book III, Chapter 4 “Calm in the Storm”. The literal situation prior to this passage is that Charles Darnay is imprisoned,
...to revenge. She turned into this cold killer to kill the entire Evermonde family for what they had done to her family. She uses her power in the revolution to take revenge on the Evermonde family. Madame Defarge loses her true self and becomes someone who disregards the lives of people include hers. Dickens’s theme of how history repeats itself appears again when Madame Defarge kills innocent people similar to what the Marquis of Evermonde did.
In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens’ choice of sentimental expression had an excellent effect on the readers’ responses to the characters. The use of exaggerated sentimentality helped create a clear picture of the story’s issues in the readers’ minds; it gave a feel for the spirit of the times, and made it easier to understand the characters’ points of view. It was this very sentimentality that Dickens strived to achieve.
In his “A Tale Two Cities”, Charles Dickens uses the characters of Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge as two strong women that contrast against the rather manly group of characters. These women are both driven to do what they believe is right. Although Lucie and Madame are strong willed and independent, they both use these strengths differently. Lucie is a woman who is driven by love and affection. Whereas Madame Defarge is driven by hate and rebellion. Both these women, although similar, have such significant differences.
The first woman we are introduced to is Mavis. Her relationship with her husband is an example of the type of subservience c...
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is a story set in the year 1775 and through the turbulent time of the French Revolution. It is of people living in love and betrayal, murder and joy, peril and safety, hate and fondness, misery and happiness, gentle actions and ferocious crowds. The novel surrounds a drunken man, Sydney Carton, who performs a heroic deed for his beloved, Lucie Manette, while Monsieur and Madame Defarge, ruthless revolutionaries, seek revenge against the nobles of France. Research suggests that through Dickens’ portrayal of the revolutionaries and nobles of the war, he gives accurate insight to the era of the Revolution.
When considering representation, the ways in which the authors choose to portray their characters can have a great impact on their accessibility. A firm character basis is the foundation for any believable novel. It is arguable that for an allegorical novel - in which Hard Times takes its structure, Dickens uses an unusually complex character basis. The characters in Hard Times combine both the simplistic characteristics of a character developed for allegorical purposes, as well as the concise qualities of ‘real’ people (McLucas, 1995). These characters are portrayed to think and feel like we as readers do and react to their situations in the same way that most of us would. Such attributes are what give the characters life and allow us to relate to their decisions.