Tale Of 2 Citys Comp. Essay, Research Paper
Patrick Landis (30) Analysis of embedded detailsEnglish 10 (30) At least three quotes used correctlyDr. Myers , p.6 (30) Zero sentence structure errorsDecember 13, 1998 (30) Effective concluding paragraph Comparison of Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge are two important characters in Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities . Lucie Mannete s character does very little in the story other than to love other people and be loved herself. Madame Defarge is a woman consumed by hate and revenge. Her love of others and their love of her, power Lucie s actions. Madame Defrarge’s every move is powered by her hatred. In this way Lucie represents the power of love and Madame Defarge represents the power of hatred.Lucie Manette s involvement in the story comes through her father and the people whom she loves and love her. In the beginning of the story Lucie is brought together with her estranged father, Doctor Manette, who has been in prison for most of her life. She shows her loving nature in this quote from her first meeting with her father, she put her two hands to her lips, and kissed them to him; then clasped them on her breast, as if she laid his ruined head there (DICKENS 39). As the story comes to a climax two other characters, Miss. Pross and Sydney Carton, do drastic things inspired by their love of Lucie. Miss. Pross, Lucie s nurse, struggles with Mrs. Defarge, Miss Pross, on the instinct of the moment, seized her [Madame Defarge] round the waist with the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate (DICKENS 345). to allow Lucie time to escape. Sydney Carton sacrifices his life to save Lucie s husband, Charles Darnay. Lucie s character does very little in the story other than to love others and inspire them.
Madame Defarge is the opposite of Lucie. She is full of hate and inspires others to join the revolution through her intense hatred. Her every move in the story is fueled by revenge and hatred. She wants revenge on the aristocracy that killed her family, namely the Evremonde family of which Charles Darnay is a member. Darnay returns to France to save a family steward and is immediately arrested and sentenced to execution. Lucie s father saves him but he is arrested and sentenced again upon accusations by Madame Defarge, he is denounced–and gravely by the citizen and citizeness Defarge (DICKENS 273). As Carton is about to be executed in Darnay s place Madame Defarge goes to the Manettes house to have Lucie and her child executed as members of the Evremonde family. Madame Defarge has no mercy and lives only to hate.In the end Madame Defarge is destroyed by her own consuming hatred and Lucie is rescued by the power of her love. This is meant to show how the redemptive power of love will always triumph over the destructive power of hatred, the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate (DICKENS 345).