A Tale of Two Women: Lucie Darnay and Madame Defarge in Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” Charles Dickens’ novel “A Tale of Two Cities” presents two entirely opposite personalities in the characters of Lucie Darnay and Madame Defarge. Although both women share French descent, they are otherwise at exact opposites with each other in terms of family, social position, temperament, and even fate. From his 19th century standpoint, Dickens shows us the upper …showed first 75 words of 1215 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1215 total…and her family, while Madame Defarge goes so far as to declare, “I must act for myself” (Dickens 353). For Charles Dickens such a character as Madame Defarge is indeed of the sort “such as the world would do well never to breed again” (186). WORKS CITED Dickens, Charles. “A Tale of Two Cities”. New York, 1999. Robson, Lisa. “The Angels in Dickens’ House: The Representation of Women in A Tale of Two Cities”. In the “Dalhousie Review”.