Throughout A Tale of Two Cities, some recurring mythological elements are the Furies, Fates, and Gorgon which are all roles played by Mrs. Defarge. When she is knitting, she represents the Fates: she writes down names of her intended targets and weaves their deaths into their near future. "John...Stay long enough and I shall knit 'Barsad' before you go" (180). However, her character becomes a vengeful Fury when she puts her knitting aside. "Madame's resolute right hand was occupied with an axe, in place of the usual softer elements, and in her girdle were a pistol and a cruel knife" (212). The moment her knitting is gone, she becomes a monster with a cruel, one-track mind and, like the Gorgon, ready to kill. "Was so close to him when he dropped dead under it, that, suddenly, animated, she put her foot upon his neck, and with her cruel knife - long ready - hewed off his head" (217).
The network of the women who knit can be seen as the Fates, knitting as sisters towards a common cause. These women determine the future of France and their nobles as they knit men’s names into their “hit list.” As they knit, “they their very selves were closing in round a structure yet unbuilt, counting dropping heads” (16, 168). Dickens alludes to mythology in comparing these women to the Fates, as they are building the future of their country through their knitting.
Throughout A Tale of Two Cities, some recurring mythological elements are the Furies, Fates, and Gorgon which are all roles played by Mrs. Defarge. When she is knitting, she represents the Fates: she writes down names of her intended targets and weaves their deaths into their near future. "John...Stay long enough and I shall knit 'Barsad' before you go" (180). However, her character becomes a vengeful Fury when she puts her knitting aside. "Madame's resolute right hand was occupied with an axe, in place of the usual softer elements, and in her girdle were a pistol and a cruel knife" (212). The moment her knitting is gone, she becomes a monster with a cruel, one-track mind and, like the Gorgon, ready to kill. "Was so close to him when he dropped dead under it, that, suddenly, animated, she put her foot upon his neck, and with her cruel knife - long ready - hewed off his head" (217).
ReplyDeleteThe network of the women who knit can be seen as the Fates, knitting as sisters towards a common cause. These women determine the future of France and their nobles as they knit men’s names into their “hit list.” As they knit, “they their very selves were closing in round a structure yet unbuilt, counting dropping heads” (16, 168). Dickens alludes to mythology in comparing these women to the Fates, as they are building the future of their country through their knitting.
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