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Tale Of Two Cities Lucie Manette Character Analysis

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Not only is Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities a story contrasting the lives of those in London and Paris, or even the tensions between the poorest of peasants and the richest of aristocrats. It is story accentuating the battle between good and evil, love and hate. Lucie Manette acts as the golden thread that ties everyone together. Through this connection, characters in the story are able to conquer the evil within themselves and in the people they love. Lucie’s love for her father revived him from his unpleasant past, proving the argument that good overcomes evil just the way Carton’s love for Lucie caused him to make a major sacrifice for her and how Miss Pross was able to defeat Madame Defarge. Lucie’s good nature and love for her father …show more content…

Madame Defarge is solely driven by revenge on the entire Evremonde family for what happened to her in the past一including Lucie, Little Lucie, and Dr. Manette. She is expressed in the story as, “...imbued from her childhood with a brooding sense of wrong, and an inverted hatred of a class, opportunity had developed her into a tigress. She was absolutely without pity.” (367) Madame Defarge was a part of the family that the Evremonde brothers brutally destroyed. It is stated that she has lost all sense of pity or mercy because she believes that the responsibility of taking out all descendants of the Evremonde family is hers to bear. Despite the fact that Little Lucie一if Madame Defarge managed to kill everyone but her一would be in the same position that she was after her family was slaughtered, her hatred has clouded her judgment and the evil has made her a dangerous tigress. Miss Pross, on the other hand, is driven by her love for Lucie and her desire to protect Lucie. Miss Pross expresses this by saying, “‘I don’t care an English Twopence for myself. I know that the longer I keep you here, the greater hope there is for my Ladybird.’” (373) Miss Pross is protective, selfless, an overall good person and, with one of the biggest hearts in the story, becomes fearless in the face of a danger that would hurt her dear Lucie. She is a determined spirit lacking only in physical size, but her heart is pure gold. The power of Miss Pross’ love for Lucie overpowers Madame Defarge’s hatred and desire to kill Lucie. During the tense battle between the two women, Dickens writes, “It was in vain for Madame Defarge to struggle and strike; Miss Pross, with the vigorous tenacity of love, always so much stronger than hate...saw what it was, struck at it, struck out a flash and a crash, and stood alone.” (374) Dickens comes right out and says

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