Gray 1
Mariah Gray
Olin
English II
February 25
Feminine Power In Literature
Ever since the beginning of time, females have been seen as weak and inferior sex to
men. It is often an odd sight to see women break the gender stereotype of being weak. Especially
in literature, it is rare to see a woman in power. Lady Macbeth and Madame Defarge alike are
women in literary fiction who portray strong leads and do not allow anything to block them from
achieving their goals.
Madame Defarge is an unruly disobedient woman who is constantly at odds with others.
A revolutionary nightmare and someone who is not afraid to do what she must, Madame Defarge
is constantly “threatening to become the star of the novel.” (Lewis 2006) She is a woman in
charge and even carries herself with “beauty and grace.” (Lewis 2006) Throughout the novel, we
can see that Madame Defarge is a beautiful dangerous lady who is written by Dickens to portray
a more masculine person. She is a threat and has the “same driving ambitions of a masculine
role.” (Baes 2020) Madame Defarge is the kind of woman who will not let anything get in her
way, she will take all that she wants and has not a problem doing so she is "absolute without pity,
if she had ever had the virtue in her, it had quite gone out of her.” (Dickens 3) Madame Defarge
truly believes that all she does is for a goal in the end and she will do anything for that goal as
she states “nothing that we do is done in vain I believe with away soul, that we shall see
triumphs” Even the way Defarge is written was meant for her to be a horrible person as “Dickens
revises history to underserved culpability to madame and her female followers.” (Lewis 2006)
Gray 2
She understands that she has power in her position as “to her disciples she is a ‘celestial witness’
and ‘cherished chief.’”(Lewis 2006) Defarge is a powerful woman with a following of women
who are all bloodthirsty and we can see this plainly as Dickens writes “ and to her with a shrill
thirsty cry trooping women variously armed, but all armed alike in hunger and revenge.”
(Dickens 1) Alike that bloodthirsty vibe received from Madame Defarge we see that she is also
willing to even commit murder as Dickens says “what we can kill as the men when the place is
taken” (Dickens 1) also showing a sense of seizing power contributing to her reputation of
ruthlessness. When we truly analyze the character that is Madame Defarge, we see a woman who
is willing to do whatever it takes to get what she pleases and subsequently makes her a very
powerful woman and revolutionary leader. Madame Defarge is not the only woman in literary
tales that we can see ruthless power from because Lady Macbeth is the same.
Lady Macbeth is a force to be reckoned with as she will do anything, including murder,
to achieve her goals. Lady Macbeth is scarier than Madame Defarge because unlike Defarge,
Lady Macbeth conceals her evil as shown “look the th’ innocent flower but be the serpent
under’t” (Shakespeare 35) this shows that she is a snake under the flower that she shows herself
to be. Lady Macbeth shows no rest to her goals as she says “Methought I heard a voice cry,
‘sleep no more! Macbeth does murder sleep’” (Shakespeare 57) she does till her goals are met,
killing sleep. She shows her conviction and power when she says “Thou wouldst be great art not
without ambition, but without the illness should attend it.” (Shakespeare 31) She is also a
dangerous woman like Madame Defarge, “give me the daggers” (Act 2, Scene 2) she says,
showing she is a dangerous woman. She first lays out how each of the sexes play a role in society
as “here in her first scene Lady Macbeth defines both masculine and feminine qualities.”
(Richmond 1973) She breaks these roles and shows her power as a female when “Shakespeare
Gray 3
makes a significant comment on women whose deliberate rejection of essential nature in the
order of human life.” (Richmond 1973) Another way Lady Macbeth defies her gender is by
“deliberately forfeiting her motherly qualities.” (BAES 2020) Lady Macbeth is a powerful
woman who uses manipulation because she is lustful for even more power, a seat as queen is
what she wants. Lady Macbeth is holds similar attributes to Madame Defarge as they are both
“women who [metaphorically] violate and mutilate themselves” (Black 1998) to attain their
selfish goals.
Madame Defarge and Lady Macbeth are cut from the same cloth, women who use their
power to fulfill their greed. At the end of the day, the writers of both Macbeth Tale of Two Cities
view women the same: they “interpret woman’s rule as misrule.” (Lewis 2006) These two ladies
shape what we have come to believe feminine power shown through literature and can even be
seen in today’s world.