Santosh Ghimire

Introduction

In A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck craft female characters who navigate oppressive socio-political landscapes. This paper argues that Dickens, despite writing in an earlier era, endows his female characters—Madame Defarge, Lucie Manette, and Miss Pross—with greater agency and subversive potential than Steinbeck’s Ma Joad, Grandma Joad, and Rose of Sharon, who remain tethered to traditional gender roles. Employing feminist theories from Hélène Cixous, Catherine Clément, and others, this comparative analysis reveals how Dickens’ characters challenge patriarchal norms more effectively, albeit sometimes unintentionally, than Steinbeck’s, exposing the politics of representation in male-authored texts.

Female Characters and Agency

Madame Defarge: The Revolutionary Rebel

In A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge emerges as a formidable figure whose agency defies patriarchal constraints. As Reza Sattarzadeh Nowbari observes, she is a “fiercely destructive genius of the French Revolution,” akin to Lady Macbeth (4). Her knitting, a coded “death register,” symbolizes her strategic plotting and autonomy (Dickens 4). Unlike traditional female archetypes, Madame Defarge rejects domesticity and embraces violence, leading mob scenes with calculated intent. Her declaration, “When the time comes, let loose a tiger and a devil” (Dickens 238), underscores her rational, purposeful rebellion against the Evrémonde family and the broader aristocratic order.

However, Dickens’ portrayal is not without bias. As Cixous and Clément argue, male authors often associate femininity with death to reinforce patriarchal fears (658). Dickens casts Madame Defarge as a villain, her childlessness and mercilessness contrasting with Lucie Manette’s nurturing femininity. Yet, this vilification inadvertently amplifies her radical potential. By rejecting motherhood and mercy—stereotypes of ideal womanhood—she dismantles the notion that women cannot be rebels or avengers, embodying a proto-feminist iconoclasm that transcends Dickens’ intended critique.

Ma Joad: The Maternal Ideal

In contrast, Steinbeck’s Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath is often celebrated as a powerful matriarch, dubbed the “mother of the Great Depression” (Heinz 1). Critics like M. Elizabeth Heinz praise her “uncharacteristically powerful female role” (6), citing her embodiment of a Mother Nature archetype who sustains her family through crisis. Her barefoot connection to the earth and role in family decision-making suggest strength and influence (Steinbeck 78).

Yet, a feminist lens reveals Ma Joad’s limitations. Her authority stems not from personal agency but from her confinement to domestic roles, as she cannot join male family members in labor or rebellion. Steinbeck idealizes her as a selfless wife and mother, perpetually prioritizing family unity over individual desires. For instance, she hides her son Tom after he commits murder, endangering the family to preserve its cohesion (Steinbeck). As Janna Kim notes, such portrayals normalize traditional gender roles, masking deeper issues of representation (145). Ma Joad’s inability to revolt or express personal ambition—“wiping the tin dishes and stacking them” (Steinbeck 321)—binds her to patriarchal expectations, rendering her a static symbol rather than a dynamic agent.

Miss Pross and Lucie Manette: Subtle Subversion

Dickens’ secondary female characters, Miss Pross and Lucie Manette, further highlight his nuanced representation. Miss Pross, a housemaid, exhibits commanding decisiveness, paralleling Ma Joad’s domestic authority but with greater independence. Her loyalty to Lucie and willingness to confront danger in France suggest a strength that transcends her social status (Dickens). Lucie, though embodying idealized femininity, inspires others through her compassion, subtly influencing the narrative’s moral landscape. While less radical than Madame Defarge, both characters demonstrate Dickens’ willingness to grant women diverse roles, from rebellious to supportive, contrasting with Steinbeck’s narrower depiction of Ma Joad as the eternal homemaker.

Comparative Analysis: Liberty and Limitation

Madame Defarge’s liberty starkly contrasts with Ma Joad’s constraints. While Ma Joad adheres to family-centric values, Madame Defarge rejects societal and marital expectations, pursuing vengeance with unwavering resolve: “The Evrémonde people are to be exterminated” (Dickens 473). Her purposefulness, though framed as villainy, showcases a rationality and autonomy absent in Ma Joad, whose “idealness lies in her ability to hide her feelings” (“Women in The Grapes of Wrath”). This contrast underscores Steinbeck’s tendency to craft female characters who serve male-authored ideals of unity and sacrifice, as opposed to Dickens’ inadvertent creation of a female figure who defies such norms.

Moreover, Miss Pross’s decisiveness rivals Ma Joad’s, yet her role as a housemaid who accompanies her masters to France suggests a broader scope of action. If household management denotes strength, Miss Pross equals Ma Joad; however, Dickens imbues her with a latent capacity for leadership, unlike Steinbeck’s portrayal of Ma Joad as a passive stabilizer. Thus, Dickens’ female characters, even secondary ones, exhibit greater subversive potential.

The Politics of Representation

Both novelists, as male authors, shape their female characters to serve narrative purposes, but their approaches differ significantly. Steinbeck’s Ma Joad embodies an idealized femininity that reinforces patriarchal stability, concealing the lack of true agency under the guise of matriarchal strength. Dickens, conversely, crafts Madame Defarge as a cautionary figure, yet her radical actions challenge male-dominated norms, aligning with Cixous and Clément’s critique of femininity’s association with death (658). This misrepresentation, though rooted in Dickens’ bias, paradoxically creates a character who breaks stereotypes, unlike Ma Joad’s conformity to traditional roles.

Conclusion

This comparative feminist reading reveals that Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities offers a more progressive representation of female characters than Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. Madame Defarge’s revolutionary zeal and Miss Pross’s understated strength surpass Ma Joad’s constrained domesticity, highlighting the limitations of Steinbeck’s idealized portrayal. While both authors navigate the politics of representation, Dickens’ unintended subversion of patriarchal norms through his female characters provides a more compelling feminist narrative, underscoring the complexities of gender portrayal in male-authored texts.

Works Cited

Cixous, Hélène, and Catherine Clément. “Out and Out: Attacks/Ways Out/Forays.” Global Literary Theory: An Anthology, edited by Richard J. Lane, Routledge, 2013, pp. 653–659.

Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. 2014.

Heinz, M. Elizabeth. “The Mother of the Great Depression: Ma Joad’s Role in The Grapes of Wrath.” Inter-Disciplinary.Net, 2016, www.inter-disciplinary.net.

Kim, Janna L., et al. “From Sex to Sexuality: Exposing the Heterosexual Script on Primetime Network Television.” Journal of Sex Research, vol. 44, no. 2, 2007, pp. 145–157.

Nowbari, Reza Sattarzadeh. “Madame Defarge: The Fiercely Destructive Genius of the French Revolution.” Inter-Disciplinary.Net, 2016, www.inter-disciplinary.net.

Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. Penguin, 2000.

“Women in The Grapes of Wrath.” Universität Wien, www.univie.ac.at/anglistik/easyrider/data/Women%20in%20The%20Grapes%20of%20Wrath.htm. Accessed 18 July 2016.