Englishwoman VS Citizeness

In the final confrontation of Miss Pross and Madame Defarge in ‘The Knitting Done’, one of the things that strike the reader is the way each of these characters create their own identity and use that as a means of empowering themselves against their opponent.  Their language aims at portraying themselves in a stronger position and demeaning the other.

Miss Pross stresses on her English identity throughout the passage as if those roots embed her with strength to face Madam Defarge. She warns her that “you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman” and again that she was “an English four-poster”. The recurrence of England and her roots in this conversation not only highlight her own position but portray Madam Defarge as the other i.e. the non-English. Madam Defarge on the other hand calls herself as “Citizeness Defarge”. This reference does not entail that she is gaining confidence through her French origin but has had to go through to physical struggle to emerge as a true citizen of the country. She gets her strength from the successful outcome of the revolution and through the arduous task of knitting. Thus unlike Miss Pross whose mere existence in England imbues in her the ability to face her enemy, Madam Defarge has had to struggle to emerge as a citizen and stand on a somewhat equal footing with her rival.

It is also important to note the terminology these characters use for the other. Miss Pross refers to Madam Defarge as “the wife of Lucifer”, meaning that she too is like the fallen angel and cannot be redeemed for her faults. In a similar way, the latter also calls her enemy “a miserable fool” and does not wish to talk to her at all. Each one never addresses the other by her name and it almost seems like they continue talking without even listening to the insulting retort that the other has made. The narrator too describes their conversation that, “Each spoke her own language; neither understood the other’s words.” With words being thrown at the enemy, what makes their exchange more charged is the kinetics involved during the scene. While these women have been described since the beginning as bulky with manly figures, here the reader actually encounters their physical strength. The “angry explanatory wave of the right arm”, “advanced one step”, “struck a blow” and the “bodily strength” that each prays for and exhibits is evident in the scene making it extremely visual for the reader. Miss Pross even says, “I am stronger than you…I’ll hold you till one or other of us faints or dies” showing that each of them knows that the other is unaffected by the foul words and that they will have to fight like men to see who is successful. Thus the identity of the characters here expands; they take on the role of fighters who exhibit the strength they get from being English or a Citizen post the revolution, and are only able to channel that strength in a physical confrontation.