Why do you think women led the mob against foulon?

The violence in Paris continues as Dickens again fictionalizes historical events. Joseph-Francois Foulon was an actual person who orchestrated his own funeral and was later killed in the way Dickens describes. His mock funeral and subsequent capture conveniently tie in to the resurrection theme found throughout A Tale of Two Cities. In describing Foulon, Dickens is sympathetic. Foulon is an elderly "wretched old sinner"who continues "entreating and beseeching for mercy"as the crowd drags him through the streets.

The mob, however, has no mind to understand mercy. Dickens depicts the process of people being transformed by the mob, stressing the change taking place in the women, who he believes should be the moral center of society. He describes the women as "a sight to chill the boldest"as they "lashed into blind frenzy, whirled about, striking and tearing at their own friends until they dropped into a passionate swoon."

Madame Defarge is especially disturbing, for she is the one woman who seems to keep her sense of self. As she plays a game of cat and mouse with Foulon, she watches him "silently and composedly"as he begs for mercy. Her behavior here demonstrates her heartlessness and potential for cruelty, preparing us for her ruthlessness in Book III.