In the chapter “Still Knitting,” the image of flies occurs for the second time. Just in case you had forgotten this, though, Dickens reminds the reader, “Curious to consider how heartless flies are!– Perhaps they thought as much at the Court that summer day” (173). The summer day Dickens is referring to occurred in Chapter 3 of the second book, “A Disappointment,” in which there were blue-flies present during Charles Darnay’s trial for treason. The people watching the trial are compared to the flies, who are “carnivorous” (75). The flies, then, reflect how the people have become eager for the blood of others to be spilled.
As Madame Defarge sits knitting in the wine shop, a hoard of flies nearby one by one fall into some wine and die. This reoccurrence of the flies in a way characterizes them to a similar end, as they are definitively once again being compared to people. This time, however, we are in France instead of England. The lesson however is roughly the same. The flies this time are characterized as a bit more blasé, but still they are curious observers, in pursuit of wine but ignorant to the destruction that wine is bringing to the other flies as they fall into it. Dickens writes, “Their decease made no impression on the other flies out promenading, who looked at them in the coolest manner (as if they themselves were elephants, or something far removed)” (173). The flies’ previous symbolism, in combination with the symbolism that wine has also previously carried in “The Wine Shop,” makes it clear that this passage is blatantly foreshadowing the futures of the people of France, who currently applaud the executions of others, but will one day face the same fate.
Besides the message inscribed symbolically within the text, this passage finds success in the language it uses to paint the scene, and also peeks curiosity with the inclusion of Madame Defarge tied into it. The passage includes lots of language that expresses ambivalence or indifference, as was described previously. The flies are “heedless” and have “the coolest manner” (173). Madame Defarge however, as she watches over the flies, has a “pre-occupied air” (172). While the passage very clearly foreshadows that anyone who thinks themselves above the death they welcome upon others risks facing their own demise, this warning is not at first applied to any of the novels characters specifically. However, although Dickens offers plenty of symbolism that reflects people’s behavior in Revolution, by looking at the positioning of these moments, it is possible to discern more plot based characterization of the implications of these moments. Madame Defarge is herself, with her air of ambivalence, positioned at the top of the paragraph that contains a description of flies, that clearly symbolize people, who in their ambivalence, are doomed to die. It seems only fair then, to wonder if it is not just people in general whose ambivalence towards the fates of others will be their destruction, but if this lesson applies to Madame Defarge specifically.