Page 122-123
“The Gorgon had surveyed the building again in the night, and had added the one stone face wanting; the stone face for which it had waited through about two hundred years.”
To me this sentence is about ending the line of royalty and discontinuing the name Evremond. The Evremond line caused the people a lot of hurt for two-hundred years and finally it was about to end. The word gorgon in the beginning of this sentence and in the chapter title “The Gorgon’s Head” foreshadows that the Marquis will die.
I figured this out by looking up what the word gorgon meant, dictionary.com said it was “any of three sister monsters commonly represented as having snakes for hair, wings, brazen claws, and eyes that turned anyone looking into them to stone.” This definition led me to believe that the Marquis was supposed to represent the gorgon and that he would become the stone face.
I think that the stone face represented more than the foreshadowing of the Marquis death, I think it represented the fear that the Marquis gave to people. For example, when he ran over the boy and showed no emotional remorse, it shocked the bystanders and me as the reader. Personally, the body language and facial emotions associated with feeling shock makes me stand completely still with a wide eyed look. This is what I imagine as having a stone face and I also think that this was the face the Marquis made when he died.
I didn’t think that this was the only definition of gorgon so I went back to the internet and looked up other definitions. Wikipedia said that it was “a fierce, frightening or repulsive woman.” I immediately thought back to the woman who threw the sack of coins back at the Marquis after he had ran over her son. To the Marquis this woman was repulsive but to her peers this woman was fierce and frightening. She was able to stand up to the Marquis and because of this, she could’ve been the karma or the gorgon that had killed him.
The Marquis death was symbolic because it supposedly ends the Evremond line since Darnay does not wish to continue it. This gives the people hope for a new leader and hope for a new kind of ruling. Dickens might be trying to say that the Marquis death was long overdue because he had been abusing his power and taking advantage of others misfortunes. From the people’s point of view, the Marquis death was “the one stone face wanting.” The people had been awaiting the death of the Marquis but more specifically the end of the unfair rulers.
I was initially perplexed by your argument, as I didn’t see the Marquis as the Gorgon but rather the Gorgon’s victim since, as you point out, there is a woman who stares at him before he is killed. However, your argument is compelling. In Greek mythology, the people want the Gorgon (Medusa) dead because she turns men to stone. The people are happy when Persues returns triumphant from battle with the Gorgon’s head. The people in Tale of Two Cities, as you point out, are also happy that the Marquis is dead; in effect making his dead body the Gorgon’s head.
I love how you analyzed the symbolism and allegorical connotations of the Gorgon. This reminds me of UrbanTactic’s blogpost “Death and Resurrection,” where they suggest that the Marquis represents aristocracy itself. Though the Marquis plays a vital role in representing the sociopolitical climate of France and accelerating the plot, he never extends as a character. It is as if his social class and ruthless actions have completely de-humanized him. Perhaps Dickens intended for the Marquis to serve as an Aristotelian example that we are the product of our actions. In this case, the Marquis became cold, dead stone.
Fascinating post and well-written – thank you for sharing your insight.
I can definitely connect your ideas to mine in “Death and Resurrection – Good and Evil,” as we have both talked about the nature of the Marquis and the repeated imagery of “stone.”
You are absolutely correct. Because the word “stone” is repeated so frequently, I think it is safe to say that we are referencing the Marquis himself, the “gorgon.” Let’s dig even deeper: although the Marquis is represented as a man similar to that of his chateau – made of stone – he also turns other people who look at him into stone. You have referenced a great chapter, the one in which the son of Gaspard is murdered. However, if I remember correctly, the only one who seems to be completely disconsolate and heartbroken is the father. The peasants watch the incident, but seem rather unsurprised, showing that this is a situation that is commonplace and certainly not out of the ordinary.
Nevertheless, I think there is more here than just a reference to the gorgon – Dickens is actually foreshadowing the Marquis’ death. Just like the gorgon in Greek mythology who is killed and turned to stone, a similar death awaits the Marquis. This was an interesting literary strategy incorporated by Dickens.
Excellent work.