seminar presentation

intro

"Good morning everyone. Today I’ll be presenting my paper titled Monsters, Vengeance, and Female Villainy: A Comparative Study of Lana Myers in Paint It All Red and Madame Defarge in A Tale of Two Cities.

To begin with a little background — S.T. Abby’s Mindfuck series actually starts off as a dark romance before shifting into thriller and psychological horror. The last book, Paint It All Red, brings Lana’s journey to its peak. She begins as a terrifying figure, a killer, but her actions come from trauma. Lana was sexually assaulted as a teenager, her brother was murdered, and the community around her chose to protect the men who did it. Her killings, then, are not random, but her way of reclaiming power and forcing justice in a world that silenced her.

On the other hand, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is set during the French Revolution. Madame Defarge is one of its most frightening characters, remembered for her coldness and relentless thirst for vengeance. But again, her violence is rooted in personal loss: her sister was abused, her family was destroyed, and she channels that pain into revolutionary violence.

So in both stories, female villainy comes out of trauma and injustice. And that is the focus of my paper — how female villains are not just terrifying for what they do, but for the agency and defiance they represent in patriarchal societies."*

slide 1 objectives

*"The main objectives of my paper are:

• To explore how female villainy is portrayed in literature.

• To study how trauma works as a root cause for violence.

• To analyze the ethical dilemmas of vengeance.

• To see how female agency challenges patriarchy.

• To connect vengeance with psychological horror.

• And finally, to show how these stories make readers question morality and justice itself.

All of these objectives connect together in my comparison of Lana Myers and Madame Defarge."*

slide 2 comparison

Slide 5 – Comparison of Lana and Defarge

*"Now let us compare them directly:

• Lana Myers: She is written as fully human. We see her grief, her relationships, and even her ability to love. For example, she helps a young girl escape assault, she protects her best friend Jake, and she genuinely loves Logan. This makes her vengeance more personal and emotional.

• Madame Defarge: Dickens, however, describes her almost as a symbol of vengeance itself. She is less humanized, more like a relentless force of justice that frightens even those around her.

Together, they show two sides of female villainy. Lana unsettles us because she feels relatable. Defarge terrifies us because she feels unstoppable. But both disturb society not only through murder, but because they refuse silence and powerlessness."*

slide 3- horror beyond violence

*"Horror in these stories does not just come from violence itself. It comes from what violence represents.

In Lana’s story, the killings are bloody and brutal, but the deeper horror lies in her backstory — the assault, her brother’s murder, and the silence of a society that protected the guilty. Readers are forced to ask if the real monster is Lana or the community that enabled her suffering.

With Madame Defarge, the horror goes beyond the executions of the French Revolution. It lies in her transformation into a figure who channels her family’s pain into merciless vengeance. Dickens makes us fear not only her actions, but also the possibility of pain and injustice turning any woman into such a figure.

So the horror is psychological. It unsettles us because it makes us question whether violence can ever be separated from the trauma that causes it."*

4. trauma and Revenge in Females

*"Both Lana and Madame Defarge are driven by vengeance.

Defarge’s rage comes from her family’s suffering, especially her sister’s abuse, and she expresses this through violence in the revolution. Lana’s rage comes from her own assault, her brother’s death, and the betrayal of her community. She targets not only her abusers, but also the people who protected them.

What connects them is that their violence is not sadistic. It is a reaction to injustice. Both women show us that female evil in literature is often tied to unfairness and silencing. But their vengeance raises the key question — are they truly evil, or are they fighting back when no one else would?"*

5. Female Agency and Power

*"Traditionally, women in literature have been divided into two categories — the innocent ‘good woman’ and the femme fatale.

Lana does not fit into either. She is the victimized girl, but she refuses silence. She takes power back through aggression, and that makes her look monstrous in society’s eyes.

Feminist critics argue that female villains are terrifying not only for what they do, but because of the agency they represent. Defarge, too, is frightening not only because she kills, but because she refuses to remain powerless.

So both characters disturb society because they expose how dangerous women with agency can look in patriarchal systems."*

6. Ethical and Moral Ambiguity

*"The ethical dilemma is central to both texts.

As readers, we know Lana is a murderer, but her trauma makes us sympathize with her. Logan, the FBI agent, reflects this same conflict. He knows murder is wrong, but when he learns her truth, he cannot see her as just a criminal.

Madame Defarge creates a similar conflict. Her violence is terrifying, but we understand why she acts that way.

So both characters blur the line between justice and cruelty. They force us to sit with moral ambiguity, where there is no clear right or wrong. And that discomfort is what makes these stories so powerful."*

7.conclusion

*"In conclusion, Lana and Madame Defarge show that female villainy is never simple.

Their violence comes from trauma and injustice, not from cruelty alone. They terrify us not only because of their killings, but because of the agency they hold in worlds that expect women to stay passive.

Lana humanizes vengeance, making us feel her pain and sympathize. Madame Defarge symbolizes vengeance, showing the danger of unresolved rage.

Together, they blur the line between justice and evil, and they remind us that the real horror lies not only in gore, but in the power of women who refuse silence.

That is what makes them unforgettable."*