Practicing law is stressful and requires constant public performance in trial or before clients. The hard work means drinking can be a comfort or a reward. Many lawyers also report being dissatisfied with their jobs, unhealthy, and depressed. That would lead most people to seek an escape which alcohol provides.Oct 15, 2012
Moreover, lawyers get socialized into drinking. Every other lawyer drinks; most law students do too. Law school is full of free booze, and frequent binge-drinking-fests called, hilariously, "bar reviews" [2].Oct 3, 2013
Lawyers, on the other hand, can drink while working! They can keep a bottle of whiskey in their desk drawers for “late nights.” They can come into work (not at 7:00 a.m., not at 8:30 a.m.) at 10-something, hungover like they got tequila injected into their spinal cord, and muddle through the morning.Oct 24, 2012
Attorneys and Judges are no different and often enjoy 2 – 3 cups of coffee throughout the day.
At the beginning of the novel, Monsieur Defarge seems to be an ally of Dr. Manette, his one-time employer. Defarge has stepped forward to give the doctor a safe place to stay after he is released from the Bastille. He also helps Lucie and Lorry take Dr. Manette out of the garret above the shop and get him out of Paris. However, as a leader of the revolutionaries, Monsieur Defarge cannot simply stand by and allow Charles Darnay to come back to Paris without any consequences, regardless of the fact that he is now Dr. Manette's son-in-law. Defarge is one of the people who denounces Darnay in court and brings forth Dr. Manette's letter denouncing Darnay as well. He stops short of being thoroughly vindictive, however, by saying he thinks it enough to punish only Darnay, not his wife and child.
Madame Defarge is admirably strong in her determination to fight for the revolution, but she is also vindictive and cruel. Once crossed, she has no mercy whatsoever. She stands by saying almost nothing and knitting, but she is the one who ultimately decides if someone will be executed or not, knitting that person's name into the long, otherwise purposeless piece of fabric she creates. Anyone connected with the aristocracy in any way is an enemy of hers, and anyone connected with the death of her family is condemned to die.