A character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel of the French Revolution, "A Tale of Two Cities". A symbol of vengefulness and revolutionary excess. She sits outside her Paris wine shop endlessly knitting a scarf that is, in effect, a list of those to be killed; she incorporates into the scarf's pattern the names of hated aristocrats who are soon guillotined. Her revolutionary zealotry was so intense her name became became a synonym for the type.
Mme. Defarge is an implacable and merciless fanatic for the revolution. "Tell Wind and Fire where to stop," says she, "but don't tell me".
She is a fictional example of the famous "tricteuses" or knitters---Parisian women who attended revolutionary meetings and urged the crowds on to greater bloodshed, knitting all the while.
~Merriam Webster's Dictionary of Allusions.
It's deja vu all over again:
The illusion of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first time is called deja vu. Among medical professionals this condition is also referred to as 'paramnesia'. Deja vu can also refer to a feeling unpleasantly familiar. It's French for "already seen".
Yogi Berra, beloved for his MALAPROPISMS, is said to have exclaimed, 'It's deja vu all over again".
This phrase is commonly used when history repeats itself.