(Book 2 Chapters 7-13) In Chapter 8, Dickens frequently makes the allusion that the Furies are following or escorting the Marquis. Who are the Furies and what does this mean?

Dickens uses an illusion to classical mythology to illustrate how frightful the appearance of the coach was to the lower classes. He describes the "cracking of his postilions' whip which twined snakelike about their heads in the evening air, as if he came attended by the Furies..." The Furies were ancient Greek goddesses usually represented with snakes twined in their hair, sent to avenge wrong and punish crime. The irony is, of course, that the Marquis's assumed role is to perpetuate, rather than to avenge, wrong, although the Marquis probably would claim that the poor morally deserve their poverty. The religious undertones of his power are reinforced by the image of him being waited on by goddesses.