The Remorseless Sea: Mindless Violence in A Tale of Two Cities In the sociopolitical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens analyzes the events of one of the bloodiest revolutions in history, the French Revolution, characterized by its violence after no less than 40,000 people were sentenced to death. The violence of the uprising puts irreversible change into motion, helping to bring greater equality between French citizens as a result of the upheaval, and causing political changes that affect millions. Dickens examines the revolution through a focus on one family, the Manettes, and those closest to them, telling the tale of their tribulations in the midst of revolution. Through his changing tone, Dickens conveys that rebellion is …show more content…
The class division is not getting any smaller, people are starving, and even in the case of imminent revolution and the evident distress of the masses, the aristocracy remains oblivious, “look[ing] at them and [seeing] in them without knowing it, the sure filing down of misery-worn face and figure” (79). The struggling of the common people is unbeknownst to the aristocracy until the outbreak of revolution. The violence of the peasantry and the chaos they create can not be ignored, and they effectively gets the attention of the nobility, no longer able to ignore the formerly worthless and negligible people. Later on in the novel, Dickens adopts a critical tone regarding the revolutionaries as a result of their mindless violence and cruel acts. While at the grindstone, Dickens describes the faces of the revolutionaries as “more horrible and cruel than the visages of the wildest savages in their most barbarous disguise” (182). The revolution turns the common people into monsters, eager to spill more blood as they sharpen their weapons at the grindstone, their various arms already stained red. Without knowing anything about a guard from the Bastille, Jacques Three calls for the man’s death, yelling “‘Kill him!’ and evidently [is] disappointed by the dialogue . . .
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, narrates the frustrations of the common people toward Foulon, a French magistrate. The people rejoice when Foulon is imprisoned since he treated them awfully. The nature of the French Revolution is the common people’s elation at the downfall of the aristocracy. Dickens utilizes personification, motif, and symbolism to describe the relationship between the common people and Foulon.
A Tale of Two Cities, a book written by Charles Dickens in 1859, describes the situation of France and the French Revolution. At the end of Chapter Six, Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, and Miss Pross are at a Tea Party. A turbulent storm occurs and incites an eerie mood within the characters. Charles Darnay starts telling a story about a paper he found. After telling the story, Dr. Manette begins to feel ill. Following this is a section which contains multiple literary elements. In Chapter Six, Dickens utilizes descriptive literary devices, such as imagery, personification, and anaphora, to foretell the French Revolution and set the mood of the passage.
In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Dickens uses metaphors and imagery to express his stance against the revolution. At the beginning of the story, Dickens goes into great detail about how worn down and starved the people in France are because of the aristocracy. However, after the Marquis is killed, everything changes and the people in France all become blood-thirsty killers. In “Echoing Footsteps”, Lucie and Charles Darnay have a daughter. They are living peacefully in their England home. Meanwhile, in France, the revolutionaries storm the Bastille with Madame Defarge and Defarge leading the revolt. They succeed in overthrowing the Bastille, killing prisoners and guards in the process: “The sea of black and threatening waters, and of destruction
In Dicken’s novel A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens powerfully describes the French Revolution through many scenes of violence. As the aristocracy abuses its power and mistreats the starving poor, the common people rise with hate and violence in an attempt to overthrow the corrupt government. During this time of fright and treachery, the peasants storm the bastille, while havoc and death emerge as a violent period is heightened. The brutal scenes of the French Revolution are utilized to show how violence is a result of oppression which ultimately leads to more havoc and death.
The first immediate thought that comes to mind when pondering the French Revolution appertains to the excessive amount of gruesome acts that were executed by the frenetic peasants. Charles Dickens, the author of A Tale of Two Cities, captured the ferocity and horror of the French Revolution by showcasing the inhumanity that took place, and this theme of inhumanity is developed throughout the course of the book. The theme is shown through multiple characters, and even though repentance is an opportunity for all, only a few courageously take it. When a character’s inhumanity is brought to light, their true qualities are revealed. While many people convey inhumanity with different rationales, three main characters, Jerry Cruncher, Monsieur the
“Cruel”, “hideous”, “horrible”, and “beastly” are all used to describe the disturbingly horrific scene of the peasants sharpening their weapons (203). It is clear by Dickens’ diction that this crowd is filled with intense rage and a longing for retribution. The negative outcome of this is that the people of France start to have a greater thirst for blood than the nobles. Following this, the people of France find a new way to inflict harm on their oppressors with the infamous Guillotine. Though this machinery starts off executing members of the aristocracy, it is not long before Dickens states, “Every day through the stony streets, the tumbrils now jolted heavily, filled with Condemned.
The French Revolution was a time of despair when everyone doubted his or her fate. A Tale of Two Cities is a book by Charles Dickens about the disaster of the French Revolution. The French Revolution caused many people to become depressed because of the situations they faced. This fate was inevitable and no one escaped it. Fate is a very important theme that is reflected by the metaphors of the sea, the golden thread, and echoing footsteps.
In the sociopolitical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens analyzes the events of one of the bloodiest revolutions in history, the French Revolution, characterized by its violence after no less than 40,000 people were sentenced to death. The violence of the revolution put irreversible change into motion, helping to bring greater equality between French citizens as a result of the upheaval, and causing political changes that affected millions. Through his changing tone, Dickens conveys that rebellion is necessary to amend the ever-growing divide between the social classes, but the mindless nature of the violence, as a result of mob mentality, is excessive, and blood is unnecessarily spilled.
In the novel A Tale of Two Cities, the author Charles Dickens explains to us, the readers, how he interpreted the French Revolution including his thoughts and concerns for the time period. This period is referring to the 18th century when the uprisings began. In this violence, groups of people were brought together to stir up havoc among the cities. Charles uses the common parallels of the two cities to bring them together as one. By using his paradoxes just as he started the story, he brings two places who may have been thought to be different, one.
France, overflowing with cruelty and misery from the French Revolution, was a broken state from 1789 to 1799; however, it is in this broken state that Dickens becomes captivated and proceeds to compose one of the most remarkable stories of all time. Not only does Dickens capture the spirit of the revolution itself through A Tale of Two Cities, but he also captures the tribulation of the French people. As portrayed in the story, being suffocated with suffering can compel people to respond in various ways. One might completely ignore the state of others, like the aristocracy; one might resort to acting in savage ways as a result of extreme misfortune, like the peasants; or one might finally realize that in order to better the situation they must make a sacrifice. Through these sacrifices made by Miss Pross, Darnay, and Carton, Dickens illustrates
A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, talks about society during the XVIII century in two of the most important countries of the world. There is a comparison, through the lives of the characters, about life in both places before and after the French Revolution. Dickens criticizes the inhumanity lived in both places, especially France; also, the contradiction between values and reality of the time presented since the beginning of the novel. One of the most important criticism Dickens exposes in the novel is the how the justice system inefficient in both countries, and its relation to current social reality. Obviously, he focuses this in justice in France before and after the revolution, for there is no actual justice, but he also exposes how fake and useless the English justice system is.
Charles Dickens focuses on the revenge that put the bloody French Revolution in motion in his suspenseful story A Tale of Two Cities. The French Revolution was a revolt instigated by the peasants, who attacked the nobles with vengeful hearts starting in the year 1789, and going on until the year 1799. The settings of the book took place in both London and England, two parallels in novel, two cities where the plotting of the Revolution went into affect. Although the reasons behind the different examples of revenge are exposed, the actions taken with revenge in mind are inexcusable and not justifiable. Dickens portrays the theme of revenge successfully through the joker Gaspard, the brave younger brother who sacrificed himself to protect his
“What then is freedom? - The power to live as one wishes” once said by Roman politician Marco Cierco, exemplifies the dream of the lower class before the French Revolution that would eventually become a reality with perseverance and strength. One novel in particular, follows a family and revolutionaries before and during the revolution. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is a novel that has implemented the French Revolution in its tale. Some may wonder, what was Dickens’ actual attitude towards this life-changing event? Is it possible to find out with his writing? Using characters from his tale such as Dr. Mannette, Charles Darnay and Madame Defarge, it will be argued that Dickens is mostly sympathetic towards this great rebellion but
The literature that came out of the French Revolution often shares common themes of death, rebirth, and destruction. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is much the same way. Throughout the novel, Dickens clearly supports the revolution but also depicts the brutality of the revolutionaries. Dickens uses powerful metaphors of a sea to symbolize the revolutionaries destroying old France and the belittling name of “Jacques” to depict the narcissistic views of the French aristocracy to show his support for the revolution.
Instead of a single main protagonist focused upon, the novel revolves around the lenses of various characters, dealing with their own stories and conflicts, while the overarching event, the French Revolution, is increasing in intensity. Because most of the characters belong to the upper class, they are later persecuted by the revolt. Dickens, at first, witness this uprising as inherently good, as the lower class will no longer stand against discrimination from the wealthy. The beginning of the novel gives off the impression that this would most likely become nonviolent, seeking justices by new laws and regulation. The main protagonist, dislike his aristocrat's upbringing, originally see this upset as something positive that will help relinquish the ills of society. Instead of this wishful thinking, the poorer citizen goes through exceeding lengths. At times such as back then, moral guidance becomes muddled. Dickens illustrates that although some of the powerful were corrupt and brutal to those of lower class, the reaction of the proletariat was unwarranted. Varying characters were affected by the events that took place, for must were or higher status. Families aware shatter as mobs were formed to storm the streets, seeking anyone to exact anger towards. And just as historical documents confirm, public executions took place as well. Dickens writes that evil, the one