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The French Revolution By Charles Dickens

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The French Revolution was a period of anarchy that lasted for ten years in the late 1700s. Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities sixty years after the revolt, but he included many accurate historical facts in his work. Though this time was dominated by violence and danger, the revolutionaries also made many positive sacrifices. Dickens weaves a common thread through his novel by showing the connection of love and sacrifice. The concept that love has the power to make someone sacrifice what is important to them emerges through the characters of Miss Pross, Dr. Manette, and Sydney Carton. Firstly, Miss Pross’s love for Lucie is revealed through her small, everyday sacrifices and it eventually leads her to put her own life in danger in order to protect “Ladybird”. The first example of Miss Pross’s devotion is seen when Mr. Lorry describes her as “one of those unselfish creatures- found only among women- who will, for pure love and admiration, bind themselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it” and he even goes as far to say, “he stationed Miss Pross much nearer to the lower Angels than many ladies immeasurably better got up both by Nature and Art, who had balances at Tellson’s” (Dickens 72). After having witnessed the daily sacrifices Miss Pross makes for Lucie, including giving up her own aspirations, Mr. Lorry has a new outlook on her character and believes her to be better than any other woman he knows. He even claims that she is superior to the women

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