Opposite In A Tale Of Two Cities

Dickens says, “The shadow attendant on Madame Defarge and her party seemed then to fall, threatening and dark, on both the mother and the child.” (Dickens 277). This quote brings to life the darkness of Madame Defarge and how she affects the feeling of the rooms she enters. Although Dickens presents Madame Defarge in a terribly dark way, readers can understand why she acts the way she does because they know her background. Through the extreme differences between Lucie and Madame Defarge’s upbringings it is no shocker that they are extremely different. By seeing the large contrast in these characters readers are able to understand better why Madame Defarge is so cruel. Dickens uses foils not only to gain sympathy for the revolutionaries, but also for the upper class, including Charles Darnay. Charles Darnay is a noble man and he comes from a family of wealth, and has money himself; however, he uses his money and power completely different from his uncle Marquis Evremonde. Although these men are related they are complete opposites. Darnay shows compassion towards lower class members and even risks his own life to help a servant, Gabelle. Unlike Darnay, Marquis Evremonde treats those lower than him terribly. Dickens uses the foil of these two characters to show

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.

Although neither Madame Defarge nor Lucie Manette are well-developed as characters in themselves, both symbolize opposing forces. Lucie is lovely, golden-haired, and good, a symbol of light. By her very presence she draws the people together and brings them to their full potential. She enables Dr. Manette to return to health and peace, and inspires Sydney Carton to find redemption for his degenerate living in the ultimate sacrifice of his life. Madame DeFarge, however, is the symbol of evil and the inevitable forces of the French Revolution. Driven by the ravages of the aristocrats to an inconsumable hatreds she patiently knits the names of the tormentors soon to be

Of the extraordinary amount of literary devices available to authors, Charles Dickens uses quite a few in his novel A Tale of Two Cities, which is set during the French Revolution. One of his more distinctive devices is character foils. The five sets of foils are Carton and Darnay, Carton and Stryver, Darnay and the Marquis de Evremonde, Madame Defarge, and Mr. Lorry and Jerry Cruncher. Dickens uses foil characters to highlight the virtues of several major characters in order to show the theme of personal, loving relationships having the ability to prevail over heartless violence and self-consuming vengeance.

Imagine living your life, but instead of you at the controls, it’s someone who acts nothing like you. When you’re positive they’re negative and vice versa. You can See how different your life could be with just a simple change to attitude. Charles Dickens uses this method of doubles in A Tale of Two Cities in order to show just how much of an impact attitude has on the outcome of life. A Tale of Two Cities is a book that follows two cities (London and Paris) during the time leading up to and the time of the French revolution. In his story, Dickens uses two pairs of characters, Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge as well as Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, to show that even under the same circumstances, the attitude of a person can be the deciding

Madame Defarge is first introduced as a stern woman with a rather ominous habit of knitting, with no indication of her bloodthirsty habits. However, it is later noted that Madame Defarge is actually knitting the names of the victims of the Revolution, and we find out that she wants to eliminate the aristocracy because the Marquis and his brother raped her sister and stabbed and killed her brother-in-law. She eloquently describes her destroyed childhood to the Vengeance and her husband at the tavern.“Defarge, that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was my sister, that husband was my sister’s husband, that unborn child was their child, that father was my father, those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me (346)”.

Humanity is inherently flawed. Charles Dickens illustrates this in his novel A Tale of Two Cities as he writes about the lives of the Manettes and the people they draw around them. In this novel, Dickens uses Sydney Carton, a main character in the novel and the lover of Lucie Manette, to reveal his thoughts about the inherent nature of humanity. The characteristics of humanity change and mutate with the experiences of each person and the workings of their own mind, as illustrated by Mr. Stryver’s inhumane and thoughtless treatment of Sydney, the first time Sydney saves Charles Darnay’s life, and Sydney’s love for Lucie Manette.

It was the morning of Lucie’s wedding day, all was well until Dickens states, “The door of the Doctor’s room opened, and he came out with Charles Darnay. He was so deadly pale—which had not been the case when they went in together—that no vestige of colour was to be seen in his face. But, in the composure of his manner he was unaltered, except that to the shrewd glance of Mr. Lorry it disclosed some shadowy indication that the old air of avoidance and dread had lately passed over him, like a cold wind” (149). This scene in the novel foreshadows the event of the Doctor’s unstable behavior. Dr. Manette has just learned that Charles Darnay is an Evrémonde. He is the son and nephew of the men who imprisoned Doctor Manette without trial. Doctor Manette feels dread from the fact that he was marrying his daughter off to a man of a cruel family, but Manette stays strong and sacrifices his mental stability for Lucie. All he wants is for Lucie to be happy, and for that, she must have his permission to marry Darnay. Later in the chapter, Dickens describes Doctor Manette’s mental state saying, “He had laid aside his coat and waistcoat; his shirt was open at the throat, as it used to be when he did that work; and even the old haggard, faded surface of face had come back to him. He worked

His father and twin brother were responsible for a young peasant woman’s rape, and her brother’s death, which they then tried to cover up by wrongfully imprisoning Doctor Manette. Darnay goes back to France to see his uncle and tries to convince him that “‘they have done wrong, and are reaping the fruits of wrong,’” but to no use, since the Marquis dies for his sins that night anyway (Dickens 124) Once he is old enough, Darnay decides to reject his ties to the Evremonde family, and start a new, virtuous life in England. He tries to convince his uncle to face the consequences of the crimes that he has committed in his dark past. But driven by his thirst for his futile wealth, the Marquis ignores his advice, which becomes one of the reasons for his death later in the novel. By sacrificing his wealth, Darnay managed to lead a happy and fulfilling life with Lucie, his wife, and their daughter. A sacrifice for someone else's happiness is also shown by Doctor

She witnesses firsthand all of the hardships the French commoners are enduring and it fuels her rage and anger toward the nobility. Madame Defarge channels all of this anger into exacting her revenge, but we cannot help pitying her for her wretched childhood. We comprehend the reasons behind the madness, but that does not justify her actions.

Man’s Inhumanity Against Man in the Name of Revenge The French Revolution was a time of great violence and fighting that took place in the late 18th century. A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens and published in 1859, is a story set in both England and France during the French Revolution. In this time, man often turned against man, which led to great harm and horrors among the people of France.

In Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”, polar opposites Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay are often paired together. These two foil characters are joined together to improve the themes of this novel. Carton and Darnay are dynamic characters who keep the story moving through their similarities and differences. By breaking each character down, it can be made known who the better man truly is.

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, it uses duality throughout the story. Duality often refers to having two parts and is usually used with opposite meanings. Charles Dickens wanted us to know about duality by the very first paragraph of his novel. One of the dualities has to deal with the two cities of the title, London, England and Paris, France. Also, some of the dualities show us opposite parallels dealing with two or more people. The two emotions love and hate also have something to do with the theme. I think the use of the doubles is significant

The French Revolution mainly took place in the city of Paris during the late 1700’s. The Revolution did not only affect the people of France, but also the citizens of England as well. The French Revolution is known as one of the most brutal and inhumane periods of history. If one studied the beliefs and views of the people involved at the time, one would see a reoccurring theme of “ being recalled to life”. Born from the world of literature, Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities takes a deeper look at the culture of the late 1700’s, in both England and France. Dickens uses the character of Lucie Manette to further examine one of the major themes presented in the novel, consisting of the belief of one being

While young, Defarge witnessed an aristocrat named Evrémonde invade her house, raping her older sister and stabbing her brother. Since then, she has sought revenge against the Evrémonde family and will stop at nothing to exterminate them from the earth. The Madame is even in high favor of killing the innocent Lucie Manette and her daughter because they were married into the Evrémonde family. Though this happened long ago, she responds with ruthlessness and bitter anger consistently. Lucie Manette alike has suffered through many trials such as being the caretaker of her father in her twenties which she felt was degrading - for she was to be courting for marriage at this time, not acting as a housewife to an enfeebled old man. Additionally, her husband was convicted and almost sentenced to death for returning to his home country of France. She responded with prayer and being in a certain area for her husband to see her. When he was finally released, Lucie and her family “reverently bowed their heads and hearts” (292). This exhibits Lucie response to misfortune in a elegant manner and separates her from Madame Defarge.