Charles Dickens ' A Tale Of Two Cities

During the French Revolution the two social classes, nobles and the peasants, clashed with each other because the peasants felt treated unfairly by the nobles. Dickens tells a story of both sides of the Revolution and emphasizes the fact that both sides endured hardships. Charles Dickens in his novel A Tale of Two Cities gets readers to sympathize with both sides of the revolution through character foils, flashbacks, and the theme of suffering by portraying both sides as victims.

The novel, A Tale of Two Cities, was written by Charles Dickens and was published in 1859. A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction based during the French Revolution. As two groups of people who both live in London and Paris find themselves in a situation that affects all of them, which ends with some deaths and suffering. Charles Dickens purpose for writing A Tale of Two Cities was to inform and amplify the readers mind on human nature. Throughout the book Charles Dickens uses many themes and characteristics, that bring out human nature in all his characters, to broaden the view of the readers.

The gruesome image of Foulon’s mouth being stuffed with grass to the point of agony, and the repeated display of an aristocrat’s head, accurately depicted the violent nature of the revolution. These people had been tormented for years and Dickens displayed this through the violent murders they committed against their oppressors.

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.

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.

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, isolation impacts Madame Defarge and Sydney Carton by altering their perception of life, influencing Madame to become obsessive with her vengeful goal of eliminating the aristocracy and damaging Carton by forcing him to contain his depressive emotions.

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.

His views are expressed most clearly when he shows how uncaring the aristocrats were to the plight of the common people. A specific point of this is when he had the Marque de Evremonde say, after running over a small child, "It is extraordinary that you people cannot take care of yourselves or your children... How do I know what injury you have done my horses." (A Tale of Two Cities 112) Judging from how the aristocrat is portrayed, Dickens continues to support the peasants right up to the beginning of the revolution.While it lasted, the French Revolution was one of the most barbaric periods in the history of the world.

The French Revolution was a gruesome event that forever changed the history of France and its people. Charles Dickens the writer of Tale of Two Cities captures the essence of what the French Revolution was like with its exposure to his characters. The peasants of France start to change in their behaviors towards the nobles, and the friction grows. Other important characters in Dickens’ book are drawn into the chaos that is bound to ensue in France. Dickens enhances his readers’ experiences through foreshadowing the inhumanity towards man in the events of the introduction to French peasants, Carton’s future, and the spillage of the wine cask.

Charles Dickens, a brilliant author back in the 1850’s, wrote “A Tale of Two Cities” in order to describe the similarities between the forces that led to the revolution and the oppression and unrest occurring in England. The French revolution impacts history because the time period in which it takes place is before and during the French revolution. The French revolution signifies the essence of a rapid change, nevertheless, this change tore France right at the heart, where all the government was “functioning”. France was torn apart because of the rebellions of the Bourgeoisie, against the rich aristocrats, consequently the monarch Louis 14th. Charles Dickens went further. He conveys the idea of the French revolution through the use of

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

In the classic, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens proves the vast effects of sacrifice on both society and personal lives. Whether the sacrifice derives from love or from a want for societal change, these sacrifices are crucial to the advancement of society and the improvement of one 's daily life.

Dickens begins the novel with a pro-revolutionary tone. His regard for the idea of the upcoming and inevitable revolution in a positive light is reflected by the atmosphere he sets for the reader. Dickens is able to make his readers pity the peasantry and sympathize with them. Through inclusion of detail, Dickens portrays the plight of the lower class writing, “gloom [gathers] on the scene that [appears] more natural to it than sunshine” (21). This allows the reader to imply that the suffering of the lower class has fallen into a continuous pattern, and they can understand the need for revolution. Additionally, Dickens uses anaphora with the phrase “Hunger [is]” (21). This gives the reader a sense of how much hunger dominates and defines their lives, effectively making their

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

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness”. These were the wise words of John Steinbeck. In order for one to understand how good or bad something really is, one must first experience its exact opposite. In A Tale of Two Cities, the author Charles Dickens uses the device of opposite for similar reasons. A Tale of Two Cities follows the lives of Sydney Carton, Madame Defarge, Lucie Manette, Lucie Manette’s husband, Charles Darnay, and a few others who lived around the time of the French Revolution. These characters faced the consequences of a revolution, which was ubiquitous bloodshed, increased hunger, violent mobs, and a weak government. In order help readers understand the