Dickens Interpretation Of The French Revolution

Dickens uses the needs and wants for people to get an image in their head about what life was really like before the French revolution. "Cold, dirt,

The French Revolution was a time of great social, political and economic tumult in the closing years of the Eighteenth Century. The motivators pushing French citizenry toward revolution are varied in scope and origin. They range from immediate economic woes to an antiquarian class structure. Modern historians still debate the value of the changes that the revolution brought to modern society. The middle class made gains that would never be rescinded, but do revolutions always end in tyranny? In the years before the revolution citizens were rigidly constrained by the estates of the realm. These social strata had been in place since the medieval ages. The people were divided into three groups; clergy, nobility and everyone else. The clergy

Justice is one of the main theme from this book, as each character tries to get justice. In this book we see the distress and agony that Madame Defarge suffers with. Mainly because of her sister’s deaths and family suffering, due to the Evremonde brother’s, Charles Darnay’s father and uncle. Ever since that happened she’s wanted justice for her and her family. The justice that Madame Defarge wanted later turn into retribution, which lead her to a path of darkness, making her wanting the death of Charles Darnay and his family. At the same time, she was fighting for justice for France, which made her want more lives to be dead for the good of her people. those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me!’… “Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop,” … “but don’t tell me.” (Dickens 339) Many readers might portray her as the “villain” of this book, but she really is not. All she wanted is justice for what was done

Justice and revenge, two ideas that Madame Defarge longs to accomplish. Although Madam Defarge is depicted as a complex character by Dickens, she is exceedingly naive. Madame Defarge is naive, because she believes that it is possible to seek justice through revenge; however, that is not the case. Despite all of the murders that Madame Defarge has committed, there is no justice to be seen that truly benefits her, other than the satisfaction of the crime. Madame Defarge is persistent regarding her killings, based on the idea that an entire family must pay for the rape of her sister. Here is where the fault in Madame Defarge’s plan lies: revenge will not heal, or take away from the pain that she and her

The character Madame Defarge plays a role as one of the leading villains in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, whose actions turn out to be one of the major causes of the French Revolution in the book. The main influence of Madame Defarge's hatred is fueled by a self-centered issue that was germinated by another family who happens to be aristocratic. In Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge is justified in her hatred against the St. Evremonde family because her sister was raped and her brother was killed by the two patriarchs.

Revenge can be analyzed, as it becomes the exhibited behavior of the Widow resulting from a number of causes. First cause is the harm done to her family; second cause is the Widow’s perception of violence during that time; and the third cause is her aggression toward the killer of her son. The first cause of her revenge is the most obvious reason why she avenged the death of her son, and this is because the killer caused pain to her family. Any mother would be committing the act especially that her son was the only company she has. The second cause pertains to the Widow’s perception of revenge during that time, and because at the time, wars and feuds were still evident in the French society, bloodshed for the Widow is not something to be scared of, given any means. This story was only successful in showing to its readers how the society thinks of death during those times, which can be achieved through any means, by which losing one’s life was not something to be thought of carefully. This just proves that during that time, morality was not given high regard as it is now. Death by any means can be accomplished by anybody, regardless of age, gender, and status in society. The third cause of the Widow’s behavior is her aggression toward the killer of her son, which was not literally shown or described in the story, but was evident based on

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.

Rich ones acted like evil people, while the poor were not very much, like people at all; for the poor were depressed. Charles shows the bad stuff happening to peasants, to show how much of a necessity the French revolution was.

The French Revolution was a period of time from 1789 to 1799 in France where there was political instability. It officially began on the 14th of July, 1789, when the Bastille, which was a symbol of the King’s harsh policies, was stormed. The King, Louis XVI, the Queen, Marie-Antoinette and about 40,000 people were all brutally murdered. But there was also a positive side, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen was formally adopted on August 1789 and feudalism was abolished. This essay will address the issues of the three estates system, food shortages and the fiscal crisis. It will also be argued that the most significant cause of the French Revolution was the social inequality that stemmed from the three estates system.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens not only vividly illustrates the gruesome and barbaric years of the French Revolution, but also entertains the reader through the recurring irony in the novel. Dickens manipulates the storyline in such a way that the novel takes a life of it’s own and leaves the reader jaw-dropped. Charles Dickens uses verbal irony, irony of each character, and chance to pull in the reader and bring them along the crazy ride of A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens utilizes verbal irony throughout the novel to describe characters with titles that are the complete opposite of actuality.

All three books are riddled with allusions to fate, including the progression of Madame Defarge’s character. Charles Dickens uses vivid description, personification, symbolism, and character development to illustrate that the French Revolution was carefully orchestrated by fate and caused by strained power dynamics between the french social classes.

In the Age of Revolutions, the world had mixed views about the massive revolutions spreading across countries. As the revolutions became more savage than civil, it became a popular topic regarding morals and revolutions itself. One of the biggest controversy was the French Revolution. The arguments between England, who mostly opposed the brutal onslaught, and France, who approved of the sacrifices to achieve freedom. This essay will examine the different outlooks of the two countries and the reasons for their own bias while showing how Charles Dickens’, an English writer, captures the essence of both sides in his novel A Tale of Two Cities.

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.

Doctor Manette’s prison account clearly demonstrates the class gap, “The speaker [the Marquis] seemed to acknowledge that it was inconvenient to have that different order of creature [the peasant] dying there, and that it would have been better if he died in the usual obscure routine of his vermin kind” (Dickens 329). Not only is there an extreme difference in lifestyle, but the upper class also treats the lower class with extreme disdain. The treatment of the people at the hands of their “betters” and the class gap catalyzes the French Revolution.

Madame Defarge appears to be a minor character in the beginning, but turns spiteful and deceiving in the end. Always knitting, Madame Defarge seemed to be a watchful woman: “Madame Defarge, his wife, sat in the shop behind the counter as he came in. Madame Defarge was a stout woman of about his own age, with a watchful eye that seldom seemed to look at anything, a large hand heavily ringed, a steady face, strong features, and great composure of manner” (Dickens 21). Of this description, one would not assume anything of the character. In the end, it is realized that the two that were killed by Charles’ uncle and father were her siblings, leaving her the remaining sibling to carry the rage and hurt left by the wrong-doings of Marquis Evremonde and his brother. She is a strong advocate for the French Revolution, as she has been knitting the names of those whom the rebels, under the name “Jacques”, planned to kill. Once it became apparent Charles was the descendant left to take the repercussions for his family, Madame Defarge plans to attack Lucie and her child due to the fact that they were associated with Charles and his family. Her plan of murder ultimately fails, and in turn, she ends up dying herself at the hand of her own bullet.