Foreshadowing In A Tale Of Two Cities

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.

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.

Today many violent scenes are used for their shock value and for the sake of including violence. However, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, has violent scenes to illustrate the time period of the French Revolution. Scenes such as Foulon being paraded through the city and murdered, the Storming of the Bastille, and the fight between Miss Pross and Madame Defarge emphasize the violence of the time through graphic detail and imagery. These scenes add to the novel’s legitimacy by expressing the immense violence of the time and truly showing the horrors of the revolution.

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.

In the world we live in today, we have the richer of us, the needy, and many levels in between. But, during the French revolution, as expressed in Charles Dickens “A Tale of Two Cities”, the social classes of San Antoine were quite a bit more distinct than they are today. There were the oppressed and the opulent, the poor and the rich. Dickens shows the true contrasts between the societies in a short scene where Monseigneur is delivered his chocolate. This is an important, yet elaborate and necessity in his life. He relaxes in his luxurious suite, receives chocolate delivered by four men, and believes that he- along with the rest of the second estate- is superior to all others. This scene shows that violence breeds violence, maybe not physically, but the first class of France truly was oppressing the lower class, which caused them to bring more violence by revolting.

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

The oppressed peasants of the French society change their environment to benefit their own needs through the Revolution, mercilessly murdering their oppressors, the aristocracy. Although the peasants were successful in their revolution, they did not consider the consequences of their own actions. An overlooked connection about the peasants, now recognized as patriots, is how they became the oppressors of their fellow man. Dickens’ attitude towards the peasants’ revolution is one built on reasoning and understanding of the social systems of the French. The peasants rose up and revolted against their oppressors after much disdain with their living current living conditions and the aristocracy was met with the treatment they had given to the peasants.

In the passage he states “it had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again.” to not only show that people are drinking the wine but to show that the revolt will have a lasting impact on many people's lives and it will forever be in French history. This quote foreshadows how the revolt will go on to take many people's lives and

Here Dicken’s is alluding to the French Revolution and the blood that will be spilled upon the streets later in the book. Dickens uses foreshadowing in

Another technique the author uses in the story is foreshadowing. The sound of gunshots Rainsford hears upon approaching the island, and also the screams that did not seem animalistic are the major factors that foreshadow the fact that Zaroff is hunting humans and that Rainsford is going to be one of them. Other examples of foreshadowing include the inner monologue Rainsford has that says that he felt “a sort of sudden dread” when speaking with Whitney. Rainsford hears the screaming after he falls off his boat near Ship-Trap island. He reaches the island in order to save himself from drowning and soon meets General Zaroff there. Rainsford gets to talking with Zaroff about hunting, and Zaroff talks about how he has a refined sense of taste and

Although the title of this book strikes the reader as unusual it begins to make complete sense once it is read. This book is a series of short essays by Darnton. The second section, which is titled “Workers Revolt: The great Cat Massacre of the Rue Saint-Sérverin” brings the reader directly into the views of the working class during the 1700s in France. This style of writing allows situations to be viewed through the lens of those who are experiencing it, making for a more interesting read. The context of this portion of the book truly gives an in depth account of the emotions and conditions that peasants would meet with while being treated as inferior to even the animals by the masters.

Charles views the French revolution as too bloody. People are becoming like the rich, and not valuing people’s lives – exactly the opposite of what they were trying to get out of this revolution. They acted like crazy bloodthirsty animals, “the men were terrible, in the bloody-minded anger with which they looked from windows, caught up what arms they had, and came pouring down into the streets…” all the people thought about was killing all the rich ones, making them pay. Charles finds the violence, degrading the peasants to the sick level of the people.

In the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities a wine cask spills onto the streets of France. The people had then stopped whatever they were doing and collected the wine in any way they could. Those who did go after the spilled wine “had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth” and had stained their hands. After the wine was gone and the people had left the streets; the road was then stained a brilliant red, and someone had “scrawled upon a wall with [a] finger dipped in muddy wine-lees—blood” (Dickens, 32). Not only does this scene show how desperate the people in France are, but Dickens makes sure the reader understands that he is foreshadowing that the French Revolution is on the horizon. When Dickens uses this scene to create foreshadowing he makes sure he keeps the reader hooked on the story. He does this by using creative word choice, imagery and creating a beautiful scene that drags the reader in. Later on in the story this scene is revisited. However, it would no longer be wine that is flowing through the streets of France, but blood.

The wine cask and the scrawling of blood indicate the rise in tensions between the two classes. "The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there" (Dickens 33). This statement foreshadows the upcoming struggle and the vengeance of the peasantry. The liquid smears on the peasants' hands, feet, and faces foreshadow the approaching chaos.

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.