Unjustified Revenge in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Imagine that you have lost a close friend due to someone’s careless actions. What would you do? Would you seek revenge or would you let the person justify his actions? In A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens one of the main themes is revenge and it is clear when many character seek revenge towards their peers. Of all of the themes in the novel revenge seems to be by far the most powerful with how it continually expands the drama encompasses the townspeople, and the ultimate outcome of the novel. No one quite understands whether revenge is a noble pursuit or not, for the one who is wronged it makes sense to enact revenge; however, the lengths that those who seek revenge go to may not appear as ethical to other people.

The French Revolution was a movement from 1789 to 1799 that brought an end to the monarchy, including many lives. Although A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859, it was set before and during the French Revolution and had over 200 million copies sold. The author, Charles Dickens, is known for being an excellent writer and displays several themes in his writings. Sacrifice is an offering of an animal or human life or material possession to another person. Dickens develops the theme of sacrifice throughout the story by the events that occurred involving Dr. Manette, Mr. Defarge, and Sydney Carton.

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.

Revenge is an urge that one might seek to feed after their sister cleans the toilet with their toothbrush. As the saying goes, “Revenge is a dish best served cold”. In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens prolongs the theme of revenge, as it develops throughout the entirety of the novel. As tensions arose between the aristocrats and peasants, the French Revolution was born. Sixty years later, Charles Dickens addresses the war through through the stark revenge among the people, which is demonstrated by many characters. As the novel progresses, the reader is exposed to the strong desire of revenge from Madame Defarge, who is the embodiment of the pure

In Book two, Dickens alludes to the storming of the Bastille prison and once again describes the mob as a sea and the Bastille, the beach being attacked by the storm. “With a roar, that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into a detested word, the living sea rose, wave upon wave, depth upon depth, and overflowed the city.” Again Dickens varies his opinion of the revolutions within a single line. He starts the metaphor depicting a unified France, at on the part of the revolutionaries versus nobility. By this point, all of France was involved with or affected by the revolution. In the second part of the quote particular the very end, the word choice of “overflowed’ gives an image of excess violence. Dickens purposely used a word with negative connotations to encourage readers to examines the brutality of the French revolution. In Book three, DIckens uses similar word choice describing the “swelling” and “overflowing” of the crowd. Traditionally, swelling occurs when an overabundance of something accumulates. When one hurts themselves swelling occurs which leads to the

This becomes the criticism which brought forth the revolution due to the disapproval of aristocracy. This system seem to be ineffective as Dickens portrays them only caring for themselves while brushing off anyone who come to them for help. The social and political turmoil is shown to be unjust due to the large gap between the poverty of majority and the lavish Monseigneur. While Marquis ran over a child he is more concern with his carriage rather than someone child. He throws a bag of coin like nothing happened, a payment for the dead child. This type of mistreatment causes the pleasant to hate on the aristocracy and royalty leading towards

Charles Defarge harbors resentment for the aristocracy and wants revenge against the disservice that they do to the common people, as he grew up impoverished in a small town in France. This hatred can be seen in the scene in which he interacts with the Marquis, when he throws the golden coin back in the face of the embodiment of the nobility he so despises. It is this desire for revenge that leads Mr. Defarge to become a leader of the Revolution, heading the charge to storm the Bastille and leading the group of Jacques. It is common knowledge that revolution is bloody business, and Mr. Defarge has no qualms spilling blood. In several points in the book, he is willing to compromise his morals to further the ends of the revolution, even displaying Dr. Manette in his most frazzled state to the Jacques to inspire passion for the revolution. Despite this clear ethical ambiguity, he is something of a sympathetic revolutionary; Mr. Defarge is unwilling to cross some lines that don’t even exist in the mind of his wife. At one point in the book, Defarge speaks to this idea: "Well, well," reasoned Defarge, "but one must stop somewhere. After all, the question is still where?” His wife’s reply is merely: “At extermination.”

It is said that; “The greatest sacrifice is when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of someone else” (Unknown). In Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton sacrifices his life for Charles Darnay, the husband of the woman he loves, Lucie Manette. He loves her so tenderly that he is willing to give his life for her happiness. Sydney Carton describes his existence as a waste of life, where he encourages himself to not take action or help someone. Instead of helping others, he would rather be drunk. He is not married. However, then he meets Dr. Manette’s daughter, Lucie Manette, and he falls for her. However, she doesn’t love him. Sydney Carton is tired from his wasted life, so he goes to Lucie Manette to tell her about a promise, where he is ready to give up his life for her love.Sydney Carton overhears Madame Defarge about some plan, where she is going to accuse Lucie’s family and then they will die and she can take her revenge. The redemption of Sydney Carton, in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, shows that character is given another opportunity to show the better of themselves when they redeem themselves. Dicken’s attitude toward redemption says that one can benefit

During the French Revolution, over 40,000 people died, and over 12,000 of these people did not even have a trial. The French Revolution was over sixty years before A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was released, but there were still many injustices and inhumane acts that took place in England during his lifetime. The inhumanity Dickens experienced during his lifetime is seen throughout the novel very clearly. Dickens portrays the inhumane people in the novel as successful at first, but they all eventually meet their horrific demise. Men are corrupted and doomed by the hatred and inhumanity towards his fellow man, and this is shown clearly through the Evrémonde brothers, Madame Defarge, and the revolutionaries.

A Tale of Two Cities, a book written by Charles Dickens in 1859, describes the situation of France and the French Revolution. At the end of Chapter Six, Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, and Miss Pross are at a Tea Party. A turbulent storm occurs and incites an eerie mood within the characters. Charles Darnay starts telling a story about a paper he found. After telling the story, Dr. Manette begins to feel ill. Following this is a section which contains multiple literary elements. In Chapter Six, Dickens utilizes descriptive literary devices, such as imagery, personification, and anaphora, to foretell the French Revolution and set the mood of the passage.

Within A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, there have been many references to the French Revolution throughout the book that help to contribute to the main message of the novel including elements analyzed by the following articles. The theme of violence as a tool to emphasize the significance of extremity for self-preservation in “Forms of Violence on the novel” by John Kucich and the theme of sacrifice from revolution in “Unwilling Sacrifices” by Russell L Keck contribute to the message that violence in unwilling sacrifices causes the deterioration of society in A Tale of Two Cities.

In the sociopolitical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens analyzes the events of one of the bloodiest revolutions in history, the French Revolution, characterized by its violence after no less than 40,000 people were sentenced to death. The violence of the revolution put irreversible change into motion, helping to bring greater equality between French citizens as a result of the upheaval, and causing political changes that affected millions. Through his changing tone, Dickens conveys that rebellion is necessary to amend the ever-growing divide between the social classes, but the mindless nature of the violence, as a result of mob mentality, is excessive, and blood is unnecessarily spilled.

While the Victorian people called for romantic intrigue and petty drama in the literature of their time, Dickens’ added complexity to his novels not to satisfy the frivolous needs of Victorians but to further the theme of irony in his novel. In A Tale of Two Cities, irony is an ever-present theme and is woven into the plot seamlessly by author Charles Dickens. Coincidence is a complementary theme to irony in this novel. Dickens’ constant implementation of situations of coincidence and chance leads to a greater sense of irony throughout this book. Dickens adds complexity to the plot and further enforces the theme of irony in the novel through circumstances of coincidence, including the indictments of Charles Darnay, the life and associates of Dr. Manette, and Madame Defarge’s need for and path to revenge.

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

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.