Violence In A Tale Of Two Cities

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.

Verbs such as "clutched," "tore," "struck," and "swooped," are animal-like actions, and demonstrate how the people within the Carmagnole and in the revolution as a whole become corrupt and lose human traits such as compassion and mercy. He also uses his diction to make the Carmagnole seem like hell in a parade. Words he uses to describe the devilish dance are, "ferocious," "devilry," "mincing," slough," and "blood." Through his selection of these words, he paints a picture of hell-like chaos and bloody gore which fuse to invoke fear within the hearts of anyone who reads the passage. Dickens meticulously crafts vivid images within the reader's minds of how chaotic the Carmagnole truly was through his use of

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.

Going with the crowd is something everyone does. Whether it is a new trend or fashion statement, people do what others do. Even back in the 1800s, this was prevalent. Charles Dickens addresses it in his books, especially Tale of Two Cities. He addresses the idea of the mob mentality in it and shows it in his characters. One of these characters is Ernst Defarge. In Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens addresses the mob mentality and going with the crowd through his character of Ernst Defarge.

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

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.

The nature of mobs is a significant theme in “A Tale of Two Cities.” In both the movie and the book, mobs are portrayed as powerful. Mobs are made up of many people with the same thoughts and motives. Mobs can also be very destructive for that same reason. Dickens uses the mob mentality to depict the bloody horror and the ultimate success of the French Revolution.

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.

"They are murdering the prisoners," says Mr. Lorry to Darnay after arriving in France (260). Again Dickens uses capitol punishment as a way to show the reader the atrocities that humanity can create when consumed with hatred and evil. Dickens can be seen approaching the subject of the guillotine with cynical sarcasm when he writes, "it was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning gray…who kissed La Guillotine looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack" (271). Just as with the Aristocrats, Dickens does not condone the Jacques use of capital punishment. His disdain is apparent in his tone; which gnaws away at any inkling the reader may have that the treatment of the prisoners is fair.

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.

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

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.

Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities in order to enlighten the average Briton about the events of the French Revolution. The novel compares and contrasts cities of London and Paris, which represent French and British society, through the eyes of Dickens’ human characters. The two cities play such a large part in the novel that they become characters themselves, and the contrasting societies of the two cities become a conflict. In Charles Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities, the individualistic society of London champions the first feudalistic and later socialistic society of Paris.