A Tale Of Two Cities - Foreshadowing

In Charles Dickens’, Tale of Two Cities, the author repeatedly foreshadows the impending revolution. In Chapter Five of Book One, Dickens includes the breaking of a wine cask to show a large, impoverished crowd gathered in a united cause. Later, we find find Madame Defarge symbolically knitting, what we come to find out to be, the death warrants of the St. Evremonde family. Also, after Marquis is murdered for killing the small child with his horses, we come to see the theme of revenge that will become all too common. The author uses vivid foreshadowing to paint a picture of civil unrest among the common people that will come to lead to the French Revolution.

In Chapter Five of Book One, Dickens includes the breaking of a wine cask to show a large, impoverished crowd gathered in a united cause. At this point in the novel, Lucie Mannette and Mr. Lorry had just arrived in Paris to find Lucie’s father. The author appears to get off of the subject to describe the breaking of the wine cask. This however, is much more significant than it would first appear. Outside of a wine-shop, a wine cask is broken in the street. Many people rush around the puddle on the ground trying to scoop it up and drink as much as they can. Dickens describes the rush to the spilled wine by saying "The people within reach had suspended their business, or their idleness to run to the spot and drink the wine... some men kneeled down, made scoops with their two hands joined and sipped."(Dickens 27). This goes to show how desperate the people are. The quote also infers that many people are unemployed. As a joke, a man writes the word "BLOOD" on a wall next to where the cask broke open. This foreshadows the violence of the unruly mobs later in the novel. This scene points out how impoverished the people of Paris are and how rowdy a crowd can become when they are unified under a united cause.

Later, we find find Madame Defarge symbolically knitting, what we come to find out to be, the death warrant of the St. Evremonde family. Madame Defarge was a very hateful character. She hated the upper-class and was never able to get past this hatred. Thus, she and her husband become leaders of the Jaquerie, a group that is planning the revolution.