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Of the extraordinary amount of literary devices available to authors, Charles Dickens uses quite a few in his novel A Tale of Two Cities, which is set during the French Revolution. One of his more distinctive devices is character foils. The five sets of foils are Carton and Darnay, Carton and Stryver, Darnay and the Marquis de Evremonde, Madame Defarge, and Mr. Lorry and Jerry Cruncher. Dickens uses foil characters to highlight the virtues of several major characters in order to show the theme of personal, loving relationships having the ability to prevail over heartless violence and self-consuming vengeance.
The most prevalent example of characters that are foils is the pair of Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. These two men are extraordinarily similar, and yet they are also polar opposites. When Darnay and Carton are both introduced for the first time in the courthouse scene in Book the Second, Dickens immediately ensures that the reader is aware of the comparison. Darnay is acquitted of treason simply because the witnesses are unsure of their testimony after seeing Carton’s near-identical features. In addition to virtually sharing a countenance, the two also tend to dress alike throughout the novel. However, these similarities are merely the backdrop by which to accentuate the key differences between the characters. These are also recognized early on, even by the dim-witted Jerry Cruncher: “so alike each other in feature, so unlike each other in manner” (80). Carton is a relatively poor Englishman, while Darnay is a privileged French aristocrat. Although they have similar capabilities, Darnay uses his situation in life to his advantage, and Carton develops a disrespectful attitude and alcoholism. When the characters themselv...
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...remonde bloodline, most of which is innocent, must be exterminated to compensate for the deaths of her two siblings. The distinctions between the two women are especially evident when they engage in battle over the Evremonde family because they are speaking in different languages. Neither can understand the other linguistically, nor on a moral level. The message Dickens is attempting to convey through these characters is that of the many applications of passion, such zeal is best employed “with the vigorous tenacity of love [because it is] always so much stronger than hate” (365). In a decision between using one’s energy for love or hate, it is more productive and personally satisfying to choose the path of love because it is able to overcome that of hate.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 2004.
Print.
Atticus Finch and Aunt Alexander is an example of a character foil in the book.
Foils are the minor characters in a play that aid in developing the more important characters. By using the similarities and differences between two characters, the audience can get a better understanding of that major character. In Hamlet, Shakespeare uses many foils to develop the major characters of his play. Two foils that Shakespeare used to develop Hamlet's character were Laertes and Polonius.
If you have the Harry Potter series, or almost any other story you have been introduced to this literary device that instantly makes your story attention-grabbing, and page-turning. This writing tool is known as a character foil. A character foil is a character that displays contrary, or opposite character traits. An example of a character foil is Draco Malfoy, and Harry Potter. Their rival relationship and other conflicts are the perfect example to showcase foils at work. To continue, in the iconic “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, there are two known character foils in the first Act: Benvolio and Tybalt, and the Nurse and Lady Capulet.
A foil is a character who serves as a contrast to another character. Writers often use foils to emphasize differences and traits of characters. Such an author would be William Shakespeare, author to many plays, including “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”. William Shakespeare uses foiling to emphasize one of the main character’s traits and differences. This “ foiling” relationship is between the main character Romeo and Paris.
One way Dickens portrays a good and evil character contrast is with Sydney Carton and John Barsad. Carton being the good and Barsad the evil. For instance, when Carton tells Lucie he would "do anything for her" it is a promise that he keeps until the end. Carton is a very trustworthy man and would do anything for someone he cares about. Anything including giving up his own life. Barsad, on the other hand, is a spy that doesn't care what he does or whom he hurts. Barsad is definitely not trustworthy for the simple fact that he has dedicated his life to deception. Also, he would do anything to save his own life. This is one way that Dicken's contrasts good and evil using characters.
2. Foils are integral to this play, because many of the devious plots are revealed to the reader through them. A foil is a secondary character which [*1] illuminates certain things about a primary character to the audience. The major character may reveal secrets, such as murderous plots or traps, or feelings, for example, a perspective on death or the love of another character. This can happen if the minor character is primarily a listener on stage. Another scenario is if two characters, major and minor, share similarities, but have distinct differences. These variations in personality will reveal something important about the main character. The "something important" could be a fatal flaw or a good point of their personality. Many foils are used in this play, but there are two important ones which happen to be for the same character.
		Sydney Carton has been presented as the worthless human being. He was always drunk. He did not acquire any high social position. He was always alone and lonely. Nobody loved him and nobody respected him. "I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me" said Carton (page 99). However, Sydney Carton did never cause any harm to anybody, but actually helped the people around him. Sydney Carton was physically identical to Charles Darnay. When Darnay was being prosecuted for treason against the English government, Carton allowed Mr. Stryver (the lawyer Carton worked for) to reveal him "Look well upon that gentleman, my learned friend there, and then look well upon the prisoner. How say you? Are they very like each other?" said Stryver (page 86). "My lord inquired of Mr. Stryver, whether they were next to try Mr. Carton for treason? But Mr. Stryver replied no" (Page 86). The court then released Darnay. This was one of the ways Sydney Carton presented assistance to others, and that shows that he is a good person who does not mind helping other people. After the trial Carton and Darnay met with each other, and they had a talk. Mr. Carton had told Darnay that he hated him because Lucy loved him. Couple of months after this incident, Mr. Carton asked to meet with Mr. Darnay. Carton asked Darnay to forgive him for the previous incident and also asked him to be his friend. "Mr. Darnay, I wish we might be friends" said Carton (page 251) "On the drunken occasion in...
Foils are used in plays so that the readers are better able to understand the major character (Hamlet). In a foil, the minor character is similar in many ways to the main character so that we will compare the two. However, it is through these similarities that we are able to see the more important differences between the two.
Random House Webster's dictionary defines a foil as "a person or thing that makes another seem better by contrast." This essay will focus on the use of the foil to contrast another character. The characters of Nora and Mrs. Linde provide an excellent example of this literary device. Mrs. Linde's aged, experienced personality is the perfect foil for Nora's childish nature. Mrs. Linde's hard life is used to contrast the frivolity and sheltered aspects of Nora's life. Nora's optimism and belief in things improbable is an opposite to the rationality and down-to-earth mentality of Mrs. Linde. Finally, the rekindling of the flame between Mrs. Linde and Krogstad is a direct contrast to the burning down of Nora and Torvald's "doll's house."
Dickens responded to this "dog-eat-dog" social climate by writing A Tale of Two Cities as a vehicle to reform society. He intends to fortify Christian values within English culture, such as self-sacrifice and kindness, in a time when he feels these values are threatened and sometimes completely overlooked. In this essay, I will show how Dickens interweaves his moral agenda of Christian values into the novel by using contrasts, symbols, and the motif of doubles as well as the evolution of Sydney Carton into a Christ-like figure with the goal of inspiring the reader to the point of evolving into an ethically "good" human being.
Charles Dickens’s voice varies from being sympathetic with the revolutionaries, to a feeling of discord with their method of revolting. A Tale of Two Cities revolves around the French revolution and the tension in England. Dickens gives the tale of a family caught in the conflict between the French aristocracy and radicals. In the course of the book, the family handles extreme difficulty and obscurity. Dickens’s neutrality, though sometimes wavering from side to side, is apparent throughout each book in the novel.
Throughout the novel, Dickens employs imagery to make the readers pity the peasants, have compassion for the innocent nobles being punished, and even better understand the antagonist and her motives. His use of personified hunger and description of the poor’s straits made the reader pity them for the situation caused by the overlord nobles. However, Dickens then uses the same literary device to alight sympathy for the nobles, albeit the innocent ones! Then, he uses imagery to make the reader better understand and perhaps even feel empathy for Madame Defarge, the book’s murderous villainess. Through skillful but swaying use of imagery, Dickens truly affects the readers’ sympathies.
Our Mutual Friend, Dickens' last novel, exposes the reality Dickens is surrounded by in his life in Victorian England. The novel heavily displays the corruption of society through multiple examples. These examples, that are planted within the novel, relate to both the society in Dickens' writing and his reality. In order to properly portray the fraud taking place within his novels, Dickens' uses morality in his universe to compare to the reality of society. He repetitively references to the change of mind and soul for both the better and the worst. He speaks of the change of heart when poisoned by wealth, and he connects this disease to the balance of the rich and the poor. This is another major factor to novel, where the plot is surrounded by a social hierarchy that condemns the poor to a life of misery, and yet, condones any action that would normally be seen as immoral when it occurs in the aristocracy. It expands on the idea that only an education and inheritance will bring success in society, with few exceptions. Lastly, Dickens expands his opinions of society through his mockery of ...
Charles Dickens and Mulk Raj Anand both base their novels, Great Expectations and Untouchable, around the central theme of social class. The characters, Pip and Pundit, personalities go through some transformations as they are influenced by a range of characters they meet throughout the text. The authors use a range of literary techniques to convey the character’s values, beliefs and ideas throughout their novels. These literary techniques reveal to the readers that the characters’ attitudes towards high social class and wealth is what ultimately leads them to compromise their family for their own selfish values. This is suggested through the characters, various literary techniques and the use of narration/ dialogue.
History has not only been important in our lives today, but it has also impacted the classic literature that we read. Charles Dickens has used history as an element of success in many of his works. This has been one of the keys to achievement in his career. Even though it may seem like it, Phillip Allingham lets us know that A Tale of Two Cities is not a history of the French Revolution. This is because no actual people from the time appear in the book (Allingham). Dickens has many different reasons for using the component of history in his novel. John Forster, a historian, tells us that one of these reasons is to advance the plot and to strengthen our understanding of the novel (27). Charles Dickens understood these strategies and could use them to his advantage.