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Critical analysis of the tale of two cities
Analysis of a tale of two cities
Background A tale of two cities
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Negative vs. Positive
Charles Dickens writes this book explaining the French Revolution, in which the social and economic systems in France had huge changes and the French monarchy collapsed. This causes high taxes, unfair laws, and the poor being mistreated. Charles Dickens shows that cruelty of other people will lead to a revolution and in addition to the revolution more cruelty will occur. He explores the idea of justice and violence through the use of ambiguous characters with positive and negative qualities, meaning that they have to different sides to them; for example, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, and Dr. Manette. Throughout the story of A Tale of Two Cities, Charles dickens uses ambiguous characters to shows how violence and cruelty can be stopped through the power of true sacrifice.
Charles Darnay is a French aristocrat who decides to move to England because he could not deal with the cruel ways of the French, especially his uncle, the Marquis. He is an ambiguous character because he is seen by society a negative person because he is a part of the Evrémonde family while he is actually the complete opposite. That was the reason he left his country, “because he had voluntarily relinquished a title that was distasteful to him” (Dickens 288) to get away from his family
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name. Another thing that makes Charles ambiguous is the fact that he had two identities, but that was not his doing, and that is where Sydney Carton comes in. Sydney Carton is the most significant and ambiguous character in this novel. He is known as the drunken person who does not have his life together and he is lazy and does not care about anything. What makes him ambiguous is the fact that even though he is this careless man he also has a superior side to him and a kind heart. When he falls in love with Lucie he began to realize how people see him and his love for her transformed him into a good person. This transformation leads him to saving Charles Darnay’s life by poisoning and then switching clothes with him and dying in place of Charles to show his abundant love for Lucie Manette. In the end, after Sydney is killed. Charles Dickens writes, “it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known” (Dickens 382) to summarize what he thinks Sydney Carton would have said before he died to show that Sydney has done something he feels pride in and that there was a purpose for his doing. Dr.
Mannete is a brilliant physician who spent eighteen years as a prisoner in the Bastille. He is seen as an ambiguous character because in the beginning of the story he was a shoemaker, and that was all he did, in order to distract himself from what he experienced when he was imprisoned. While he was a prisoner he kept a journal with him and would write about his experience, “this is the writing of Doctor Manette” (Dickens 323) but they later got Charles Darnay sent back to jail because of what he wrote about the Evrémonde family. By the middle of the novel until he end Doctor Manette is back to his normal self before he was put into prison and has stopped making shoes and
relapsing. In this story Charles Dickens highlights how cruelty of people can lead to a revolution by using ambiguous characters to display the negative and positive qualities of people during the revolution. Charles Darnay, Sydney carton are three of the ambiguous characters he use that relate to the theme of sacrifice. Charles Darnay sacrifices his own safety when he tries to help Gabelle, a servant of his uncle, which leads him to being put into prison. Sydney Carton sacrifices his own life to save Charles Darnay from death because of his love for Lucie. Lastly, Doctor Manette shows the theme of sacrifice because he chose to speak about the Evrémonde family which leads him to eighteen years imprisoned at the Bastille. All three characters prove that sacrificing something will always bring back happiness, even though it takes years.
Mr. Lorry speaks of how dangerous France is as said “if some of our documents were seized or destroyed; and they might be, at any time, you know, for who can say that Paris is not set afire today, or sacked tomorrow,”(217). France has the likely chance of being destroyed today or tomorrow. Most people are taking advantage of the chaos, which makes them an incredible threat for those who don’t. Darnay also does not realize that in France, they still view him as a Marquis St. Evrémonde, an aristocrat that deserves to die. Darnay talks of considering leaving his family behind in England to go to Frace “he considered that neither Lucie nor her father must know of it until he was gone. Lucie should be spared the pain of separation,”(224). This example, is Darnay considering to leave his family in England to go to France. Darnay’s family will be in great danger if he decides to leave. Not only will this compromise the safety for his family, but himself as well. Darnay’s family will be an easy target for those who may just not have liked their family. Not to mention the fact that Lucie will notice her husband’s disappearance, causing her to become worried.“...and her father, always reluctant to turn his thoughts towards the dangerous ground of old, should come to the knowledge of the step, as a step taken, and not in the balance of suspense and doubt,.”(224). This
To support a major theme of this novel, scarecrows and birds of fine song and feather, wine and knitting, all represent the theme of man’s inhumanity toward his fellow man. The Revolution was a tragically devastating time full of senseless and meaningless violence, deception of neighbors as well as treason towards the government, and blissful ignorance of the surroundings. Many scenes and dialogue from this novel point out what contributed to make the revolution a period of intense political destruction. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens includes many themes pertaining to the French Revolution and the moralities and immoralities that goes with violence, betrayal, and ignorance, by using many different types of symbolism.
Manette‘s connection with the Evremondes. It starts when Dr. Manette is first introduced to Charles Darnay, Dr. Manette gives no sign of recognizing Charles. However, "His face had become frozen, as it were, in a very curious look at Darnay: an intent look, deepening into a frown of dislike and distrust, not even unmixed with fear” (Dickens 78). This reappears when Dr. Manette tells Charles not to reveal his name till the wedding day. when charles tries to tell his real name Dr. Manette says “Stop!” and we start to hint that there is more going on. “Stop!” “for an instant, the Doctor even had two hands at his ears; for another instant, had his two hands laid on Darney’s lips”( Dickens 132). Dr. Manette’s relapse lasting for nine days after talking to Darnay, on the wedding day can be assumed that the relapse was caused by hearing of Charles' former name. Also, at Charles’ second trial a letter is found written thirty two years earlier by Dr. Manette, explaining the doctor’s story We learn that he was brought by Charles’s father and uncle who were Evrémonde to help young women who was screaming due to the abuse by the two men. He promised himself he would get these men punished for the horrible treatment of the young women. The letter was then intercepted by the men. The doctor was put into prison for eighteen years. Dickens purposely included the earlier scene where the doctor has a dramatic relapse for nine days after hearing Charles’ true name to foreshadow that Charles Darnay has a connection with the doctor's
The French Revolution was a time when many people sacrificed their lives for their beliefs. As the French Revolution moved on, more people joined the movement and risked their lives. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is set during this time. Many people who sacrificed their lives for the Revolution felt like it was their fate to do this. This idea of fate is described many times in Dickens’ novel to magnify the story. The theme of fate is prevalent in the novel through the lives of many characters. This theme is used to show how a person is unable to escape their fate because it is already decided. The metaphors and symbols in the novel are greatly used to contribute to the theme of fate through the symbols of knitting, the fountain and water, and the wine.
A Tale of Two Cities takes place in England and France, during the time of the French Revolution. A Tale of Two Cities is a classic novel, where Charles Dickens presents to the reader archetypal main characters. From the beginning of the novel, the reader can know whether the characters are evil or not. In the novel, the main character, Sydney Carton, also contributes a lot to the theme of the novel-every individual should have both moral and physical courage, and should be able to sacrifice everything in the name of love.
Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities during his time of fascination with the French Revolution. The French Revolution was a time of inequity. There are many occasions in the novel where the problems of the Revolution are displayed. The human race is shown at its worst. Throughout the novel, man’s inhumanity towards fellow man, whether from a different social class or their own neighborhood, is shown through the metaphors of wine symbolizing blood, water symbolizing life, and blue flies symbolizing townspeople buzzing around death.
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.
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, A Tale of Two Cities , Charles Dickens’ judgment and portrayal of France, the Revolution, and the people themselves undergoes some very basic changes. Dickens is always in control of the reader by successfully reaching his goal of leading the reader by the hand through a series of emotions and ideas emanating from the plot and its characters. During the first few chapters of “Book the First,” Dickens has the reader sympathize with the plight of the French commoners. However, when the revolution begins, he does an about-face. Through narrative, scenes, and dialogue, the reader starts to consider both the aristocrats and the downtrodden as one and the same in moral and political culpability.
Dr. Manette starts his life as a young successful man but then is traumatized by imprisonment and again becomes successful with the comfort of, his daughter, Lucie. Lorry rescues Dr. Manette from his prison in St. Antoine and essentially brings him back to life. At first Alexandre seems unstable and much older than his years, but as Lucie nurses him back to life he transforms into the vibrant man missing throughout hers. Doctor Manette has no recollection of his successful past: “Doctor Manette, formerly of Beauvais . . . the young physician, originally an expert surgeon, who within the last year or two has made a rising reputation in Paris” (298). After his unnecessary imprisonment he is very weak and frail: “[h]e had put up a hand between his eyes and the light, and the very bones of it seemed transparent” (36). He is found in a dark garret hunched over a cobbler’s bench making shoes to pass time. At first Lucie is apprehensive about approaching her father, but as she observes his actions she is overcome with joy; she has now found her father whom she thought was dead for seventeen years. As he spends more time with Lucie and Miss Pross he gradually gains more and more strength and is beginning to reach his capacities in life. “This new life of the Doctor’s [is] an anxious life, no doubt; still the sagacious Mr. Lorry [sees] that there was a new sustaining pride in it” (253). The changes in Dr. Manette are not all by his own doing. He started life prosperous and fortunate, and after an ill-fated imprisonment it takes him a long while to accomplish the ability to endure life again.
Justice and revenge tend to go hand in hand, but it always ends in death as shown in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Dickens uses the setting of the two cities and opposing characters to create a suspenseful novel. The novel follows the social injustices and revolutions in both England and France in the 1700s. Characters such as Monseigneur the Marquis and Old Foulon represent the wealthy and privileged oppressors while characters such as Gaspard and the peasants of Saint Antoine represent the poor and oppressed lower class citizens. The novel also tells the story of Dr. Manette, Lucie, Charles Darnay, and Little Lucie.
The last quote, ”A compliment to the grandeur of the family, merited by the manner in which the family has sustained its grandeur,” illustrates Marquis’ pride in his estate and his family lineage (Dickens, 128). He explains to Darnay that the family lineage is to be respected and feared by the lower classes, and that’s the way things should be. Not only that,
As an illustration, the author exemplified how “such fraternal embraces were bestowed upon [Darnay]” after he was acquitted from prison, but if the same people were “carried by another current, would have rushed at him to pieces and strew him over the streets” (Dickens, 283). Altogether, Dickens utilizes this section in the story to illustrate how quickly a group of people’s minds can be changed. Here, the crowd is so easily moved by Doctor Manette's testimony that they hug and rejoice around Darnay, although Darnay takes note of how just a day before they were completely prepared to send him to his death, without a second thought. Additionally, Dickens also calls into action the dangers of reaching social change through violence. Furthermore, he showcases this in the book through the character of Madame Defarge, with her immense hatred for the aristocracy, due to the injustices committed upon her family by the Darnay’s father and uncle.
Charles Darnay, Evremonde as we know him, is a rich leader of France. On the other hand, a lawyer, whose name is Sydney Carton, seems to not care about anyone but himself. However, when he met Lucie Manette, his life was changed a little bit and added her in his circle of obligation. Both of these guys, in our case Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, felt something unique to Lucie Manette. While Darnay is being sentenced for treason and Lucie is one of the witnesses against Darnay, Carton seems to see the similarity between himself and Darnay and presented it to the court of law The Court of Law point out some similar appearances between them and no one is quite sure if both ...
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is a story set in the year 1775 and through the turbulent time of the French Revolution. It is of people living in love and betrayal, murder and joy, peril and safety, hate and fondness, misery and happiness, gentle actions and ferocious crowds. The novel surrounds a drunken man, Sydney Carton, who performs a heroic deed for his beloved, Lucie Manette, while Monsieur and Madame Defarge, ruthless revolutionaries, seek revenge against the nobles of France. Research suggests that through Dickens’ portrayal of the revolutionaries and nobles of the war, he gives accurate insight to the era of the Revolution.