Throughout the novel A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens draws deep comparisons in the corruption between two power houses in Europe, England and Paris. In chapter seven, “Monseigneur in Town”, Dickens summarizes the whole aristocrat population of France and England as being corrupt and fraudulent individuals in both their diplomacy and social hierarchy. Dickens displays his level of disgust for these practices by using a plethora of literary devices to sway the reader's emotions and convey an equal if not greater level of discomfort for early European life.
In the short passage from pages 79-82 Charles Dickens focuses on the role that aristocrats have on shaping their countries, and ultimately the complete facade that they partake in. The first literary term that appears to be more glaring than other is symbolism. Dickens litters this
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short passage with symbolism on either the aristocrats false perception or the complete corruption within France.
“Monseigneur could swallow a great many things …. rather rapidly swallowing France…”(79). In this quotation Dickens alludes to the fact that Monseigneur is swallowing France whole, so to speak. That Monseigneur is transitioning France into a social breakdown, eventually leading to the french revolution. Additional examples of symbolism in this passage starts to focus on the perception that Monseigneur as well as, many other aristocrats have of themselves. “The earth and the fulness therefore are mine, saith Monseigneur.”(80). In this quotation Dickens clearly gives Monseigneur the perception of being a sentient being, and truly reflecting his views on him versus the rest of society. Moreover, another example of symbolism that Dickens strongly uses the notion of throughout the continuation of the passage is the aristocrats physical appearance. “...Day of Judgement had only been
ascertained to be a dress day, everybody there would be eternally correct.”(82). This again feeds into Dickens notion that the leaders of France were not only corrupt politically but socially as well. For them to have the conservative perception of being an exceptional leader or diplomat was merely based off of clothing and physical appearance is simply disappointing. Ultimately, Dickens uses symbolism throughout this passage to not only give historical context to the upcoming events in France but help illustrate to the reader that France was on the verge of imploding. Furthermore, an additional literary device that Dickens repeatedly uses throughout this passage as well as, the novel is irony. More specifically in the passage selected, Dickens influences the whole tone of the chapter through the use of verbal irony. With his use of a sarcastic tone, throughout the entirety of the passage, it allows the reader to understand the outrageous nature that both the French and English leaders participated in. An example of this scandalous behavior from outside the passage, taking place in England, is the treason court case concerning Charles Darnay. “...being a loyal jury (as he knew they were)...a responsible jury (as he knew they were), must positively find the prisoner Guilty....they never could tolerate.....any laying of heads upon pillows at all, unless the prisoner’s head was taken off.” (49-50). In this quotation Dickens show no restraint on the verbal irony throughout the judge's explanation on his necessary conformation of finding the truth about the defendant. This furthers the notion, without reservation, of the intense level of corruption not only in France but England as well. Dickens also gives hints of dramatic irony as an underlying theme throughout his novel, illustrating that countries with precedent for other neighboring countries can be corrupt*. Ultimately, Dickens use of irony and symbolism throughout the passage helps further the reader's comprehension of the parallels between two European ‘powerhouses’, in France and England, and the corruption and fallacies within their societies that intertwine them.
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.
In the novel, the symbols of scarecrows and birds of fine song and feather, wine, and knitting all demonstrate the theme of man’s inhumanity toward his fellow man. Primarily, scarecrows and birds of fine song and feather are a pair of symbols that uniquely contrast with each other greatly. It is stated, “But, the time has not come yet; and every wind that blew over France shook the rags of the scarecrows in vain, for the birds, fine of song and feather, took no warning” (Dickens 23). This quote is regarding that the scarecrows represent the peasants and their frightening features, as they scare away the aristocrats, who are the birds of fine song and feather. In addition, the birds of fine song and feather are the aristocrats.
During the 1800s, the aristocracy of England and France lived in luxury and possessed an enormous amount of power in the society while peasants live in poverty. Dickens links the two countries with the theme of how history repeats itself. Dickens compares the social rankings, rulers, and events of the two countries and warns how if the English aristocracy did not change their ways, what happens in France would happen to them. In the novel, Dickens portrays the character, Monseigneur as an individual character as well as a social class of France. Monseigneur is a character who Dickens portrays as the entire class of the French aristocracy in the way of which he abuses his power. Dickens describes how the Monseigneur was having chocolate prepared for him by four men who are wearing gold watches as peasants were starving and dying. Dickens uses the actions of the Monseigneur to represent the entire population of the aristocrats in the city of St. Antoine. Another way in which Dickens shows how the Monseigneur was corrupt was how he appointed people to be officials not by their skill but by the way they would appraise him or by their status. Dickens foreshadows how France would become corrupt over time from the action...
Have you ever witnessed or participated in an act of mob mentality? Many people without realizing it take part in a form of mob mentality, whether it is at a sporting event, concert, or even a protest or riot; these are all forms of mob mentality. The term “mob mentality” is usually something negative, where large groups of people deindivduate themselves. People lose control and are pressured to fit in with what the rest of the crowd is doing. In the book, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, mob mentality has a big impact on the plot. A Tale of Two Cities, shows how mob mentality ties in with history repeating itself, portraying manslaughter and homicide, and also depicting riots.
Additionally, the laziness of Monseigneur can also describe the laziness of the hierarchy of France. Even though they have all the power to change the worst parts of the society/economy, they choose not to and instead, attend artificial parties with other nobles and have 4 assistants feed them chocolate. The overwhelming power of the hierarchy is only beneficial to themselves and not to citizens of France. An example of this is when Monseigneur is being described: “Monseigneur could swallow a great many things with ease, and was by some few sullen minds supposed to be rather rapidly swallowing France.” (Dickens 78) this quotation reflects how the hierarchy’s massive consumption of all things superficial is slowly consuming the country of France itself. This passage reflects a text-to-world connection because Monseigneur is actually is a symbol to the hierarchy of France due to the description/qualities of his personality and the effect his consumption has on the
On February 7, 1812, a popular author named Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England during the Victorian Era and the French Revolution. He had a father named John Dickens and a mother named Elizabeth Dickens; they had a total of eight children. In Charles’s childhood, he lived a nomadic lifestyle due to his father 's debt and multiple changes of jobs. Despite these obstacles, Charles continued to have big dreams of becoming rich and famous in the future. His father continued to be in and out of prison, which forced him, and his siblings to live in lodging houses with other unwanted children. During this period of depression, Charles went to numerous schools and worked for a boot cleaning company. This caused him
Frederick Douglass once said, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” He meant that if people are oppressed, one day they will pass their breaking point and fight back. As a consequence neither side will be safe or secure as violence and terror would corrupt them both. In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, the author employs satire, symbolism, and irony to emphasize the social/economic inequality between the wealthy and the poor. The inequality is revealed by Dicken’s satirical description of the lifestyles of Monsignor of Chocolate and the Marquis Evrémonde. In contrast with the people in the wine cask scene; the scene indicates that the people are on their breaking point. Finally, the irony of the trials emphasizes Dicken’s warning to the upper class of England during the 1850s; if they abuse power then vengence will be sought. If action is not taken, England will be engulfed in violence and both the aristocracy and the peasants will suffer.
This paper is to explain the use of irony of a phrase from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The story is set during the time of the French Revolution and the phrase was the slogan of the revolutionaries: “The Republic One and the Indivisible of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death.” Each term of this phrase will be defined and once defined one will be able to see the extreme irony of it.
Mob mentality is the idea that when a big group of people are together they loose their sense of individualism and moral constraints to follow blindly what they are told. During the French Revolution mobs were highly prevalent as many of the population were starving, poor, and angry. In A Tale of Two Cities the author, Charles Dickens criticizes mobs by showing how dangerous they can be in many scenes.
In society today, all people determine their lifestyle, personality and overall character by both positive and negative traits that they hold. Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities was a drunken lawyer who had an extremely low self-esteem. He possessed many negative characteristics which he used in a positive way. Carton drastically changed his life and became a new man. Sydney is not the man he first appeared to be.
With imagery revealing the poor straits and desperation of the peasant class of France, Dickens influences the reader to pity them. He writes, “The cloud settled on Saint Antoine, which a momentary gleam had driven from his sacred countenance, the darkness of it was heavy—cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, want were the lords waiting on the saintly presence—nobles of great power all of them; but most especially the last” (Dickens 22). Through hunger, want, etc. being personified and compared to nobles through language such as “nobles” and “lords”, Dickens shows the extent of the suffering of the peasants, their deserving to be pitied, and the human nobles’ apathy towards them. The peasants of Saint Antoine suffer in the 1770s, and the town’s name is made into a play on words with “saintly presence”, with the cloud of cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, and want looming forming the imagery of irony. Another description of the peasants’ plight is revealed in the quote saying, “Ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sign Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere...Hunger was the inscription on th...
First of all, Dickens presents a harsh view of the aristocracy through two of the key characters: Charles Darnay and Marquis Evrémonde. Darnay is a member of the French elite who rejects the cruel ways of his family and flees to London to forget about the injustices his family has committed. While this may seem honorable he is not because he acts as a coward and runs away rather than standing up and trying to stop the inhumane treatment of the poor. Evrémonde on the other hand is as harsh and cruel as they come. He embodies the terrible atrocities committed against the people of France by the landed nobility. The way that Dickens uses these characters he establishes a very cynical view of the elite as being either cruel or impotent; and thus there is no hope for the French people from this class. How does this view stack up to reality during the French Revolution? Well, the nobility were cruel, and had been for...
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.
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.
While venturing through the world of “A Tale of Two Cities” there are many practices seen throughout the book that would be unheard of in society and politics today. The book, written by the famous English author Charles Dickens, explains the story of people from both France and England and what part they took in the French Revolution. Some of these people, the aristocrats, were against the revolution because they wanted to maintain the form of government where they ruled over the people. If the revolutionaries won, the aristocrats would lose both their power and their wealth. This tension between people and clear class definition is a perfect example of how far both society and