Monseigneur In Town Essay

598 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social classes in victorian england

In Charles Dickens’, A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens satirizes the character of Monseigneur, in “Monseigneur in Town.” (pg. 79-82) The passage comments on the absurdity of the stature of aristocrats, portraying them as false gods instead of people. The depiction of Monseigneur and the aristocratic society allows readers to realize the preposterousness of social status during this time, underscored by Dickens sarcastic commentary. Dickens uses biting humor to show the true character of Monseigneur. “Monseigneur was in his inner room, his sanctuary of sanctuaries, the Holiest of Holies to the crowd of worshippers.” (pg. 79) The allusion to the Holiest of Holies conveys Dickens point of the sheer superiority of Monseigneur. He believes he is godly …show more content…

“These golden fetters rang like precious little bells; and what with that ringing, and with the rustle of silk and brocade an fine linen, there was a flutter in the air that fanned Saint Antoine an his devouring hunger away.” (pg. 82) The aristocracy wore jewels, and expensive clothing like bells, in that they rang, or brought attention to the excessive amount of wealth and power they possessed. The bells rang loud enough to be heard in Saint Antoine, the poor area. Here Dickens is satirizing the wealthy and how they felt the need to “ring” their wealth so loud it could be heard all the way in St. Antoine. Sicken is drawing attention to the fact that the aristocracy cared only about themselves, ringing their bells so loud it drowned about the hunger that the commoners felt. The wealthy did not think twice about those that surrounded them, if one did not have status he or she was reduced to a scarecrow-- filled with straw and thought to be less than a person. “Such frizzling and powdering and sticking up of hair, such delicate complexions artificially preserved and mended… would surely keep anything going, for ever and

Show More
Related

  • Juxtaposition In A Tale Of Two Cities

    391 Words  | 1 Pages

    In this passage, Dickens’ juxtaposition, personification, detail, and diction reinforce Dickens’ tone of empathy and pity for the social conditions of the people of lower class France. When a large cask of wine spills open on the streets of France there is a mad rush to collect a taste of the spoiled wine. The people’s reactions consisted of “...frolicsome embraces, drinking of healths, shaking of hands, and even joining of hands and dancing a dozen together.” This exciting and scene of much happiness is juxtaposed by the “gloom that gathered on the scene that appeared more natural than sunshine” that occurs after all the wine has run out. This juxtaposition of the momentary happiness that the peasants of St. Antoine experience provide a contrast

    Read More

  • Diction And Imagery In Charles Dickens Great Expectations

    478 Words  | 1 Pages

    you're a uncommon scholar”(73). In this quote, Dickens uses repetition as a form of diction in the words “common” and “uncommon” to emphasize that the values of society are different than what is actually important. In the Victorian Era, a gentlemen is supposed to be rich, which

    Read More

  • Power and Corruption in Charles Dickens´ A Tale of Two Cities

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Free Essays on A Tale of Two Cities: Sentimentality

    451 Words  | 1 Pages

    In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens’ choice of sentimental expression had an excellent effect on the readers’ responses to the characters. The use of exaggerated sentimentality helped create a clear picture of the story’s issues in the readers’ minds; it gave a feel for the spirit of the times, and made it easier to understand the characters’ points of view. It was this very sentimentality that Dickens strived to achieve.

    Read More

  • Christianity in a Tale of Two Cities

    1696 Words  | 4 Pages

    In this essay, I will argue that one of the underlying motives in Charles Dickens' novel A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the reinforcement of Christian values in 18th century Victorian England. Dickens was very concerned with the accepted social norms of industrialized England, many of which he felt were very inhumane. Christian values were challenged, largely due to the recent publication of Darwin's Origins of a Species, and philosophy along with literature was greatly affected. In 1859, the industrial age was booming, making many entrepreneurs rich. However, the majority of the lower economic class remained impoverished, working in unsafe and horrific environments as underpaid factory workers. Additionally, child labor was an accepted practice in Victorian England's factories. Dickens, who worked, as a child in a shoe polish factory, detested this social convention with such strength that only one with experience in such exploitation could.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Being Earnest By Oscar Wilde

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    Oscar Wildes ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’’ is believed by many to be his most genius work and certainly has withstood the test of time. The play is set in London during the 1890’s in which time frame aristocracy and upper class held the majority of the countries wealth. Many of the comical aspects question the morals of the upper class in which he satirises throughout the play. One method of this, for instance is through one of the main protagonist, Algernon Moncrieff. Algernon is an upper class individual who is oblivious to the world around him in such an exaggerated manner that it makes his character comically adjusted for Wildes own views.

    Read More

  • Parody on Chaucer

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chaucer’s book The Canterbury Tales presents a frame story written at the end of the 14th century. It narrates the story of a group of pilgrims who participate in a story-telling contest that they made up to entertain each other while they travel to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Because of this, some of the tales become particularly attractive for they are written within a frame of parody which, as a style that mocks genre, is usually achieved by the deliberate exaggeration of some aspects of it for comic effect. Chaucer uses parody to highlight some aspects of the medieval society that presented in an exaggerated manner, not only do they amuse the readers, but also makes them reflect on them. He uses the individual parody of each tale to create a satirical book in which the behaviours of its characters paint an ironic and critical portrait of the English society at that time. Thus, the tales turn satirical, ironic, earthy, bawdy, and comical. When analysing the Knight’s and the Miller’s tale, one can realise how Chaucer mocks the courtly love convention, and other social codes of behaviour typical of the medieval times.

    Read More

  • Our Town Essay by Ahkeyla Lee

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Here’s the grocery store and here’s Mr. Morgan’s Drugstore. Most everybody in town manages to look into those two stores once a day (5.Stage Manager.) A small town without a lot of people, that’s exactly what the line above just told us. In the Play Our Town the stage manager tells us about a small town called Grover’s Corner. According to Professor Willard “within the town’s limits: 2, 640. (23 Willard)” That’s the population of this little town. Living in a small community can have its up’s and down. Grover’s Corner doesn’t want to modernize, nor is there any privacy, but there are some good qualities like knowing who ever you fall in love with in the town has basically grown up like you, or that you know everyone in the community.

    Read More

  • Irony in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • An Annotation of John Crowe Ransom's Blue Girls

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    He describes beauty as delicate and rare, unable to be established. He focuses on the lightheartedness of young girls, how they are caught up in beauty, and he warns them to be conscientious of the fact that their beauty will fade and that they cannot put all their hope on their beauty. At the same time, he encourages them to "practice" their beauty until it is gone, and he promises to celebrate that beauty as best he can, with all its value and frailty.

    Read More

  • A Tale of Much Imagery: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Ignorance In A Tale Of Two Cities

    274 Words  | 1 Pages

    Charles Dickens, the author of A Tale of Two Cities portrays the aristocracy as an oblivious body of self-entitled people that wholeheartedly believe in their destiny of wealth. Their understanding of the poor people’s fate as stepping stools to their success allow them to injure and even murder them without any repercussions. This constant abuse of the rich to the poor fuels the fire that is the French Revolution. The Marquis St. Evrémonde shows an extreme sense of ignorance when, after running over an innocent child, he simply, “threw out a gold coin” as a token

    Read More

  • Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    In many novels, the society created by the author is surrounded by wealth and corruption. Numerous amount of times these settings are produced based on the life in which the author lives. Charles Dickens is no different. In the midst of most of his novels, Dickens exposes the deception of Victorian England and the strict society that holds everything together. In Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend, a satire is created where the basis of the novel is the mockery against money and morals. Throughout this novel, multiple symbols and depictions of the characters display the corruption of the mind that surrounds social classes in Victorian England.

    Read More

  • Beggar's Opera Irony

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wrought with double irony and an overall sense of mock-pastoral, English playwright John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728) has its forefront of irony vividly expressed between the dynamic of the central characters Macheath and Peachum. Even the names of the characters comically resemble their occupations within the play, Peachum’s being a play on the word “peach” which means to bring one to trial, while Macheath’s meaning “son of heath” and being a play on the heaths of London, which were prime places worked on by highwaymen (Tillotson, et al.). While both characters were used as a political satire towards Jonathan Wild and the then Prime Minister Robert Walpole (after all, The Beggar’s Opera was a political satire first and a potential literary

    Read More

  • Descriptive Essay On A Small Town

    740 Words  | 2 Pages

    I’ve finally made it. When you first land here the immediate difference is all around you whizzing around you creating a sense of life. It 's a sense that you rarely have in a small town it 's bigger I can’t quite obtain a hold of it. It moves fast all through the night and during the day. It peaks in all of my senses to create a brand new sense of the life of the city.

    Read More

More about Monseigneur In Town Essay

Open Document