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Themes and symbols used in A Tale of Two cities
Themes and symbols used in A Tale of Two cities
Symbolism in A Tale of Two Cities
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A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was published in 1859 as weekly issues. The story takes place in London and Paris during the French Revolution. The French Revolution can be described as a liberating, exhilarating, and bloodthirsty event in history. Dickens has captured these moments of the French Revolution in a very complex form using many literary elements such as symbols and metaphors to develop and enhance the story. In particular, three beautifully constructed symbols that relate to a common theme of fate and coincidence are the wine, echoing footsteps, and the shadow.
The first major symbol developed throughout the novel is the wine. The wine symbol is introduced during the wine cask scene that takes place in Saint Antoine when a large cask of wine is dropped into the street and the townspeople rush to drink it. The wine is being compared to red blood from the revolution and “the stain of it would be red upon many there” (Dickens 22), meaning that many of those people will die from the revolution. After the wine is all gone, the people return to their work as if nothing happened, which is foreshadowing of their attitude of what is to happen during the revolution. In this instance, the wine symbol shows the fate of the people and the blood and destruction of the revolution. During the revolution, the wine symbol is mentioned at the grindstone where the revolutionaries sharpen their tools and some women are drinking the wine. The droppings of the wine resemble the droppings of blood that are covering the city from the brutality of the revolution. Dickens describes the scene as “wicked atmosphere seamed gore and fire” (203) showing how the people are enjoying the revolution as gratifying and pleasurable as it is to dri...
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...the French Revolution. The wine, echoing footsteps, and shadow metaphors are very intricate with its tie to the theme of fate and coincidence, making the novel more desirable and entertaining. Each symbol portrays and tells something about the time period such as the desperation of the peasants and townspeople that enhance the story’s plot and characters. The theme of fate and coincidence are connected because everything in the story happened for a reason and the people’s fate determined what was going to happen to them. The French Revolution proved to be emotional and the characters in the book express and present their emotions perfectly. The symbols in A Tale of Two Cities have served effectively at making the story very useful and valuable.
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Ed. Paul Negri. Dover Thrift ed.
Mineola: Dover, 1999. Print.
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.
The French Revolution was a period of social and political uprisings in France from 1789 to 1799, which is when the novel A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens takes place. The French Revolution marked the decline of powerful monarchies and the rise of democracy and nationalism. As it is said in the first sentence of the novel, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. During the extensive period of time during the conflicts of the revolution, every man is fighting for themselves. Due to this state of helplessness and solitude of the men in the revolution, many symbols in the novel were concocted and displayed to demonstrate a specific and powerful theme.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” its 1775 and poverty bestrews the streets of France. Dickens illustrates how conflict and turmoil among the penniless common people eventually leads to the harrowing French Revolution. In "A Tale of Two Cities" by, Charles Dickens the author uses foreshadowing to reveal many future events in the novel as well as revealing the revenge of the poor people against the aristocracy. Dickens continually uses foreshadowing i to warn upcoming events. The use of foreshadowing leads suspense and curiosity, which urge the reader to continue reading and go on to solve the mystery.
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.
The repetition of a motif creates an atmosphere of foreboding vulnerability, intrigue, suspense, and horror in A Tale of Two Cities. The theme of liquor establishes the lingering effect that an appalling event is going to transpire due to foreshadowing. Wine is used both as sustenance and as a symbol of blood. Throughout A Tale of Two Cities wine is paralleled to blood in order to portray the reason why the peasants started an uprising against the elite of the French government to gain equality and fairness.
Charles Dickens is a very well known English write who lived from 1812 to 1870. One of Dickens’ most famous novels is titled A Tale of Two Cities. This novel takes place during the period of the French Revolution which plays a huge part in Dicken’s foreshadowing. Foreshowing is a very important aspect in writing because it is a literary device in which the writer can explain to the reader significant plot development details that may be introduced later in the novel. In this specific novel, Charles Dickens illustrates the idea of foreshadowing with diligence and also specific, concrete information. Sidney Carton’s conversation with Lucie Manette, knitting, and the wine cask scene all exemplify and emphasize the idea of foreshadowing in A Tale of Two Cities.
The French Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval, lead by the lower class of France, which began the decline of powerful monarchies in France and the rise of nationalism and democracy. In A Tale Of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, he highlights these aspects of the war between classes and makes them personal to the reader. Throughout the novel, Dickens’ establishes and develops several symbols in order to help the reader better understand the Revolution and the way people acted during this time. He shows that while emotion, desperation, and irrationality run high, humanity, justice, and morality are scarce. The blue flies, Madame Defarge’s knitting, and the sea are three of Dickens’ symbols that develop his theme of man’s inhumanity to his fellow man throughout the novel.
The book has four metaphors, all of which have a significant part in the understanding of the novel. The first metaphor the readers encounter is the broken wine cask. The wine cask represents the plight of the poor and the blood of the revolution. The scene explicitly describes the people literally licking the streets and dripping the wine into the mouths of their children. The novel states, “Some men kneeled down, made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped, or tried to help women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine had all run out between their fingers. Others, men and women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated earthenware, or even with handkerchiefs from women’s heads, which were squeezed dry into infants’ mouths; others made small mud-embankments, to stem the wine as it ran; others, directed by lookers-on up at high windows, darted here and there, to cut off little streams of wine that started away in new directions; others devoted themselves to the sodden and lee-dyed pieces of the cask, licking, and even champing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish.” The novel also shows the wine cask as a metaphor for the blood of the revolution. The red color of the wine is similar to that of rich, red blood, shed by many because of the plight of the poor experienced in France. The second metaphor would be revealed as the grind stone. The grind stone, which was used to grind the food the poor needed so badly, later became used to sharpen the tools the poor would use to overthrow the government. The grindstone became a metaphor of killing and empowered poor throughout the novel. The third metaphor is the shadow. A shadow represents the great unknown, the great unexpected. Not a single person may prepare for the unknown. None of the characters could prepare for the events that came about in the plot, such as the denouncement of
The novel A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, takes place in London and Paris during and before the French Revolution. Dickens illustrates how the French aristocracy oppresses the French peasantry before the Revolution, and how in time, the peasantry returns the favor to the aristocracy. In the novel, Dickens often portrays the idea of resurrection through paradoxical characters. Jerry Cruncher and Sydney Carton demonstrate their paradoxical natures through the theme of resurrection.
Charles Dickens captures the aura of the French Revolution so poetically it is almost as if he was there. Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is a thrilling novel originally printed in the newspaper, explaining the cliffhangers at the end of many a chapter. One of the elements that makes the story so thrilling is his incorporation of the theme of fate. Dickens incorporates innumerable symbols to enforce this theme. The echoing footsteps, the storm, and the water are all symbols that reflect the theme of fate by demonstrating the inevitability of your fate.
The French Revolution was a movement from 1789 to 1799 that brought an end to the monarchy, including many lives. Although A Tale of Two Cities was published in 1859, it was set before and during the French Revolution and had over 200 million copies sold. The author, Charles Dickens, is known for being an excellent writer and displays several themes in his writings. Sacrifice is an offering of an animal or human life or material possession to another person. Dickens develops the theme of sacrifice throughout the story by the events that occurred involving Dr. Manette, Mr. Defarge, and Sydney Carton.
A symbol is an object, event, or person that represents an idea or set of ideas. Oftentimes, authors insert them into literary pieces to enhance the content or provoke readers to analyze the text thoroughly. Various symbols are incorporated throughout novels, such as: birds, children, the ocean/swimming, colors, and clothing. All of these representations can be found within The Awakening, however, author Kate Chopin introduces the ocean/swimming as a primary symbol. This is significant to the literary work since it represents her freedom, the dilemma to conform to societal expectations, and her awakening.
The first apparent symbolic event is the broken wine cask. A large cask of wine drops and breaks in the street and the people of St. Antoine stop their daily business to drink the wine from the ground. "Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear around the mouth" (Dickens 33). The people are very poor and live in poor conditions. They will do anything for something to eat or drink and the broken wine cask provides proof. The Marquis de Evremonde kills Gaspard's son and confesses that he would wil...
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.
...evolt. Charles Dickens speculates the possibility of a repetition of history. He fears that another bloodstained revolution will occur in India if the English continue the wrongful rule of a nation that possesses such a strong cultural belief. In essence, Dickens’ symbols point toward the same message. Through the symbol of wine, Dickens predicts bloodshed, brutality, and the death of many. Using the instances of injustice, he implies the inevitable progression toward a violent uprising. By comparing the symbolic stone hearts of the aristocracy to the disregard of the Indian culture, Dickens attacks the Englishmen for neglecting people’s beliefs. All symbols considered Dickens’ position projects well through his words in his novel. A Tale of Two Cities is indeed a fascinating novel that conveys an inspirational message to prevent revolutions by being moral and just.