Tale Of Two Cities

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us” (Dickens 3). Charles Dickens opens one of his most famous books with these words, which foretell how the entire novel is laid out and how conflicting viewpoints in the era were soon to be the causes of revolution. A Tale of Two Cities is historically important because it tells of life during the French Revolution, how people can change from a “civilized” society into a bloodthirsty army, and teaches the

world not to get too comfortable in its current situation.
First, A Tale of Two Cities is historically important because it shows the “common” person’s life during the period leading up to the French Revolution in England and France. In this novel, King George III and Charlotte Sophia ruled England, and Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette ruled France. According to these rulers their lands were in a perfect state, however, these lands were in quite the opposite state. “Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital itself every night…the Lord Mayor of London, was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman” (Dickens 5). Dickens illustrates how, during this period, no one trusted another and crime was running rampant throughout England and France even to the point that a high ranking official was mugged.
Even the simplest of crimes could result in a common person being put to death as a form of punishment. Dickens gives us an example of how a Frenchman was killed as punishment for a petty crime: “As sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in the rain to do honor to a dirty procession of monks which passed within his view, at a distance of some fifty or sixty yards” (Dickens 4). These types of executions of many common people led to hatred of France’s leadership. This hatred, coupled with a scarcity of food, leads to the revolution.
In England, the only way to combat a rising crime rate was to increase the harshness of punishments for any crime. “The hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at the door of Westminster Hall; today, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and tomorrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer's boy of sixpence” (Dickens 5). This illustrates how in England all criminals, regardless of their crimes, were being hung, keeping the executioner always busy. A Tale of Two Cities is historically significant because it shows the conditions of the common person’s life during the era leading up to the French Revolution.
A Tale of Two Cities is also historically significant because it shows how people can change from a “civilized” society into a bloodthirsty army.

Dickens illustrates how quickly this change can occur with the city of Saint Antoine. In the beginning, Saint Antoine is just a poor slum suburb of Paris, but it quickly becomes a hub for revolutionary ideas and plots to take over France. “Saint Antoine had been, that morning, a vast dusky mass of scarecrows heaving to and fro, with frequent gleams of light above the billowy heads, where steel blades and bayonets shone in the sun. A tremendous roar arose from the throat of Saint Antoine, and a forest of naked arms struggled in the air like shriveled branches of trees in a winter wind: all the fingers convulsively clutching at every weapon or semblance of a weapon that was thrown up from the depths below, no matter how far off” (Dickens 246). Here Dickens describes how fast one small group of civilized people can become an army ready to attack anyone that wrongs them. A Tale of Two Cities truly captures how a “civilized” world is not really “civilized” since it can transform from a calm group into an army in the blink of an eye if a new influence presents itself. Dickens captured the true aspects of the French Revolution as the small groups took over the larger population with new ideas to seize control of France. This is how A Tale of Two Cities illustrates how people can change from a “civilized” society into a bloodthirsty

army.
Finally, A Tale of Two Cities is historically important because it teaches the world not to get too comfortable in its current situation. Just as is shown in the book when someone gets too comfortable in their current situation they will have something hurled at them that dramatically changes their life. One of Dickens’ characters, Lucie, has become so used to her life without her father, believing him to be dead, is suddenly told that he is alive, causing her life to change dramatically. “But he has been-been found. He is alive. Greatly changed, it is too probable; almost a wreck, it is possible; though we will hope the best. Still, alive. Your father has been taken to the house of an old servant in Paris, and we are going there: I, to identify him if I can: you, to restore him to life, love, duty, rest, comfort. (Dickens 29)”
Another example that Dickens uses to illustrate sudden shifts in circumstances is when Charles and Lucie Darnay settle down and begin to start a family. Charles must go to France to rescue Gabelle; however, when he arrives he is put into prison for over a year and released, only to be put in prison once again that same day of his release. Dickens also uses characters of the King and Queen of France to portray people who have become too comfortable in their current situation. They believe their people adore them and everything is perfect in their lands, only they end up being killed by their own people with the guillotine. Charles Dickens offers these historical examples to warn the world not to get too comfortable in the current situation, as dramatic changes can occur suddenly.
In conclusion, A Tale of Two Cities is historically important because it tells of life during the French Revolution, how people can change from a “civilized” society into a bloodthirsty army, and teaches the world not to get too comfortable in its current situation. The novel is historically significant because it tells of real conditions in the era leading up to the French Revolution and the severe crimes taking place in these two nations. This novel is historically significant because it shows how people can change from “civilized” to bloodthirsty in the blink of an eye just as with the people of Saint Antoine. Finally, the novel is historically significant as it offers the lesson to never become too comfortable with your situation, as dramatic change will soon follow just as with many characters in this book.