The Symbolism Of Monseigneur In A Tale Of Two Cities

In Book the Second, I read through chapters 4-12 of A Tale of two Cities to figure out connections that compare the characters and concepts of this section to the real world. Furthermore, I decided that the character, Monseigneur had many factors that contribute to a text-to-world connection. Monseigneur, a man of many fortunes and great wealth, is portrayed as selfish and heartless in this passage. I believe that due to the outrageous descriptions of Monseigneur and the way he is portrayed as such a high noble, Monseigneur is really a symbol for the hierarchy of France in a real world sense. A quotation to describe the outrageous portrayal of Monseigneur-or- the hierarchy is written on page 79, “Yes it took four men, all four a-blaze with gorgeous decoration, and the Chief of them unable to exist with fewer than

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