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Tale of Two Cities The French Revolution, in the novel A Tale of Two Cities written by Charles Dickens, is described throughout the novel as a force of nature; the revolution came progressively but indubitably sweeping over an entire region with cries of passion, as like rain, and hazardous conditions brought forth from it, as like a storm. This theme weaves itself into the novels setting and time period from the initiation of the oppression of the poor by the French aristocracy to the Reign of Terror period that killed thousands, thus creating a collectively given message to the reader that the revolution was destined to occur. Not only does the theme target the Revolution as a whole, it illustrates Madame Defarge's strong fervor for revenge against the noblemen, particularly the Evremonde family. Madame Defarge is the epitome of an ardent patriot in A Tale of Two Cities; and so, can be exemplified as a hurricane.
In the beginning, over a period of time, a hurricane gradually gets stronger out in the ocean just like her hate. Then when let go or when enough strength is gained, it spins in the ocean with intensity and force, just like the oppressed people when they over ran the noblemen. It is unstoppable as it brings along with it flooding, gusting winds, and an unsafe environment for the region. Charles Dickens, the author of A Tale of Two Cities, was born in 1812.
He was a great English novelist and one of the most popular writers of all time. Dickens was a keen observer of life, and had a great understanding of people. He died in 1870. This story takes place in France and England around the time of the French Revolution. The point of view was first person. Characters in this story are Alexander Mannette; a former prisoner, Lucy Mannette; the daughter of Alexander Mannette, Charles Darney; the nephew of the king of France and also the husband of Lucy Mannette, Sydney Carten; a lawyer who falls in love with Lucy Mannette, Mr.
La Farge; owner of a winery and long time friend of Alexander Mannette, and Mrs. La Farge; the scheming wife of Mr. La Farge. The story begins when guards from the prison find that Alexander Mannette is alive after they had thought he had died years ago so they release him. So he and his daughter Lucy Mannette, leave France for England. Meanwhile Charles Darney releases all his rights as an aristocrat and along with the rights of the kings nephew.
So he leaves France with the Mannette's. His uncle, the king of France, tries to have him jailed for being a spy but it does not work because the main witness was scared out of his testimony. He was a fake and the lawyer defending Mr. Darney, Sydney Carten, who ironically was an exact look-alike for Darney, found this out. Mr. Darney was then found not guilty and he began to court Lucy Mannette but Sydney Carten had also begun to fall in love with her.
Mr. Darney then marries her and Mr. Carten tells her that he still loves her no matter what and that he would give his life for her. Years later in France the peasants overthrow the royalty and aristocrats in jail. Mr. Darney decides to return to France to save an old friend from being killed.
When he arrives he is arrested. The Mannette's come back to France in order to get him freed. When Mr. Darney's trial comes Mr. Mannette's presence brings him respect and he is freed.
Mr. Carten comes to France in order to help him also because he did not know he had already been freed. Before Mr. Carten arrives Mr. Darney is once again arrested because he has been denounced by three people; Mr. La Farge, Mrs.
La Farge, and another that would be made known at his trial. The day of the trial comes and it is made known that Alexander Mannette is the third voice. This is explained due to something he had written while he was in prison. It said that he denounced the whole royal family. The jury then finds Mr. Darney guilty and sentences him to death within twenty-four hours.
When Mr. Carten finds this out he convinces the guard in charge of Mr. Darney, which was the same fake witness in the first trial, to let him go see Mr. Darney. When he goes to visit Mr. Darney he makes him switch his vest, overcoat, and hair ribbon.
He then tells him to write a letter to Lucy from himself, Sydney, that would explain this whole ordeal. After they have switched clothes and Mr. Darney has finished the letter he drugs him and gets the guard to take him away. The family then leaves for England. Mrs. La Farge goes to the home where they were staying looking for Lucy Mannette but the housekeeper would not let her into the bedroom.
They then get into a scuffle and Mrs. La Farge is shot in the stomach and killed. At the execution before Mr. Carten, pretending to be Mr.
Darney, is beheaded he gives the most known quote from this book, which is, It is a far, far better thing that I do that I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known. (Fass, p. 56) He is then beheaded. The theme, Forces of Nature, can be found many times in the book when describing the mob mentality of the people and their means of overpowering the corrupted aristocracy. Not only is nature spoken of as the environment of the earth but also the spirit of a being. For instance, Jean Jacques Rousseau, a French philosopher, believed that people by nature are good and are only then corrupted by society.
With that stated, the force of being good is overpowering the tyrannical and corrupted, otherwise known as the nobility. It is in the will of the common people to override the bad and bring France to Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death! (Clawson, p. 114), and so they do. The first case where the force of nature shows up is during the storming of the Bastille: suddenly the sea rose immeasurably wider and higher, and swept Defarge of the wine-shop over the lowered drawbridge, past the massive stone outer walls in among the eight great towers surrendered! So resistless was the force of the ocean bearing him on, that even to draw his breath or turn his head was impracticable as if he had been struggling in the surf at the South Sea, until he was landed in the outer courtyard of the Bastille. (Thompson, p. 37) In the quote above, Defarge is urged to go inside the Bastille by the force of the people who follow behind him. The sea symbolizes the people of the revolution being strong, merciless, and unyielding. It shows how powerful the people are when they come together to form one big mob they are as fierce as any storm, and as vast as any ocean.
The storming of the Bastille continues into the chapter, The Sea Still Rises. Biblically, the sea rising ties in with Noahs Ark and how God produced flooding to rid the world of sinners. Here, Dickens uses flooding to connect the ideas the multitude of people is washing away the sins of the abusive aristocracy by fighting back and killing the aristocrats. The sea of black and threatening waters, and of destructive up heaving of wave against wave, whose depths were yet unfathomed and whose forces were yet unknown. The remorseless sea of turbulently swaying shapes, voices of vengeance, and faces hardened in the furnaces of suffering (Thompson, p. 59) Here, the readers first get a sense of how the patriots are pushing for retribution; and like nature, this revolution will inevitably occur and will stay its course for a while. The sea rises, the wind blows, the waves crash and the forces of nature summon the patriots, once again, for a taste of fires spreading.
In the chapter, Fire Rises, the people of San Antoine come together to watch the chateau of Marquis St. Evremonde burn. In the roaring and raging of the conflagration, a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away (Begley, p. 84) The fiery passion of the patriots is displayed through the fire that obliterates the chateau and, in a sense, the cruel Marquis along with all his valuable possessions. That night many other fires were lighted throughout France signifying the hunger of the people for death and destruction.
Another force of nature that occurs is the luring of Charles Darney from the safety in England to the chaos in France in the chapter, Drawn to Loadstone Rock. The unseen force was drawing him fast to itself, now, and all the tides and winds were setting straight and strong towards it he left all that was dear on earth behind him, and floated away for the Loadstone Rock. (Begley, p. 109) In this chapter, the magnetic loadstone rock is drawing Charles to the unsafe conditions of France. The evil force of this rock that attracts Charles to France means that trouble will surely follow, whatever happens. Here, the second book of the novel ends, and the third one, entitled A Track of a Storm follows. At this point, the eye of the storm, otherwise know as the Reign of Terror, which is the period in the revolution characterized by waves of executions of presumed enemies of the state, sweeps over the nations.
Charles gets caught up in the storm, and the only person who can revive him is Dr. Mannette himself. Being respected and pitied for being a Bastille prisoner, Dr. Mannette uses his influence to save Charles from the prison and bring him back to Lucie. Thus, he considered to be the calm of the storm and a powerful force for good fighting against the evil: For the first time he (Dr. Mannette) felt that in that sharp fire he had slowly forged the iron which could break the prison door of his daughters husband and deliver him and when Jarvis Lorry saw the kindled eyes, the resolute face, the calm strong look he believed (Clawson, p. 145) As the revolution evolves, and the taste of death is all that is savored, Madame Defarge, denouncing Charles, is told by Monsieur Defarge to stop because of the pain Dr.
Mannette is going through. Madame Defarge, full of hatred dating back from the past, replies: that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was my sister, that husband was my sisters husband, that unborn child was their child, the brother was my brother, that father was my father, those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me tell wind and fire where to stop, returned madame, but dont tell me. (Fass, p. 66) The quote above shows the firm intensity of Madame Defarge wanting to kill the rest of the Evremonde family Lucie and little Lucie. Wind and fire may stop, but not her; she is destined to avenge her family, and the brutality placed upon her family some decades ago by the Evremonde brothers shall be placed on Lucie and her daughter. Throughout the novel, the patriots were thought to be virtuous by nature but are, in the end, corrupted by society just like the aristocrats.
They tortured the aristocrats just as they tortured them; and thus, the people of France descended into the lower depths of an ocean full of hatred. Instead of pursuing their mission to restore the good in France, they themselves instilled more evil. The theme, Forces of Nature, encompasses all: the French Revolution, the attitudes of the people, and the appalling results of it. Dickens explores the general concept of revolution in multiple ways: questioning mob-mentality, demonstrating the violence and brutality endured by the innocent people, and comprehending how the oppressed can quickly become the oppressors. In A Tale of Two Cities the revolution is understood as something that was inescapable; it was a storm waiting to be unleash, and as it did so, it changed the history of France. Like a hurricane, the strength and the evil of this (will) gradually make expiation for itself and wear out. (Clawson, p. 72) within the conceptual framework of French revolution, Dickens developed his bright characters, and by telling their individual stories the author was able to tell the story of revolution at large.
Bibliography Begley, J. Understanding English Literature. Render Publishers, Inc, 1997. Clawson, D. Discussing Charles Dickens and His Works. Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1998.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. New York: Random House, 1994. Fass, M. A Tale of Two Cities Paradise Lost. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1998.
Thompson, J. Life and Literary Heritage of Charles Dickens. Michigan: Zondervan Publishers, 1998.
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Research essay sample on Tale Of Two Cities Forces Of Nature
