Examples Of Cruelty In A Tale Of Two Cities

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The Abused Become Abusers: Is Mankind Stuck in This Vicious Circle?

Human beings are an impressionable race who learn from each other what they should and should not do. While this is sometimes a useful trait, in other instances it can lead to death and cruelty. This is showcased copiously in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The book starts off with the French nobility horribly mistreating the destitute peasants, beating them and starving them without feeling any guilt whatsoever. To the rebels, it does not matter whether the people they execute are innocent or guilty of crimes against them, and instead see the entire upperclass as responsible for what a portion of them actually did. In this way, the cycle comes to a complete …show more content…

Released yesterday. Reaccused and retaken yesterday. Indictment delivered to him last night, Suspected and Denounced enemy of the Republic, Aristocrat, one of a family of tyrants, one of a race proscribed, for that they had used their abolished privileges to the infamous oppression of the people. Charles Evremonde, called Darnay, in right of such proscription, absolutely Dead in Law” (245). He is not given a real chance for being given freedom whatsoever, given that he is a member of the nobility. The court pays no attention the the fact that he spurned his heritage and left the country, his sprawling estate, and his lofty title behind in favor of a simple job as a tutor in England. The rebels were taught this cruelty by the aristocrats, and in almost karmic revenge, came back to use it against the very ones who taught them. Human beings can only be oppressed and mistreated for so long before they rebel against their tormentors to show that they will not be victimized any longer. Everyone has their breaking point, that time when they are just pushed too hard, and eventually the peasants reached that point. They decide that they had been abused for long enough and that it is time to put a stop to it, so they do. This revolt had been a

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