Tale Of Two Cities Essay

The setting of a Tale of Two Cities is during French Revolution. To better interpret this novel, we have to take a look at why Dickens was so concerned about Revolution.

Although Charles Dickens was born into a wealthy family, his parents, at last, got into prison because of debt. Since then, Dickens deeply realized the disparity that existed between the rich and the poor. He also believed that the whole society had the responsibility for poor people. At that time, his observation of social problems in England, especially those related to poor people, led to his fear concerning French Revolution.

His novel a Tale of Two Cities deeply reflects his beliefs. Even though Dickens was sympathetic towards poor people and saw the strong conflicts between the rich and the poor, thus making the Revolution inevitable, I believe there is more than that. Compared with widely accepted notion that French Revolution is positive to the development, what Dickens thought about the Revolution is different. We can see from his novel that his attitude is negative not because it does not propel social progress in France, but because the Revolution is violent and bloody. The revolutionaries are blind and ignorant; their motivation is the hatred towards oppressor instead of the desire for benefiting the society. For example, at the end of the novel Sydney Carton died. He was a person of innocence, who should not be involved in such an event. This perfectly demonstrated the ignorance. Therefore, Dickens did not stand on the perspective of the Revolution itself. On the contrary, he revealed thoroughly the blindness of revolutionaries

However, I think that her character of avenger is totally understandable: she had the rights to feel resentful towards aristocracy because her family were all directly or indirectly tortured by aristocrats. Her childhood was miserable. Perhaps this is the reason why she was so