Only Death

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“The Republic One and Indivisible of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death!” This is the motto of the French revolutionists of the eighteenth century. Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens describes the beginnings of the French Revolution, mixing it with the story of Doctor Manette, his daughter Lucie, and her husband Charles Darnay. In the city of Paris lived the wine-shop keeper Monsieur Defarge, who with his wife was secretly waiting for the right time to begin a revolution and overthrow the aristocrats. In 1792, the fighting began, when Defarge and the people killed the governor and set up the guillotine. The bloodbath continued for many years. All the while the revolutionists cried that is was for “The Republic One and Indivisible of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death!” Nevertheless, this refrain was not carried out.
The French Revolutionists believed in a republic consisting of liberty, equality, and fraternity. According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a republic is “a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.” Nevertheless, during the revolution, the people did not put a republic in place. The guillotine became the supreme power of France’s so-called republic. The citizens recognized this. Sydney Carton asked a wood-sawyer, who was involved with the Defarges, “How goes the Republic?” The man responded, “Oh, you mean the guillotine. Not ill. Sixty-three today” (pg. 242). The guillotine dominated the French revolution, and took the place of the republic that the revolutionists stated they fought for.
Liberty, defined as “the quality or state of being free, such as ...

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... a rallying point. But it proved to be a rallying point for only death and destruction. None of the three requirements for the republic were held up. The people did not have liberty. Hundreds were imprisoned, many were kept inside of the city because of examinations, and all were held captive by hatred and passion. Equality did not exist. Although the revolutionists “wanted” to bring freedom and equality to the poor, they actually massacred many poor, innocent people whom they should have been aiding. Because of the nature of the revolution, there could be no fraternity. There were groups, such as the Defarges, “The Vengeance,” and the wood-sawyer, but there was no great uniting of the people. Anyone could be easily turned upon by one of their fellow men. Finally, the revolution resulted in a bloodbath. It did not bring liberty, equality, or fraternity, only death.

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