Sympathy In Charles Dickens A Tale Of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is a classic novel loved by many about the beginning of the French Revolution, and how it affected a certain group of French and English people. Charles Dickens was originally known for his light-hearted novels, but later on he emerged into a vein of darker themes, questioning the roles of power and whether or not the world was the way it ought to be. His constant questioning came from a life where the people in power were cruel and made the poor pay even if they could not. His life began as one of poverty, and he hated those in power. As he became a more well-known author, he became wealthier, and it caused his life to crumble in ways that he could not have anticipated. Perhaps this is why, in A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens

Dickens really expresses the struggles the French peasants had been having and paints a picture of a pompous, arrogant aristocracy through Monsieur Evremonde. The scene where Monseigneur is drinking his chocolate introduces us to the aristocrat, and shows us a wealth beyond imagining. “It took four men, all four ablaze with gorgeous decoration, and the Chief of them unable to exist with fewer than two gold watches in his pocket, emulative of the noble and chaste fashion set by Monseigneur, to conduct the happy chocolate to Monseigneur’s lips.” (Dickens) The Marquis did not really need four people to help him drink the ‘happy chocolate’, but he was so rich that it came as a second nature to him. In contrast, the peasants of the streets were scrambling on the streets to get a drink of wine from a wine cask that had fallen and broken in the middle of the dirty, cobbled street. Through this, Dickens shows his distaste for the people in power and for oppression. He makes it clear that a rebellion is about to happen and that he believes it is the best option; everyone sympathizes for Dr. Manette and his daughter, Lucie, and they play a big role in how the revolution began for every

The once easily understood peasants storm the Bastille, successfully beginning the French Revolution and causing a dramatic shift in how Dickens portrays them. The moment they take power and the aristocrats are held captive and helpless, they turn vicious and vile creatures, out to harm anyone who defies them or disagrees with them. One character that is introduced during this time in the book is The Vengeance. She is, like her name says, a bloodthirsty woman and does not have much to her character other than praising Madame Defarge and scheming against the Evremondes. She represents this side of the peasants; she is the personification of the anger and pain the rebels have felt under the aristocrats, and she is the embodiment of everything they stand for as a whole. Her character shows that the people look to the Defarges for guidance and foreshadows that, despite the love the mistreated French had for Dr. Manette, his words would not be able to sway them for the Evremondes or against the Defarges. While he did have some power, it was not enough for him to sway an entire nation against something they had believed in their entire life. Charles Darnay is an example of this; despite all he had done to help those who needed it and to get rid of his title as an Evremonde, they still despised him and wished him dead, simply because he had once been a part of the aristocrat family that was despised