A Tale of Two Cities, involves many complicated situations in which the characters must choose between chance or death, career or family, honor or revenge. As a result, ambiguity has evolved in multiple characters because of these difficult choices. Two prominently ambiguous characters are John Barsad and Monsieur Defarge. While Barsad recognizes the importance of career and honor, Defarge sees more prominence in family and revenge.
John Barsad’s ambiguity is demonstrated by two contrasting qualities: devotion to his job as a spy and neglect for his family. His devotion to his job as an English spy causes him to appear as a heroic figure. In order to protect his identity, for instance, he accepted Sydney Carton’s offer to help rescue Darnay. During the process of Carton’s changing into Darnay’s clothes, Barsad could have denounced Carton and Darnay for rebelling against authority, which would diminish all hope of ever returning Lucie Manette’s husband to her, but Barsad kept his word by risking his life to help Carton and Darnay. If he denounced Carton, Carton would denounce his identity as a spy, but if Barsad kept silent and helped Carton, Carton would in turn keep silent about Barsad’s identity. Although Barsad’s decision to keep silent involved the risk of being suspected as a French traitor, his decision indicates his devotion to his job; He would risk death rather than fail as a spy. Despite his inclination to his occupation, however, Barsad is portrayed as a “heartless scoundrel” (A Tale of Two Cities pg 100). He neglects his sister and “stripped her of everything she possessed” (pg 100), claiming that he is “busy” (pg 307) working as an “official” (pg 307). His devotion for his job over his family illustrates...
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... take revenge. He understands Madame’s suffering, but also saw the innocence of the Manette family and how heartless it would be to ruin an entire family simply because two brothers from the previous generation murdered Madame’s family. Defarge’s dedication to his wife and empathy for the Manette family share a focus on the importance of family, a profound theme of A Tale of Two Cities that can relate to Dickens’s own life.
Barsad and Defarge have emphasized on the big theme of devotion and sacrifice. Barsad has devoted his life to career while Defarge devoted his life to family. Both characters find themselves questioning the importance of family: is family more important than career, honor, and revenge? Is loyalty to family just as necessary as to the nation?
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale Of Two Cities. United States: Barnes and Noble Inc., 1993.
Madame Defarge was taking out her anger on the whole family, which she thought had killed her sister. So Madame Defarge was going after all of the Marquis, no matter if they had anything to do with the murder or not.
Monsieur Defarge is a revolutionary disguised as a mere bartender. He communicates secretly with his fellow revolutionaries in the bar and helps to orchestrate the plot to overthrow the French aristocracy. Despite the power he holds, he is overshadowed by his ruthless wife, Mrs. Defarge. Mrs. Defarge is a very powerful woman with a lot of influence, and she is ultimately the driving force behind the revolution’s plot. She decides who to kill and knits their name into a coded list. Monsieur Defarge is cooperative and submissive to her, as seen when he agrees with every part of the story she tells without being prompted. Monsieur Defarge is a masculine character with a lot of influence, but his relationship with his wife is not reflective of what was typical during the time period of the French revolution. This is used by Dickens to show that society’s attitudes towards masculinity and femininity are
Some men in A Tale of Two Cities contrast greatly. Sydney Carton is a drunk who works for an unappreciative lawyer. He has no family; he is "a disappointed drudge who cares for no man on earth, and no man cares for him" (75). He is referred to as "the Jackal" who is necessary in society, but not welcomed or wanted (77). Sydney loves Lucie Manette, but he is not ...
The opposition would state that Madame Defarge was just a basic evil figure because she always was thinking of getting revenge. However, they failed to recognise that not only did Madame Defarge constantly knit, a key trait of the Fates, but she also handed out justice to those who deserved it. Although Madame Defarge is a scary old woman, pointing her knitting needles at little Lucie, she is not just evil. Dickens words about the “finger of Fate” clearly illustrate that there is more to many people than meets the eye (still not little Lucie’s). In this case, it was to understand clearly that even though Madame Defarge seemed evil, she was meant to represent the Fates, and to hand out justice to a world that needed it so
Often in life, influences by people’s social and cultural environments reveals many characteristics of their personalities. Similar to life, authors will write novels based on their surroundings. Author Charles Dickens wrote many novels and stories that relate to his life during the Victorian Era. One of Dickens works that can reflect his life and true historical events of this era is the novel, A Tale of Two Cities. The novel sets in the two cities, England and France, and follows the issues of characters that lead up to the French Revolution. Influences from Charles Dickens childhood and life allow him to write the novel A Tale of Two Cities and make it relate to his own experiences creating a deeper understanding to readers of how people
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The French Revolution was a period of time when the entirety of France went against the monarchy. King Louis XVI was taken down by the people at this time. The change brought along a replacement for the monarchial society (French Revolution 2). The now formed republic run by the people is now forever an example of what can happen to those whom live in places run by kings and queens, and that those who wish to escape tyranny can always make a change. The tyranny that was present brought along the eventual execution of the two royalties (2). This is evident in Dickens’s novel, in which the story centers around the revolution. Madame Defarge exists as on...
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, is a story set in the year 1775 and through the turbulent time of the French Revolution. It is of people living in love and betrayal, murder and joy, peril and safety, hate and fondness, misery and happiness, gentle actions and ferocious crowds. The novel surrounds a drunken man, Sydney Carton, who performs a heroic deed for his beloved, Lucie Manette, while Monsieur and Madame Defarge, ruthless revolutionaries, seek revenge against the nobles of France. Research suggests that through Dickens’ portrayal of the revolutionaries and nobles of the war, he gives accurate insight to the era of the Revolution.