Before one begins reading Tale of Two Cities, By Charles Dickens, one must first have an understanding of what was going on pre-French Revolution. Before the French Revolution, the country of France was in a period where monarchy had corrupted which caused social and political upheaval. At the time, Louis XVI was king, but had run into a financial crisis, which weakened much of France. France “rolled with exceeding smoothness downhill” when it came to spending money, and also practicing inhumane treatments such as “sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his body burned alive.” England, on the other hand, also could not “justify much national boasting” as “burglaries took place in the capital itself every night.”
With knowledge of the hardships of the two countries, the reader is introduced with a contradictory statement “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” the first ten lines of the story provide insight that even though there is “wisdom,” there is also “foolishness.” Although a country has “hope,” a country will also be filled with times of “despair.” Also, in times of “light”, comes times of “darkness.” Dickenson, through the technique of poetic lines and repetition, shows the dichotomy that each country, along with good times, will experience times of hardship.
To aid in the eerie tone of the novel, Dickenson creates an image with “steaming mist” that covers the air “like an evil spirit” that was “dense enough to shut out everything from the light.” The darkness that Dickenson creates adds to the tone and adds to the element of a gothic novel. In chapter three, Mr. Lorry depicts a town with “darkly clustered houses” in which each house and person encloses its own “secrets” and “mysteries.” Lorry also speaks of death and the mystery that goes along with death, again contributing to that of a gothic novel.
In chapter five, the reader is brought into a town in Paris on a “narrow street” where “red wine” had spilt and “stained the ground.” Being of a poor town, each person stopped in the midst of what he or she was doing to drink the spilt wine off of the ground. The frantic scurry for tasting a single drop of wine not only contributes to the poverty stricken tone of France, but the wine itself shows symbolism. The wine being “red” contributes to a connotation of blood, which adds effect to the turmoil that France is dealing with before the French Revolution, as the “time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones” foreshadowing the war that France is soon to encounter, in which “the stain of it would be red upon many there.”
Another clue to the foreshadowing of the war and also to add to the tone of an unprosperous community, is in the town on each shops there were merely “grim illustrations of Want.” The diction of “Want” being capitalized shows how important “wants” are to the people and how badly the people wished for more than what each obtained.
Also in chapter 5, when Mr. Lorry and Miss Monette enter the wine shop and men are speaking to the owner, Monsieur Defarge, the men refer to each other as “Jacques.” Jacques Necker was a French statesman who helped with finances while Louis XVI was king, during the time that this book took place. Jacques is known as being an affluent man during this time period, and would have became controller of finances if he was not protestant. However, because of his affluent reputation, the men referring to each other by “Jacques” shows how each of the men think they are of higher standards and more prosperous than others in the community.
In chapter 3, Mr. Lorry dreams of a “white haired man” who had died and been buried, and it was Mr. Lorry’s duty to dig the man out. The reader learns later on that Mr. Manette has white hair, and is in a condition much like the man that Mr. Lorry dreamt of, which makes the reader wonder if perhaps the man in the dream is Mr. Manette. The girl that is referred to in the dream must be Miss Manette, Mr. Manette’s daughter. The idea is confirmed more so later on when the real life meeting of Mr. Manette and Miss Manette happens much like Mr. Lorry’s dream, where Mr. Manette is confused as to who his daughter is. Lorry then feels as if he has to “dig” the man out, foreshadowing that Lorry feels as if it is his duty to help Mr. Manette “dig” him out of the emotional state he is in.
Repetition is used many times throughout the reading thus far, which aids in the ability for the reader to see the problems in both countries. The first occurrence of repetition the reader sees, is of the word “now” followed by problems in the country such as “hanging up criminals” and “burning people…by the dozen.” In Chapter three, “digging” is seen multiple times in Mr. Lorry’s dream to metaphorically show how Mr. Lorry must “dig” for the truth. The phrase “worse than useless” is used later on in the story, which again adds to the negative events taking place during this time.
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