*Tale of Two Cities--Week Seven.

The ending of Tale of Two Cities is somber, yet hopeful for a rejuvenation of the upcoming years post-Revolution. The character of Sydney Carton has evolved immensly throughout the course of the story that Carton is now viewed of as a Christ-like figure. The selfless act of Carton tricking Darnay into exchanging clothing so Darnay’s appearance resembles Carton so Darnay can be freed is an incredible endeavor, which honors Carton as a Christ figure. The seamstress that holds Carton’s hands and is executed right before him, claims that Carton was “sent to [her] by Heaven.” In comparison with Jesus, who died so that all of us could live, Carton conveys the same selfless act for not only Darnay, but for all the others. Carton is the true “Resurrection” and “Life” of the story, for whoever “liveth and believeth in [him] shall never die.” Before Carton’s death, he sees a “child upon [Lucie’s] bosom who bore [his] name” along with a peaceful world for his family, in remembrance of him. Carton went from “Jackal” to a well rounded and true hero of the story.

As for Madame Defarge, the reader discovers the stem of her true hatred toward the wealthy, upper-class society. Madame Defarge was the sister of the woman the Marquis raped, and the sister and daughter of the boy and the man that was killed by the Marquis. The “basin” that “fell to the ground broken” as water “flowed to the feet of Madame Defarge” symbolizes and foreshadows the fate of Madame Defarge, all due to the “staining blood” on her “feet” that had brought her there. The reader could say that karma happened to Madame Defarge, as she was shot by Miss Pross. The shooting and death of Madame Defarge along with the serene death and acceptance that Carton had towards the ending of his life symbolizes the ending of the Revolution, and a rebuilding era for the people of France.

Although the Revolution proved brutal and inhumane for the country of France, the characters symbolized rejuvenation that the Revolution provided the country. Many characters transformed throughout the novel, due to the Revolution. Jerry Cruncher realized the consequences and transgression of the job he was associated with, and discovered the art of praying and its importance. Sydney Carton flourished from a character of somnolence to a Christ like character who gave his life so the woman he loved could be with the man she loved. John Barsad, also known as Solomon Pross, realized his wrongdoings as a spy, and helped free Darnay, and also went along with Carton’s plan to help Darnay and Lucie live a happy life. Through the evolution of the characters, Dickens manifests that the wretchedness of a country’s barbaric actions can lead to an era of rebuilding to better the country as a whole.

*Tale of Two Cities--Week Six.Day3.

Previously in A Tale of Two Cities, the character of Sydney Carton was viewed as a “Jackal”—a lazy drunk. As the story progresses and Carton enters the city of Paris, the reader begins to see a metamorphosis in Sydney Carton. In Paris, Carton does whatever possible to make Lucie Manette happy, which means that Carton must help free Darnay. When comforting Darnay’s friends and families, the characters notice a “true feeling and respect” in both Carton’s “tone and in his touch” that the neither the characters nor the reader “had never seen the better side of.” The repetition of the phrase “I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die” relates back to the motif of “Recalled to Life.” The reader discovers that the true resurrection man within the story is not Jerry Cruncher, but is Sydney Carton. While walking, Carton spots an “eddy that turned purposeless, until the stream absorbed it, and carried it onto the sea” a metaphor that depicts Carton’s life thus far. Until Carton find a true purpose in his life, he was simply a “purposeless eddy”, however, Lucie gave Carton a purpose and a reason to try with life. As the phrase “echoes” in Carton’s mind, the realization appears to Carton that he is Darnay’s last hope, and also Lucie’s last hope.

The reader discovers a shocking clue within the upcoming chapter about Charles’s family. A note that Dr. Manette wrote back in the 1750’s reveals secrets about the Evremondes. Charles’s father, the Marquis at the time, wished to be with a woman that was a peasant for the Evremonde’s. The woman was already married, so the Marquis murdered her husband. The woman’s brother reported the event to the woman’s father, who died shortly after. Marquis then killed the woman’s brother, which is why the woman repeats “My husband, my father, and my brother!” The Marquis then raped the innocent woman. At the end of Dr. Manette’s letter, he wrote that all of the Evremonde’s family heritage should be executed. The Marquis then put Dr. Manette in prison for writing the letter and knowing too much about the family. That is why Dr. Manette was in prison and that is why Charles Darnay is going to be executed.

*Tale of Two Cities--Week Six.Day2.

Healthier than ever, the reader is pleased to find that Dr. Manette has strangely not relapsed back into shoe making, even though memories have reoccurred as Dr. Manette has relived experiences in the Bastille. Dr. Manette is no longer “One Hundred and Five, North Tower” anymore after the accomplishment of the “task he had set himself.” All it took to free Dr. Manette of his imprisonment was to redeem his promise of saving Charles, and prove to his family that they could “lean upon him.” Dr. Manette’s triumph freed himself of captivity, but what will happen to Dr. Manette now that Charles has been returned back into the “tribunal”? If Dr. Manette cannot prove Charles innocent, will Dr. Manette relapse again?

Just as soon as Charles was released from prison, he was charged and was forced to be put into prison again. The footsteps that Lucie had heard previously in the book, foreshadowed this very moment when she again heard “strange feet upon the stairs” and “four rough men in red caps” enter the room and take Charles. Charles has been accused by the Defarge’s and one other man, whom the men are not allowed to disclose until the next day at the tribunal. However, later on in the story, Miss Pross surprisingly stumbles upon her son, Solomon! However, Solomon Pross is not the man he claims to be.

It was not until Mr. Cruncher spoke up from remembering Solomon by the name of John that we discover that Solomon is now who he says he is. When Sydney Carton unpredictably enters the story again, Mr. Carton recognizes the man by the alias of John Barsad- a man the reader previously met in the story as the man who attempted to put Charles Darnay in jail for treason, and also who Madame Defarge knitted on her registry because John Barsad is a spy. The reader then discovers, from Jerry Cruncher, that Roger Cly, the man that Jerry Cruncher previously attempted to dig up but found only “paving stones and earth” in Cly’s coffin, faked his own death! Because of Carton’s wit, he played the “right cards” and now has John Barsad on his side to help get Charles out of prison.

The reader knows that the Defarge’s were two of the three people that accused Charles the third time, but there was one other character who aided. Was the character that helped the Defarges Barsad so that he could be redeemed and get his name off of Madame Defarge’s registry? If so, will Barsad keep his agreement with Carton and help Charles?

The reader grasps the theme of “doubles,” as thus far five different characters have pretended to be something they are not. The first encounter was Jerry Cruncher, when the reader learned the man’s true “business.” The second man is Charles Darnay, when the reader discovers the true name of Charles’s last name as Evremonde who has hid his true identity for the sake of himself and his family. The third character is Solomon, who the reader more specifically correlates as John Barsad- a spy. The fourth character is Roger Cly, who faked his own death to save himself from being murdered for being a spy. The final character(s) are Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay. Carton freed Charles once from being imprisoned because of the identical physical resemblance the two men share. Although Carton has not pretended to be anyone else thus far, the reader can predict that Carton will pose as Darnay within the upcoming chapters to save his life. After all, Carton will “sacrifice his life” for the happiness of Lucie Manette.

*Tale of Two Cities--Week Six.Day1.

Book Three is when the violence begins to strike and affect France in terms of the Revolution that has begun. The imagery used by Dickens aids in insight that the reader gains of what happened during the time period of the Revolution and the brutality that took place. Many people throughout the world can relate to the importance of the cross and the symbolism and effect that the cross instills on people. However, back in the Revolutionary time period, a new symbol began to take over. The Guillotine soon became a “sign of regeneration” for the “human race” as the Guillotine took the place of the once sacred cross. Society viewed the Guillotine as a light hearted joke, “jesting” that it was the “best cure for a headache” as it was the “National Razor which shaved close” and prevented “hair from turning grey.” Dickens personifies the guillotine, as if it has taken place of the King and overruled the country. Constantly catering to “slave her devouring thirst,” the Guillotine As the cross was refurbished into a new symbol of torture and violence, the country began in a transformation of sadism.

The once, pure white snow that softly covered the ground was soon reddened with “the prevailing Republican colour” as the revolutionaries marched the ground in their “red-caps” and brought the prisoners to the guillotine. The stain of the red clothing garments soon turned to a “deeper dye” with blood from the victims of the treacherous guillotine.

As if Madame Defarge needed any more of an eerie tone to her, Dickens uses Madame Defarge as a threat to Lucie and her child. When first meeting Lucie, Madame Defarge pointed her “knitting-needle at little lucie” as if it were the “finger of Fate.” Personifying “Fate,” Dickens conveys that Madame Defarge holds the fate of the country within herself-she controls who lives and who dies. With one stitch of a needle, Madame Defarge has the power to control the Fate of all the people around her. The “shadow” that Madame Defarge’s silhouette casts down upon Little Lucie that falls “threatening and dark” foreshadows the atrocity Madame Defarge has upon Lucie and her family. Even though Charles Evremond (Darnay) has been “acquitted,” Madame Defarge’s “shadow” proves that an event may occur later on, and that Charles and his family are not free from Madame Defarge.

*Tale of Two Cities--Week Five.

“Echoing Footsteps “is the motif in Chapter 21, in which Lucie consistently hears throughout the days. The resonance of the footsteps “upset” Lucie, as she is caught between “fluttering hopes and doubts.” Within the footsteps, Lucie hears the “sound of footsteps at her own early grave” as sadness is all the echo of the footsteps brought her. The footsteps that Lucie hears foreshadows the soon coming Revolution, footsteps that are “not easily made clean if once stained red” with blood, which the reader is introduced to in the following chapter.

The reader sees that all of the turmoil and Revolution stems from the Defarge’s wine shop. They all meet at “Defarge’s wine-shop” where Defarge was already “begrimed with gunpowder and sweat” as he “issued arms” out to people to begin war. The secret symbol for the Jacques is a “red-cap” which the reader sees in chapter 1 of book 3 when Darnay is imprisoned by the people in the red-caps and is sentenced to be kept “in secret” which means that Darnay will be isolated in a prison cell just as Dr. Manette was.

Lucie’s child, Lucie Jr., shows aspects of Lucie and her father Darnay, in that she speaks the “Two Cities of her life.” Speaking English from Lucie, and the French of Darnay—the part that Darnay’s family does not know of. Perhaps further on in the reading, Lucie Jr. will be forced to choose her father’s heritage or her mothers. Or perhaps Lucie will be a symbol that England and France can intermix and be created into one.

As the Revolution begins, the reader is introduced to a new character, “The Vengeance” who is Madame Defarge’s “lieutenant.” The Lady’s name epitomizes what the Jacques are about- “inflicting injury, harm, humiliation, and revenge.”

Chapter 22 embodies the violence during the late 1700’s. The sadistic pleasure that the Defarge’s and the others feel from the “hanging,” “beating,” and “murdering” of the wealthier population and the celebration of “dancing” that they feel portrays the unruliness of what the Jacques aim to accomplish. The irony in all of the killing is that the Jacques thought violence would better their own lives, yet they were all left with “children wailing and breadless,” empty “bakers’ shops,” and “scanty insufficient suppers.” However, the work that the Jacques accomplished made the “human fellowship” infuse some “nourishment into the flinty viands” which produced “sparks of cheerfulness” within the people. The people thrived on violence as their source of “nourishment.”

*Tale of Two Cities--Week Four.

As the reader proceeds in A Tale of Two Cities, the reader is again introduced into foreshadowing of the upcoming Revolution. In the beginning of “Knitting”, people enter the Defarge’s wine shop and view people as they perform tedious activities such as “card games”, drawing “figures on the tables with spilt drops of wine,” and “dominoes.” Dickens uses the simplicity of pastimes within the wine shop to foreshadow the upcoming Revolution. The “towers” of “dominoes” symbolizes the building up of the country, only to see a chain reaction of the country fall and crumble piece by piece. Also the “figures on the tables” drawn from “spilt drops of wine” foreshadow the blood that will soon be painted on the country.

Gaspard, brutally executed by “soldiers” and “workmen” who gladly built a “gallows forty feet high”, was hung above the fountain, “poisoning the water.” Previously in the book, the fountain symbolized purity and the fate of the people as the fountain “ran” the “day ran into evening, so much life in the city ran into death” symbolizing how the fountain was a token of fate for the people. However, after Gaspard was hung and the fountain was stained with crimson blood, the fountain now symbolizes the impureness and vindictiveness that was exhibited during the time period along with the fate that will soon become of the people- violence and war.

Previously in the book, the mention of stone faces was seen in the Marquis home. In chapter 16, the reader again sees imagery of the stone figures. This time, the people who pass by the stone figures see that the “expressions” have been “altered.” It was said that when the Marquis was struck with the knife, the faces changed from “faces of pride” to faces of “anger and pain.” Also, when the “tall man” was hauled up “forty feet above the fountain” the stone faces transformed again, and bore “a cruel look of being avenged.” The stone figure by the bedroom where the Marquis was killed, now mysteriously has “two fine dints” chiseled into the “sculptured nose.” The stone faces on the Chateau symbolize the people that have experienced death by the Jacques, and are now “stone” as they look upon the town. Although the Marquis had a “stone” personality- one lacking compassion and altruism, the people metaphorically turning into stone also symbolizes the personality of the Jacques that killed the Marquis.

“Judiciously show a cat milk, if you wish her to thirst for it. Judiciously show a dog his natural prey, if you wish him to bring it down one day” a metaphor used by Dickens to portray how the Defarge’s wish for the Mender of Roads to become a part of the Jacques. If the Defarge’s let the Mender of Roads meet the King and Queen and see what they are truly like, he will wish to “hunt” them down with the Jacques. Madame Defarge then asks the Mender of Roads questions, as to if he were “shown a great heap of dolls”, if he would “pick out the richest and gayest” and if “shown a flock of birds” the Mender of Roads admitted he would “set upon the birds of the finest feathers” conveying how the Mender of Roads will fit in perfectly with the Jacques, as he is willingly to execute the richest and finest items if he was given the choice.

Knitting has been a recurring motif throughout the story, and in chapter 15, the reader finally begins to discover the true meaning of Madame Defarge’s stealthy habit. The knitting that Madame Defarge does is a “registry” of names that is “doomed to destruction.” All of the names that Madame Defarge knits includes people from “the chateau and all the race” along with all of the “spies” that are against the Jacques. When John Barsad, a spy, enters the wine shop, Madame Defarge knits his name upon her registry, foreshadowing the killing of John Barsad, along with the others sewn upon the registry. The cruel needlework of Madame Defarge conveys the treacherous outcome of her adversaries as she knits their fate. Ironically, Madame Defarge says that she knits “shrouds” a garment that dead people are buried in.

Imagery is used in chapter 16 to equate flies to the people of the country. The “heaps of flies” that were “extending their inquisitive and adventurous perquisitions into all the glutinous little glasses near Madame, fell dead at the bottom." The “decease made no impression on the other flies” who looked at the other flies “in the coolest manner until they met the same fate” those flies being the nobility of the human race, who are “oblivious” and do not concern themselves with the pain of others, until they, too, “meet the same fate.”

Confident that the Jacques will have an impact on the country, Madame Defarge reassures Mr. Defarge by metaphorically comparing their task to that of an earthquake. Although it takes “a long time” for an earthquake to form, when an earthquake is ready, it “grinds to pieces everything before it” its strike is vengeful, and so will the Jacques when the Revolution finally breaks out.