Preview

Analysis of Charles Dickens' Writing Style in the Tale of Two Cities

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1393 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of Charles Dickens' Writing Style in the Tale of Two Cities
In the historical novel Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens displays a masterful ability to write and grasp various writing techniques. Dickens' style can be accurately described as descriptively symbolic with a flair for carrying themes throughout his novel. His style can be divided into the various techniques that he used. The predominant techniques were symbolism, multiple perspective, and a strong character contrast.

Dickens had a major emphasis on certain themes and carried them throughout the book. The themes dominated most of the underlying causes of character's actions and events that happened. The most predominant theme in the entire book is justice. Doctor Manette received justice by being freed from the Bastille. The Marquis received justice from Gaspard for killing Gaspard's child. The nobility in general received justice from the populace during the revolution. Darnay received justice by being vindicated in the first trial and being rescued in the second. But most importantly, Madáme Defarge received justice from Miss Pross by being shot.

Another major theme in the book was redemption. The book begins with an initial redemption story. When Doctor Manette was set free from the Bastille, he was completely lost to the world around him. He was consumed in his prison world that his mind had created for him over eighteen years. However his daughter, Lucie, was able to redeem him from this and restore him to his former self after the doctor was "recalled to life." Doctor Manette's relapses back into his old state of mind are symbolic of a Christian's struggle with sin nature even after they have been redeemed by Christ. Charles Darnay was redeemed from the name Evrémonde, a name that had been associated with tyranny. By the end of the book, readers began to associate Evrémonde with Charles Darnay and his legacy of integrity instead of the legacy of the late Marquis. Of all the redemption stories, the one that was most romantically and dramatically

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Double Language Analysis

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Recent shark attacks in Western Australia has raised controversy about how to solve the issue. “Stem the carnage” is a letter to the editor written by Sam Forsythe appeared on the 18th April 2007, Forsythe argues that the only solution is to kill the man-eating monsters with a genuinely concerned tone. In response to “stem the carnage”, James Whitt wrote a letter, in a somewhat condescending tone, contending that killing the sharks is a ridiculous suggestion to the issue.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sydney is deeply hurt when Lucie marries Darnay, but he remains devoted to her as well as her daughter Lucie who is born a few years later. The Reign of Terror has now begun in Paris, and Darnay is tricked into returning to France for trial as an enemy of the Revolution when his old tutor Gabelle innocently writes to him asking for help. Although the marquis has already been murdered for his crimes, the citizen's committee seeks revenge. Despite his emotional pleas, Dr. Manette cannot persuade the citizens to find Darnay not guilty after an impassioned speech by Madame De Farge, whose brother and sister were victim's of the marquis' cruelty. Darnay is then sentenced to death on the guillotine for his only crime, that of being the last surviving Evremonde. As Lucie despondently awaits her husband's death, Sydney realizes that the child Lucie's relationship to the Evremondes endangers even her, so he arranges for them to leave Paris. He also realizes that he can save Darnay by going to the Bastille and switching places with him. Because Darnay and Sydney physically resemble each other, the trick is successful, and Darnay is able to escape with his family to England. As Sydney faces his execution, he befriends a frightened seemstress who…

    • 412 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities, showing the French Revolution and everyone’s reactions towards it. He showed the controversy between the French Peasantry and the French aristocracy. He…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Madame Defarge Quotes

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Instead of being satisfied with what she had already achieved, she drove it further, and by going after Darnay's family she dug her own grave. The conflict between the two women is ended with one shooting the other, but we are unsure of who has been shot. All throughout the brawl, there is anticipation created, leaving the reader unsure of how the scene would pan out. As it is revealed by Miss Pross that “[a gun] is under [her] arm,” Dickens foreshadows the death of one of the two women. Miss Pross herself even says it declaring “one or the other of us,”(382) will be killed by the other. Madame Defarge reaches for the pistol located at Miss Pross’s side and the gun is shot. Instead of just naming the woman who'd been killed by the other, he describes the smoke from the gun clearing, “leaving an awful stillness, it passed the air like the soul of the furious woman whose body lay on the ground”(383). Any person who had read the book up until that point understood who was dead. Madame Defarge's bitterness had been incorporated into her character and had caught up to…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Charles Darnay confessed his love for Lucie to Doctor Manette, he made a promise to tell Doctor Manette his family name on the day of Lucie and Darnay’s wedding day. While talking to Darnay, Doctor Manette states, “- any fancies, any reasons, any apprehensions, anything whatsoever, new or old, against the man she really loved – the direct responsibility thereof not lying on his head – they shall all be obliterated for her sake. She is everything to me; more to me than suffering, more to me than wrong, more to me” (104). In other words, Doctor Manette’s feelings towards anything said against him would not change his view on allowing Lucie to marry him. In addition, although he had years of anger and revenge built up in him from being imprisoned, he forgot about it all for Lucie to make up for the years that he had not been a part of her life. She is of his upmost importance and he doesn’t want anything to compromise their relationship. The morning before Lucie’s wedding, Charles Darnay, her soon-to-be husband told Doctor Manette, Lucie’s father, some interesting news. While describing the scene, Dickens says, “The door of the Doctor’s room opened, and he came out with Charles Darnay. He was so deadly pale – which had not been the case when they went in together – that no vestige of colour was to be seen in his face” (149). As promised, Darnay told Doctor Manette his family name, which was Evrémonde, the same name of the man who had imprisoned him for years. Even though he still allows Darnay to marry Lucie, Doctor Manette often reverts to the insanity caused from his imprisonment and terrible…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The tense times of the revolution are shown through the author's use of diction. As we quickly learn that "it was the best of times, it was the worst of time" it is shown how the people live in time of "despair." The times of love, hate, and oppression display how people that lived during the revolution were forced to live. People were unhappy with the aristocracy, and they were blood thirsty to get rid of them. Dickens' portrays the difference in social classes when he states that the "mankind of the blood of monseigneur" is "superior" to those of lower class. The main purpose of the Revolution is to get…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1859, Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities. The novel took place during the revolution era of France and England. Dickens uses a variety of literary devices to convey his message to the reader. Literary devices that are continuously used throughout the novel are the double motifs, light and dark. Dickens uses the doubles light and dark, through the two female characters Lucie and Madame Defarge. In A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses the motif of light versus dark, to characterize Lucie Manette by creating her pure nature in contrast of Madame Defarge’s dark nature.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dickens' places a heavy load on opposite forces in A Tale of Two Cities. Such antitheses occur between polar characters and contrary settings, and they enhance the meaning of certain aspects of the novel to a great extent.…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens compares the two countries of England and France. In the novel, you see Dickens using multiple figurative language devices to show how England is superior to France. In chapter 21, Echoing Footsteps, Dickens uses Imagery and Personification to contrast the calm life Soho prior to the revolution with the turbulent life of Saint Antoine during the Storming of the Bastille, in order to indicate the difference in the two cities.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The French Revolution was a time period of rebellion in the late 1700s throughout France. Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities roughly sixty years after the French Revolution, starting as installments in a magazine then publishing his works in a book. The French Revolution was a time when man was extremely inhumane to his fellow man. This inhumanity is seen throughout Dickens’ novel in many ways. He proves that the cycle of man’s inhumanity to man is never ending when people come to watch Darnay’s trial for entertainment, the Marquis kills Gaspard’s child, and the Evermonde brothers kill Madame Defarge’s family.…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Charles Dickens', "A Tale of Two Cities", the author continually foreshadows the future revolution. Dickens depicts a Paris crowd, united by their poverty, in a frenzy to gather wine from a wine cask that was shattered. Also, we find a macabre scene in which Madame Defarge sits quietly knitting but we later discover she is knitting a list of victims slated die. Later, the theme of revenge against the nobility becomes apparent after Marquis is murdered for killing a small child with his horses. Dickens' deftly uses foreshadowing to illustrate how conflict and turmoil among the impoverished common people eventually leads to the terrible French Revolution.…

    • 718 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens vividly portrays both the coalition of good and evil, and the choices people make despite their circumstances. Thus, the theme of freewill is prominent throughout the novel. Lucie Manette’s and Madame Defarge’s characters represent such a theme. Though they both suffer hardship during their childhood years, the choices they make will determine their purpose in life and the end result.…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel “A Tale of Two Cities” The author Charles Dickens uses various themes such as death and resurrection, social conflicts and sacrifice. To convey different ideas to the reader. Dickens also uses many forms of figurative language to help convey the many themes. Foreshadowing, allusion and motifs is some of the many figurative languages that is used. The story takes place during the french revolution. The novel starts off with a popular quote “ It was the best of times, It was the worst of times” This quote shows that the novel is can be interpreted differently to everyone. The themes that is discussed in the novel may not even be relevant to the novel because of his big use of…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812. Dickens was born at the height of the Industrial Revolution, a time which brought great change to Victorian society. Population in urban areas (London's, in particular) soared. The overpopulation led to a lack of employment; soon poverty and crime increased. In response, the Poor Laws were put into effect. The Poor Laws established baby farms and workhouses to provide aid for those in poverty, and those who could not find work. Rather than provide money or pay in a form of welfare, they provided food and housing. As a child, Dickens experienced the hardships of poverty and neglect of aid that he would write about in his works later in his life. Charles Dickens strongly disagreed with the…

    • 3678 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Often times in literature the comparison between light and darkness is made. In Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, the author contrasts the two elements throughout the novel. Light and darkness are in constant battle with each other, they also dominate the setting and tone of the story.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics