How Does Dickens Present The Power In A Tale Of Two Cities

The historical novel, a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens takes place in England and France around the time of the French Revolution. It follows two families, the Manettes and the Defarges. Both families have a connection with Charles Darnay, a man who left his aristocratic family to live a normal life. Both families’ relationship with Darnay leads the families together in France during the revolution to cause deadly results. Dickens uses the oppression of the revolutionaries to indicate that living with darkness and suffering for so long leads people so far from the light of humanity that all they see and know is darkness and cruelty. The violence of the revolutionaries is portrayed by the changes in day and nights, the shadows of
the characters and the shadows they cast upon others, and the hope for change in golden sunlight. The day and nights represents the good and the bad in life which signifies how the revolutionaries begin to live in the darkness and embrace their suffering to fuel their anger at the aristocracy. The people of France used to live during the day, the sunlight giving them hope for changes in their lives and reflecting the good in the peasants. After the revolution begins, people are seen working and living at night in the darkness while they sleep during the day. Before the revolution begins, the narrator describes, “And now that the cloud settled on Saint Antoine, which a momentary gleam had driven from his sacred countenance, the darkness of it was heavy- cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, and want, were the lords in waiting on the saintly presence” (33). After the citizens of France have a moment of happiness when wine spills on the streets, they go back to their lives and continue suffering. After the revolution begins, the revolutionaries are seen awake at night and sleeping during the day. The narrator claims, “Shorty, this worn out murder described in the imperfect light one of the carriages of the Monseigneur, and, staggering to the gorgeous vehicle, climbed in at the door, and shut himself up to take his rest on its dainty cushions” (273). The revolutionaries slowly begin to accept the night time, ultimately accepting the bad and evil that accompanies it. This shows that the people of France, and all people in general, will embrace evil and suffering if it is thrust upon them. French citizens uses their anger at the aristocracy to fuel the revolution, but in result become the monsters their feared previously. Some of the characters had the shadow of oppression torturing them for their whole life, but some characters had the darkness suddenly encompass them. The shadows of characters and the shadows they cast represents the darkness inside everyone which shows that some people embrace their shadow to use it as power over others.
Madame Defarge, the cruel leader of the revolutionaries, is the epitome of darkness. She is ruthless and kills without thought, for the shadow of her past motivates her to create a change in the class structure of France. Later in the novel, it is revealed that Madame Defarge’s family was killed by the aristocracy, so by killing the current aristocracy, she believe she will avenge their death of her siblings. The narrator says, “The shadow of the manner of these Defarges was dark upon himself, for all that, and in his secret mind it troubled him greatly” (278). Mr. Lorry, a friend of the Manette’s, meets Madame Defarge and unconsciously sees her as dangerous, but he doesn’t know why he feels that way. Madame Defarge accepts the shadow of her past and lets herself become a shadow herself. She represents darkness and death, and perhaps she is the personification of all revolutionaries. All of the revolutionaries felt as if they had been wronged by the aristocracy, and they all want blood. Madame Defarge is a representation of all the anger the revolutionaries possess, but she just wanted to hurt the people who hurt her and ruin her life. She displays the evil inside people, but Madame Defarge has good intentions, to change and help France, but the evil and anger inside of her blind sides the
goal and results in a cruel woman. Dickens uses the the light inside Lucie Manette to represent the good inside people and to give hope to the French revolutionaries, and to people of any time period, that good can always be found in dark times.
Lucie has had a difficult life, for she grew up thinking she was an orphan. She is described as a young pretty woman with long blond hair, which represents the light and humanity inside her. Despite the shadows and darkness of her past, Lucie manages to maintain a sanguine disposition, and her optimistic attitude helps inspires and provides hope of humanity to others. When Lucie first meets her father, Dr. Manette is slightly crazy and in a dark place. Upon their first meeting, Lucie tries to help her father and give him hope for recovery. Dickens says, “Which were now extending towards him, trembling with eagerness to lay the spectral face upon her warm young breast, and love it back to life and hope—so exactly was the expression repeated (though in stronger characters) on her fair young face, that it looked as though it had passed like a moving light, from him to her” (47). Lucie immediately wants to help Dr. Manette, and she acts like a beam of light passing between them. Throughout the novel, Lucie is the “golden thread” that ties everyone together, and she frequently is used as a beacon of hope for the other characters. Her entire being embodies love and compassion, which Dickens uses to rival Madame Defarge’s shadow. Lucie Manette is meant to show the
morality in human nature, and Dickens uses her to encourage humanity and good in others

Eventually, people can’t find the good in life if they are surrounded by darkness, so they resort to what they know: cruelty and torture. Dickens supports the revolution and oppression by showing the pain of the peasants and the cruelty of the aristocracy through the revolutionaries experiences. But by fighting cruelty with cruelty, the peasants are not making the change they crave, they are perpetuating the violence they once hated. Though they once despised the violent aristocracy, now that they have the power they embrace it and become just as cruel as the aristocracy. This wickedness is shown through the acceptance of darkness and night by the revolutionaries, and the shadows inside and cast by Madame Defarge. Lucie Manette is the light of humanity that still manages to save some of the oppressed from themselves.