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

Does Charles Dickens have sympathy towards the revolutionaries or not throughout his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. This novel took place around the same time as the French Revolution. The novel is spaced out during an 18 year period. It started in 1775 and the novel ended in 1793. In the novel, Jarvis Lorry a banker at Tellson’s Bank in Paris, is traveling to Paris to reunite Dr. Manette, who was imprisoned in the prison of Bastille for an unknown reason, with his long-lost daughter Lucie Manette. Lucie is an orphan whose mother died when she was little and whose father was sent to prison, The Marquis Evremonde feared that Manette would reveal one of the Marquis' dark secrets. Dickens opens the novel by saying “It was the best of times, it
was the worst of times” (Dickens 5). Dickens establishes the idea of doubles in his novel. The story's action divides itself between two locales, the two cities of the title. Dickens positions various characters as doubles as well, thus heightening the various themes within the novel. The two most important females in the text are opposed doubles: Lucie is as loving and nurturing as Madame Defarge is hateful and bloodthirsty. In the novel, the nobility is cruel and evil towards the third estate (Kubal). Dickens viewed the Revolution as a symbol of resurrection and renewal. This is shown throughout the whole novel and is expressed through many characters. Dickens focuses on the constant emphasis of violence that was associated with the Revolution in France. To Charles the Bastille prison had a deeper meaning than just any prison. Dickens’s father was put in prison for debt when Dickens was younger. Dickens might have got his idea for the character Dr. Manette because Dickens had to find work at the age of 12 and the only job available for him was shoemaking (May). This had a powerful influence on Dickens life and could have been expressed in his writing. In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens he is sympathetic towards the French Revolution. Throughout this novel Dickens shows how the nobility thinks that the third estate is underneath the nobility.
The nobility are super uptight and unfair towards the lower estates. The nobility were only doing what they were taught to do and did not care for the people beneath them. Monsieur the Marquis says “Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child?” (Dickens 114) when a child gets in the way of his carriage and ends up killing him . The nobility thinks that they can buy their way out of everything. Monsieur the Marquis, Charles Darnay's uncle who lives in England, says to the civilians “that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in the way. How do I know what injury you have done my horses. See! Give him that” (Dickens 115). This example shows how selfish the nobility is and how now must not get in their
way. In the novel, Dickens displayed the nobility as monsters that deserved a revolution.
the nobility were to blame for the mob of peasants that stormed the Bastille. The storming of the Bastille would not have happened if the nobility had treated the third estate with more respect and lowered prices to make their lives easier. In the novel Dickens shows his feelings about the human race, which leads his thoughts on the topic of the revolution in general. The storming of the Bastille in 1789 could have been prevented if the third estate had gotten the same treatment as the three percent, which consisted of the first and second estate. The third estate made up 97% of the population, which were made up of peasants and bourgeoisie. The second estate were made up of nobles and were two percent of the population. The first estate which was the clergy only make up one percent. This proves that the third estate could had a big effect on the first and second estate due to the large amount of the people that made up its population. One main reason that caused the revolution was the fact that one could not move up in estate and class was based upon status and privilege and not wealth (Shah). The third estate wanted the gunpowder and weapons that were inside the Bastille. The first shot was fired by the people defending the Bastille and after all of the fighting seven prisoners escaped (Issitt). These ideas in the novel show how Dickens was supporting the idea of the invasion of the
Bastille. Dickens described how an innocent man, Charles Darnay, was almost put to death. This is a very important part in the novel if the reader is agreeing that Dickens was not sympathetic towards the revolutionaries. This proves that the revolutionary government was corrupt. The Revolutionaries were also cruel during and after the Revolution. There were mass hangings and the use of, “the figure of the sharp female called La Guillotine” (Dickens 283). These were common practices at the time. The Revolutionaries were murdering innocent people by the day without any thought. This proves that Dickens was not sympathetic towards the Revolutionaries because of how cruel they were. Nobility is self centered and deserved the revolution as a wake up call. There are many examples in the novel that prove Dickens is sympathetic towards the French revolution. The reader may believe that nobility was portrayed correctly in this novel as more of the inequality in France and how the third estate was not okay with it, so in return the started a revolution.