Justice In The Tale Of Two Cities

How can one’s opinions shape their idea of justice? Is this injustice? In The Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens addresses these compelling questions by using extravagant symbolism to portray the significant theme of Justice. Throughout the book, especially within France, certain characters predominantly misinterpret justice by associating it with immorality, which results in many unfair arrests and murders. Specifically, the French Revolutionary mob visualizes justice as a concept that revolves around unethical principles, such as bloodlust. Readers are bound to understand these inequitable arrests and attacks in certain ways because Dickens illustrates these substantial situations with interesting rhetorical devices. These enhancing stylistic devices emphasize the injustice within the Revolution, and provide a meaningful insight into the true nature of justice. Thus, the artistic elements surrounding the various arrests symbolize the forms of injustice within the French Revolution. The determined tone in Charles’ decision to save Gabelle highlights his opposition to the sanguinary objective in Revolutionary justice.
Justice should revolve around the law rather than one’s own opinions. If justice were to depend upon the beliefs of people, as seen in the French mob, many innocent people, like Gabelle, would be unnecessarily tried. When Gabelle gets arrested unjustly, he sends a desperate letter to Charles. In this letter, Gabelle states, “The crime for which I am imprisoned… is…treason …The only response is, that I have acted for an emigrant, and where is that emigrant? For the love of Heaven, of justice…I supplicate you…to succor and release me” (Dickens 231-232). Gabelle recalls that he is unfairly arrested by the peasants, who accuse him of being an emigrant. Since Gabelle works for the Marquis, a class that has always threatened the lower society, the peasants naturally desire to arrest and kill him. They even burn his house although he commits no crime as an individual. He simply does his job when the peasants display their unjust passion for the blood of this innocent man. The anxious atmosphere in Gabelle’s letter serves as an indication of the swift danger arising in Paris. Furthermore, in response to Gabelle, Charles decides to go to Paris. With the use of stylistic tone, Dickens describes Charles’ desire to, “assert the claims of mercy and humanity…the appeal of an innocent prisoner, in danger of death, to his justice…He must go to Paris…The Loadstone Rock was drawing him…to guide this raging Revolution that was running so fearfully wild” (Dickens 233). After Charles reads Gabelle’s letter, he is struck with sudden guilt causing him to immediately depart form London. The repetitive tone of Charles’ determination to proceed to Paris further shows his strong desire for justice in Gabelle’s situation. Moreover, the forceful tone in which Dickens describes Charles’ eagerness for justice exhibits the atrocious aspiration of the peasants. Not only are the peasants targeting the Evermondes’, but they are also targeting individuals who are close to this family. Charles’ resolute decision displays the fact that the peasants have gone too far in fulfilling their idea of justice. They have this wild desire for blood, which causes them to completely exclude the idea of mercy. Thus, through the artistic element of tone, Charles inspires the audience to seek justice and shows the audience the true motive of Revolutionary justice. The barbaric imagery in Charles’ second trial accentuates the corruption within French Revolutionary Court. After Charles comes to Paris, he is suddenly taken prisoner by the peasants. During Charles’ trial, Dickens provides an alarming portrayal of the Revolutionary Court. The description states that, “Looking at the Jury and turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men…some wore knives, some daggers” (Dickens 271). Here, Charles is terrified by the sight of the Revolutionary Court. The judges themselves are described as criminals who are trying honest men such as Charles. In addition, the horrifying imagery of the weapons further elucidates upon the mass corruption in the French Court. Although there was a loud mob in the London court, the English mob is not as immoral as the French peasants who carry around weapons even in lawful places such as the Court. In London Court, Charles’ trial proceeds within the rules of systematic court, with actual evidence and witnesses, making a fair decision. In contrast to London, the French Revolutionary Court is filled with corrupt people who make illegitimate conclusions. Essentially, the French court excludes the law and runs by the opinions of the peasants. This fact can be shown by this description of the French Jury and the peasants, “At every vote (the Jurymen voted aloud and individually) … All the voices were in the prisoner’s favor…tears were shed as freely as blood… very same people, carried by another current, would have rushed at him with the very same intensity, to rend him to pieces and strew him over the streets” (Dickens 274). For the sole reason of Dr. Manette’s claim to free Charles, the peasants favor Charles and protest to free him. Their favoritism towards Dr. Manette influences the Jurymen’s decisions as well, who all vote for Charles in a very informal and uncourtly way. Thus, although the right decision was made to free Charles, the Jurymen were biased because of Dr. Manette’s appearance in the trial. Furthermore, the wild way in which the peasants rejoice show that they are biased as well. Right after the Jurymen declare Charles to be set free, the French mob rushes towards him with such great fervor. However, the vivid manner in which they rush towards Charles appears as if they are about to kill him rather than triumph over his release. Essentially, if Dr. Manette had not been there to defend and claim Charles free, he would be brutally murdered by the French mob. This bias towards Dr. Manette shows that the French mob and Jurymen make unjust decisions and that their idea of justice is not evoked from fair and systematic trials. Hence, the corruption within the French mob and Jury notably display the injustice surrounding the French Revolutionary trials. The metaphorical sound of wrath during Charles’ second trial exhibits the cruel desire for vengeance within the Revolutionary peasants. The Revolutionary peasants, utterly focused on destroying the upper class, equalize vengeance and justice, which are two distinct concepts. They convey their unjust hunger for vengeance, in court, when Dr. Manette’s letter reveals that an entire peasant family, later known as Madam Defarge’s bloodline, was killed by Charles’ father. In this letter, Dr. Manette recalls the words of the boy, who claims that one of the Evermonde brothers took his sister, “away-for his pleasure and diversion…our father’s heart burst” (Dickens 312). Here, the the audience in the court discovers that a man from the Evermonde family abducted and assaulted a peasant girl. Moreover, due to the shock that his daughter was kidnapped, the father of the peasant girl dies. Not only does the Evermonde brother ruin a peasant girl’s life and cause the death of her father, but he also stabs the poor brother of the girl. These sole actions of the Evermonde brother lead to the physical as well as moral destruction of her whole family. All these deaths evidently require justice for the peasant’s family, which Madam Defarge expresses subsequently. However, the immoral way in which they approach their vengeance is absolutely unjust. In order to fulfill their revenge, they want to kill every Evermonde in the world, including Charles, Lucie and little Lucie. Moreover, after Dr. Manette himself denounces all the Evermondes and their descendants, “A terrible sound arose…A sound of craving and eagerness that had nothing articulate in it but blood. The narrative called up the most revengeful passions of the time” (Dickens 318). The artistic element of sound in this Court scene further emphasizes the extreme bloodlust of the peasants. Usually, Dickens uses visual imagery, such as the grindstone, to depict significant themes but here, he uses sound. This figurative sound of desire for blood provides a meticulous glance into the vindictive minds of the peasants. The readers hear the roars of the peasants and understand all the built-up passions that they have held for so many years. However, the sound of these rancourous passions also emphasizes the injustice within their decisions. The French peasants certainly require justice for what the Marquis has done to them but they want to acquire it by killing an innocent family. At one point, Charles, Lucie, and their daughter are described as very blissful family but the happiness in this household disappears when the entire city of Paris targets to kill them. Charles has done nothing wrong as an individual, therefore, he does not deserve to be killed for a crime that his father committed. Nevertheless, the resounding of the mob’s craving for Charles’ death scrupulously blinds their views from the true nature of justice. Thus, the sound of the Revolutionary peasants’ uncontrollable uproars of revenge reveal the injustice within their vengeful decision to kill innocent Charles. Overall, Dickens accurately describes the French Revolutionary mob’s idea of justice through his use of symbolic devices.
He uses tone, imagery, and sound to convey that Revolutionary justice is merely comprised of bloodlust, corruption, and vengeance, respectively.
Moreover, when the audience first reads The Tale of Two Cities, they pity the French peasants whom the aristocracy murderously overpowers. However, after Dickens describes the peasants’ ghastly views of justice, a significant amount of pity vanishes from the readers. The rhetorical devices used to describe French mob’s immoral views of justice terrify the audience, causing them to seek justice for all the individuals having been arrested by the mob, such as Charles. Thus, through Dickens’ symbolic portrayal of injustice, the readers gain a profound understanding of true
justice.