Tale Of Two Cities Context Essay

Knowing the context is vital to understanding a novel. It is important to understand the historical and cultural context of A Tale of Two Cities to understand the complexity that has been woven through it by Charles Dickens. Understanding the cultural context is extremely essential to understanding the ideas of enlightenment that are shown throughout the novel, ideas of enlightenment are held in tension by Dickens when he creates a paradox and help the readers to understand the action and conviction of his characters. The Historical context is perhaps the most important as Dickens makes many references the French Revolution and events that occurred in that time period.

The historical context is crucial to understanding the complexity and
set up of the book A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens’ uses many allusions, their ideas to which are parallel to the events of the French Revolution. The author obviously expects the reader to have some knowledge of the date and events of the French Revolution as Dickens uses mainly symbolism to depict the events and class system in his writing. An example of this would be the caricature Monseigneur is about to partake in his chocolate. “It took all four men…to conduct the happy chocolate to Monseigneur’s lips”, this is used to symbolise immense grandeur, wealth and how the nobility in the French Revolution were drunk on power “deep would be the blot on his escutcheon if his chocolate had been ignobly waited on by only three men; he might have died with two”. Monseigneur is clearly a symbol representing all nobility and anyone with some knowledge of the classes of the French Revolution would see the relation between the text and the historical context. It is important to know the context to understand the novel, without knowing the historical context a person could not understand A Tale of Two Cities properly as Dickens makes numerous references and creates allusions that represent the events and types of class in the French Revolution.

To perceive the events that take place in A Tale of Two Cities one must know the historical context. Dickens creates allusions and metaphors to represent and foreshadow events like The Terror and the famine that take place in the French Revolution, and to comprehend what Dickens is conveying a person would need an understanding of the events of the French Revolution. An illustration of this would be at the end of Paragraph 8 in Book 2, there is clear example of Dickens foreshadowing and creating metaphors “Monseigneur, hear my petition! My husband died of want; so many die of want; so many more will die of want”. This ‘want’ is the need for food and equality amongst the poor people of France and a foreshadowing of what will come, more death because people don’t have enough food or rights which is another direct reference to the French Revolution. “In the haunted air of the people there was yet some wild-beast thought of the possibility of turning at bay”. Dickens is conveying to the reader and making a foreshadowing to the uprising and the anger the poor turned onto the nobility in French Revolution “when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there” which refers to The Terror when the poor rebelled and there was massacre. Without knowing the events of the French Revolution like The Terror a reader would not be able to make that connection. Knowing the historical context also adds realism to the novel and one would know it was real and not completely fiction. It is imperative to know about the historical context in which the novel is set in to fully understand the hints and foreshadowing that Dickens uses to directly point to the events of the French Revolution.

The importance of understanding the cultural context of the novel A Tale of Two Cities is vital to understanding the enlightenment ideas that Dickens has woven through his story.
Dickens shows many ‘enlightenment’ ideas and that the characters in his book were living in an age on tension by contradicting himself and creating paradoxes. He starts of the book with several paradoxes, an example “it was the epoch of belief, and it was the epoch of incredulity”. Dickens obviously expects the reader to know that in the time of enlightenment and the French Revolution that there were many new ideas about how to live life “Liberty, equality, fraternity or death”. This shows the ideas that the poor in the book were starting to believe in, and also what the poor in the French Revolution thought. Dickens creates parallels “Depressed and slinking though they were, eyes of fire were not wanting among them…The trade signs were, all, grim signs of want” and through illustrations such as these show that the poor people wanted equality and rights which are the main ideas of the ‘enlightenment’. Dickens creates these allusions and parallels to help the reader to better understand the characters and by also comprehending the cultural context behind all the actions it influences the understanding of the text to become more realistic and more
confronting.

Contexts influence the understanding of A Tale of Two Cities. As shown in this novel historical context and cultural context are both crucial to fully understanding it. Knowing both the contexts adds realism and helps readers better understand the events that take place in the book because of their parallel to the events in the French Revolution. Historical context and cultural context have a lot of influence over A Tale of Two Cities and to really appreciate the novel, one should first know the context to better understand it.

Bibliography:

1. Charles Dickens (2008) A Tale of Two Cities, London: Vintage 2. French Revolution (Part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDWqwcTtZa0
Date accessed: (18/3/2013)

3. The French Revolution: Crash Course World History #29, 10th August 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTTvKwCylFY
Date accessed: (18/3/2013)