Tale Of Two Cities Rhetorical Analysis

In his novel A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens has a contemptuous tone towards the mob. The French peasants and their actions are described critically by Dickens throughout the novel. While Dickens clearly supports the peasants’ fight against oppression, his tone suggests that he is opposed to the methods that they use to achieve their goals. As the mob storms the Bastille prison, Dickens writes that “every living creature there held life as of no account, and was demented with a passionate readiness to sacrifice it” (217). By using the word “demented” to describe the bloodthirsty attitude of the mob, Dickens shows that he feels as though the mob behaves irrationally in their scramble for revenge. He also describes their lack of concern