Tale Of Two Cities Uncanny

Sigmund Freud once wrote: The uncanny is that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar (Freud). This "class of the frightening" can also be detected in A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens's novel describes the lives of various people in England and France before and during the French Revolution. The familiar and homely is often turned into the terrifying in the novel. For instance, the sight of Madam Defarge who sits in her husband's wine shop and knits all the time becomes uncanny when we find out that her knitting contains codes for the impending revolution and marks her foes for death. Something as trivial and homely as a piece of knitting has turned into an instrument of murder. Moreover, Madam Defarge's rose becomes a symbol of the revolution when she puts it on her head. Dickens describes how the entire suburb of Saint Antoine reacts to this change: "It was remarkable; but, the taste of Saint Antoine seemed to be decidedly opposed to a rose on the head-dress of Madam Defarge" (187). This
Lucie, for instance, cannot fully make use of the uncanny Paris. The city itself hinders her interaction with her incarcerated husband when she cannot even see him through the window of his prison (Dickens 286). Carton, on the other hand, seems unhindered in his pursuits. Through his cunning nature, he manages to outmanoeuvre Paris and its citizens and even trespasses into the prison to free Charles (Dickens 363). In contrast, the Defarges almost become part of Paris and its uncanny suburb Saint Antoine: "When Saint Antoine had again enfolded the Defarges in his dusky wings, and they, having finally alighted near the Saint's boundaries, were picking their way on foot through the black mud and offal of his streets, Madam Defarge spoke to her husband" (Dickens 183, emphasis added). Dickens's use of the word enfolded already suggests their homely attitude towards the