Tale Of Two Cities Wine Cask Analysis

In the novel A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens uses imagery to help develop themes. This is present in the image of the broken wine cask, developing the theme of desperation within the third estate. The theme of the constant threat of revolutionaries is shown in the image of Madame Defarge’s shadow cast over little Lucie Manette. Subsequently the image of the guillotine represents the theme of desensitization to violence within the progression of the revolution.
The image of the broken wine cask shows the desperation and hunger within the third estate. They are all desperate to drink the wine as a means of filling their hunger, as they have been impoverished by greed of the second estate. This hunger can be interpreted in both a literal and metaphorical sense as a parallel can be drawn between the spilling of the wine and the spilling of blood during the revolution. In reference to blood dickens writes “The time was to come when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones” (28, Dickens). The third estate is desperate for a change and that comes in the form of the revolution, in which their hunger is filled by the spilling of the blood of the second estate.

The image of Madame Defarge’s shadow helps to develop the theme of the
It was a device able make the mass killing of prisoners swift and emotionless. This can be observed as a group of women sit knitting as they watch the beheadings, counting the number of people killed “Never faltering of pausing in their work” (362, Dickens). This shows that they have become accustom to such cruel affairs. The desensitization is also shown in the normality the spaces in which death occurs hold once these things have happened within them. Before the revolution death had occurred near to a fountain and the people no longer wished to drink that water as it had been tainted by the now normal image of