What Does The Wine Symbolize In A Tale Of Two Cities

This was a time of vast darkness that affected the French and the modern world profoundly. It was a time where monarchs fell apart, whereas nationalism and democracy arose upon the hands of the civilians. A Tale of Two Cities, a novel written by Charles Dickens, takes place in France. Prior to Dickens writing his highly acclaimed novel, he compared his time era to France because the French authorities abused their privileges and struck poverty, violence, and injustice. Madame Defarge, who is the antagonist, represents evil and hatred during the French Revolution. The protagonist, who can be identified as Sydney Carton or Dr. Mannette‘s family, exemplify justice and freedom of all the citizens. To fully understand Charles Dickens’s novel A
Tale of Two Cities, readers must consider the historical background of the story, the characters’ motive and the author’s perspective. In this novel, the characters are symbolized as a variety of notions, but objects are represented as many things in this story.
For example, the guillotine symbolizes fear when chaos erupts in France. Slowly, their fear takes them over and “beheads” them which results in death. Another symbolic item is the wine—it is significant because the Defarges ran a wine shop rather than another type of shop. The wine symbolizes intoxication; the Revolutionaries are “drunk” on their power which results in their unfounded behavior. Also, red wine in this novel can be symbolized as the blood of the citizens. When red wine was spilled due to an accident, it foreshadows that there would be blood and vengeance. Ironically, the red wine was spilled next to the Defarges’ wine shop. Lastly, knitting plays a huge role in the deaths of many people. When Madame Defarge is knitting, she is condemning people to death—whereas to Lucie, she is considered to be the “golden thread” that grasps the family in
place. Charles Darnay, who embodies wisdom and perseverance, is a man filled with heroic qualities. Since the dawn of age, he was brought upon a wealthy French family. Due to the family’s infamous past, he abandons his inheritance and becomes a regular citizen in London. Later on, he meets Dr. Mannette and Lucie and accompanies them by filling out various tasks. Despite being the lover of Lucie Mannette, there are other men who fancy her. Sydney Carton, whose appearance is similar to Darnay, is the complete opposite of him. Carton is described as a lazy man who is alcoholic most of the time. He ponders on his love life and lacks pride in himself. Carton believed that his existence was useless, but when he thinks about Lucie, he is brought to life by his affection towards her. Lucie’s father, who is Doctor Mannette, is a gifted physician who spent 18 years in prison making shoes; he muses about his life and how his imprisonment was unfair. Eventually, Dr. Mannette becomes a lifeless human being that is locked in his “mind cell”. Lucie Mannette, who is the “key” of her father’s heart, unlocks his mental illness and rejoices together. Described as having blonde hair, she is known to be caring and passionate towards her actions. An example would be her affection towards her dad; she devoted her life for caring her dad. A savior to her dad’s life, she is described as golden thread that kept Dr. Mannette from going insane. Quoted from the story, “Lucie was the golden thread that united him to a past beyond his misery, and to a present beyond his misery: and the sound of her voice, the light of her face, the touch of her hand, had a strong influence with him.” Despite the joyful effect towards the Mannette’s family, there are vile beings seeking revenge. The officials, who are intoxicated with their power, are the Defarges. Madame Defarge seeks revenge by knitting—not by regular knitting, but by knitting down people’s names for execution. Throughout the story, Madame Defarge suffered a series of unfortunate events; her older sister was raped by Marques St. Evremonde, and her brother died by avenging her sister’s death. As you can tell, Madame Defarge planned for revenge and played a huge role in the revolutionary. Apart from all of this, she is an intelligent woman but a cold, ruthless person that seeks domination. A quote once read, “Fiction gives us the second chances that life denies us.” To explain this, fiction is filled with your imaginations waiting to be discovered.
But, what is the difference between historical fiction and history? History is just facts that you need to memorize; historical fiction is something more than that—it gives the readers insight of the character’s mind. For example, in A Tale of Two Cities, we learned the true reasoning on why Madame Defarge wanted to seek revenge against the Marques. Rather than absorbing facts, readers can feel like they are characters in this story. Nevertheless, this novel contains an enormous amount of historical information that took place in the French Revolution. It was a time where violence, political scandal, and misusage of power
occurred. To sum this up, A Tale of Two Cites offers historical contexts that affected lives during the revolution. It was a period where political disorder attacked the France and sent destruction to many lives, including the rulers. The characters in this novel represented the lives of the people during the revolution. There were malevolent individuals that would do whatsoever for a higher rank in society. Despite the fact that many people were executed, readers learned that there was a virtuous side to this story—it was Sydney Carton. He is the savior of this story that symbolizes happiness, benevolent, and valiant deeds that the citizens have done in fictional life. Without people like him, it would have been a dark place steered by the Defarges.