reading notes
A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most important masterpieces of Charles Dickens, the famous British 19th-century critical realist novelist. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, the novel takes two cities, Paris and London, as the setting for its story, and insinuates the social reality of 19th century England - the sharp contradictions and the disparity between the rich and the poor within English society - as a way to call for social improvement and alleviate social conflicts. By analyzing the encounters of various characters and their human nature, Dickens demonstrates the rationality of revolution and the madness of revenge from a humanitarian perspective and advocates the spirit of forgiveness to resolve hatred and save those distorted souls.
A Tale of Two Cities differs from ordinary historical novels in that its characters and main plot are fictional. Against the real background of the French Revolution, the author uses the experience of the fictional character Dr. Manette The novel's structure is complete and rigorous, demonstrating Dickens' excellent writing art and skill.
Characterization and plots are both central to narrative literature. The characters, especially the ideal ones, often carry the author's spiritual trust and ideal pursuit of the meaning of life. Under the guidance of humanitarian thought, Dickens created a series of characters in A Tale of Two Cities with a clear distinction between good and evil. This series of characters can be roughly divided into three categories.
One category is the feudal aristocracy represented by the Marquis St.Evremonde and his brothers, whose "only immovable philosophy is to oppress people", which is the object of the author's denunciation. The Marquis St.Evremonde is a typical example of a reactionary aristocrat. He was a man of great evil and carelessness. He stubbornly insisted on the privileges of the nobility and was finally assassinated by the revolutionaries. The image of the Marquis as a decadent, cruel, domineering, and murderous aristocrat is extremely contrary to the humanistic concern and the idea of tolerance and benevolence promoted by Dickens.
The other category is the revolutionary masses such as the Defarge. In the work, their images are distorted. For example, Madame Defarge, the sister of the peasant woman who was abused and killed by the Marquis brothers, has a deep hatred for the feudal aristocracy because she was born in a humiliated and persecuted peasant family. Dickens' emotions toward her in A Tale of Two Cities are the most ambivalent. The author deeply sympathizes with her tragic situation, but also admires her resilience, outstanding talent, and extraordinary organizational leadership; she actively participates in revolutionary activities while running a small liquor store with her husband. But as the revolution progressed further, she turned into a cold, vicious, and narrow-minded avenger. Especially when she goes to the doctor's residence to search for Lucy, she is shown as a bloodthirsty maniac. In the end, the author lets her die at the point of her own gun, indicating a negative attitude toward her.
The third category is the idealized characters who solve social conflicts with humanitarianism and overcome hatred with fraternity and are role models in the author's mind, including Dr. Manette and Lucy, Charles Darnay, Lorry, and Carton.
Dr. Manette is the main character of the novel. As a young man, Dr. Manette is a noble and upright man who, in order to do justice, writes to the court to denounce the Marquis St.Evremonde, but is imprisoned by the Marquis brothers. Dr. Manette is the embodiment of love and forgiveness, he treats all the people in the prison equally and treats the prisoners and the guards ↓ The period of imprisonment makes him insane. Finally, under the care of his daughter regained consciousness and spiritual uplift. Dr. Manette's noble quality of love and forgiveness is also reflected in his daughter Lucy, who worked tirelessly to free her father Manette, who had been imprisoned for more than ten years, she moved between England and France and finally succeeded with the help of good people. Inspired by the tremendous power of kinship, she takes good care of her old father, who is close to a mental breakdown and brings him back to his senses. At the same time, her father, touched by the warmth and selfless love of his relatives, makes his daughter's union with Charles Darnay possible for her happiness. The qualities of tenderness, love, and simplicity are fully reflected in Lucy's figure.
Sydney Carton is the novel's roundest character. He has a contradictory character: talented but not good at business, with beautiful and innocent feelings, but society focuses on money and success; he is not bad in nature, but debauchery, and cynicism; understand their own shortcomings, but is powerless to change. Because of the pain and disappointment, he borrows alcohol to kill his sorrow. He fell in love with Lucy, but after understanding that he could not bring her happiness, he voluntarily withdrew from the love contest. Dickens carefully designed the dialogue between the two with vivid strokes, vividly outlining the inner world of a weak-willed and self-destructive soul. Carton finally tops the guillotine for the sake of Lucy's family's happiness, replacing Darnay, and he pushes this great spirit of altruism that exists within him to its peak.
Dickens's attitude toward the living conditions of the underclass is full of contradictions: in his works, we can see that he expresses deep sympathy for the oppressed people out of his human instincts, and fiercely criticizes social injustice. But in fact, he was not in the underclass himself, and even kept a certain distance from it, and did not form a correct understanding of the underclass and its people. The fairy tale nature of many episodes of A Tale of Two Cities reflects Dickens' expectations of social reality. The contrast with the actual darkness of reality is enormous, reflecting his strong desire for a better life. In the novel, the dark side of "reality" is presented to the reader only after incorporating the author's good intentions, an "ideal reality".
Dickens spends a lot of time portraying the darkness and brutality of society, but he does not support all violence. He was critical of the brutal rule of the ruling class, but he did not support the use of violence by the poor against the ruling class. In A Tale of Two Cities, he recognized that the French Revolution was inevitable "because his basic view was that the old French system itself created the conditions for provoking a revolution."
He praised the French people for taking over the Bastille and breaking the feudal system. However, as the French revolution progressed, his attitude toward it changed, especially when the masses demanded that the feudal ruling class pay its blood money. More typically, Dickens writes about Mrs. Defarge. Before the revolution, he portrays her as intelligent, talented, and daring; after the revolution, he admires her strength of character and her extraordinary organizational and commanding abilities; but in the course of his in-depth description of the revolution, he clearly shows fear and disgust for it, describing it as a bloody, indiscriminate "rage. Dr. Manette's happiness is destroyed by her, Lucy's beautiful family is cut short by her, and finally, Lucy's family is not spared by her, and the family dies at her hands. Mrs. Defarge, a woman who longs for revolution, is depicted more than once in the novel as a "terrible, aggressive shadow falling on mother and daughter," a shadow designed by Dickens to evoke popular disgust and fear of violence. Dickens advocates the means of class reconciliation. Dickens' ideal of social evolution through the reconciliation of social classes is fully reflected in A Tale of Two Cities. Darnay is the author's ideal figure, and he powerfully celebrates the beauty of Darnay's appearance, heart, and behavior. Darnay was born into a noble family, but he hated the decadent life of the aristocracy and the brutality and extravagance of the noble class. He gives up his noble and privileged life and aspires to become a commoner. As a commoner, he and Lucy fall in love and go through an important stage of their lives together, seemingly fully integrated into the life of a commoner. Dickens praises Darnay morally and celebrates his actions. The figure of Darnay reflects the author's humanist ideology, which advocates class reconciliation. In the author's view, the perfect love and marriage of Darnay and Lucy symbolize class reconciliation.
Dickens is a writer who is very good at using the material to create patterns. Such a model better reflects the dramatic character of the novel, using the characters' dialogue, actions, and scenes to set the mood and highlight the theme, thus revealing the hidden conflicts of society and the conflicting relationships between characters. The novel's plot is often dramatized, and the plot contains both drama and the influence of providence and predestination.
The novel's plot design is full of coincidences, drama, and similar destinies among people, adding to the twists and turns of the novel's story and giving the reader a sense of "light at the end of the tunnel". The novel's plots revolve around a few main characters, with secondary characters added, when necessary, which is a dramatic depiction technique that shows a strong dramatic effect.
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