The Glory of Human
The word: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” is known as the classical phrase. But what about the background of this phrase and what happened in this era? The book A Tale of Two Cities tell us all about this.
In 1775, Mr. Jarvis Lorry, an official of Tellson's Bank in London, accompanies Lucie Manette to Paris. He has information that her father, Dr. Alexandre Manette, who had disappeared eighteen years ago, is alive. He had been wrongfully imprisoned in the Bastille and left there to die. Lucie is shaken when she learns that her father is still living. On reaching Paris, they go to the house of Monsieur Defarge, a wine-seller. He had been Dr. Manette's servant and has taken care of him after his release from prison. Both Mr. Lorry and Lucie are shocked to see the terrible state Doctor Manette is in. He has aged prematurely, having lost both his memory and his sense. He spends his time cobbling shoes. The revolutionary ardor and hatred against oppression are fanned every time Defarge and his associates look at this wreck of a man, who has been a victim of the aristocracy. Mr. Lorry and Lucie take her father back to London. With love and compassion, Lucie plans to nurse her father back to health and sanity.
Five years later, in 1780, a young Frenchman, named Charles Darnay, is accused of being a traitor and a spy. Lucie and her father are reluctant witnesses for the prosecution, as they had met him while travelling from Calais to Dover. Lucie stresses the good qualities of the accused while imparting her testimony. The evidence against him is overwhelming as the prosecution produces a number of witnesses who swear that he is a spy. The onlookers, too, mentally condemn him and are waiting for the death sentence to be pronounced. However, it is Sydney Carton, an advocate present in the courtroom, who points out the resemblance between the prisoner and himself to the defense lawyer Mr. Stryver. The jury thus realizes that it could be a case of mistaken identity, and Darnay is acquitted.
Years pass, and both Darnay and Carton fall in love with Lucie Manette. Carton is a lawyer who wastes his life in drinking and idling. Lucie has no interest in him; instead, she marries Darnay. He is a French aristocrat who has renounced his inheritance and now lives in London under an assumed name and works as a tutor. His uncle, the Marquis St. Evremonde, is a notorious man renowned for his cruelty and callousness; he has lived the life of a profligate and has no respect for human life. This is emphasized in two incidents that take place while he drives home from a royal reception. He kills a child on the streets and refuses to help a poor widow in need of a tombstone to mark her husband's grave. That very night he is murdered in bed.
The French Revolution breaks out in all its fury with the storming of the Bastille. In London, Darnay has been happily married to Lucie for eleven years, and they have a beautiful daughter. On hearing that Gabelle, his steward in France, has been erroneously arrested, Darnay secretly returns to Paris to save his faithful servant. He is caught and imprisoned. On hearing of her husband's capture, Lucie, her daughter, Dr. Manette, and Mr. Lorry rush to Paris to save him. Dr. Manette, himself a victim of oppression, convinces the people of his son-in-law's innocence, and Darnay is discharged. Madame Defarge, however, seeks personal revenge against the Evremonde family, for the cruel Marquis had molested her sister and killed her brother. Largely because of her, Darnay is re-arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. There is no hope of saving him. Even the lives of Lucie and her daughter are in danger as the hard-core revolutionaries, like the Defarges, would like to eliminate anyone who has a connection with aristocracy.
The story ends dramatically when Sydney Carton decides to save Darnay's life by taking his place. He gains entry into the prison, drugs Darnay, and with the help of Mr. Lorry gets him out of danger. The Darnay family flees back to England while Carton sacrifices his life for Darnay, his look-alike. The sacrifice is made to fulfill a promise to Lucie whom he loves. Carton feels noble about his action and knows that he will live in the hearts of the Darnays forever.
Every characters in this book is special, we can find their shinning points and the shortcomings. In this book, Dickens declares some themes. And these characters are the symbol of that era. Everyone has their own fate. Keeping track of time is important because time carries out fate, which is an extremely important presence. From the first chapter, which describes trees waiting to be formed into guillotines in France, Dickens describes the revolution as something inevitable. Individual characters also feel the pull of fate. For example, Darnay feels himself drawn back to France as if under the influence of a magnet. Lucie's presentiment that the noise of feet echoing in her home portends some future intrusion correctly predicts what is bound to happen--Darnay's past does catch up with him, and he must pay for the wrongs of his ancestors. Fate operates ominously rather than optimistically among the characters in the novel, especially given Madame Defarge's representation as one of the mythical Fates connecting the future to darkness.
Sacrifice shows up in the book many times. Sacrifice is giving up something that is a part of your life that you do not really want to give up. The greatest sacrifice in the book is Carton’s death. He sacrifices his life for his love for Lucie Manette. Sydney Carton met his death with great dignity. In fulfilling his old promise to Lucie, Carton attains peace. Charles Darnay gives up his estate in France, for the idea of working in England. His decision to become a teacher put him in a conflict with his uncle, the Marquis St. Evremonde. Miss Pross lost her hearing when she tried to stop Madame Defarge from killing Lucie and her family. Miss Pross was the loyal servant for Lucie. She showed her loving devotion to Lucie by fighting off Madame Defarge.
Many characters are skilled with the force of love in this book. Miss Pross, fought off Madame Defarge for the reason that she loved Lucie, and did not want anything to happen to her. The true love was the feelings of Sydney for Lucie. This love was so great he sacrificed his own life for her. He showed more love for her than for himself. Hate is also plays a big part in the book. Madame Defarge had so much hate she went to the extent of trying to kill Lucie. This backfired and instead of Lucie dying, she is shot by her own gun in a struggle versus Miss Pross. Even Monsigneur the Marquis shows hate when he accidentally runs over a peasant’s son and kill him. Monsigneur the Marquis showed no remorse for what he had done, and instead was very hateful toward the father of the child. The boy’s father shows his hate toward Monsigneur the Marquis by getting revenge for his son’s death. The boy’s father was powered by hate when he took Monsigneur the Marquis’ life into his own hands and killed Monsigneur the Marquis.
Death plays a tremendous part of this book. Death in this book shows up in many different ways by accidents, murders, and even the death penalty. The death of the peasant boy was a total accident. The boy was hit by Monsigneur the Marquis’ horse carriage when the boy was trying to cross the road. This incident caused the murder of Monsigneur the Marquis. Monsigneur the Marquis was killed by the peasant boy’s father later on. The boy’s father killed Monsigneur the Marquis because he did not try to help the boy out at all. He just went on as nothing had happened. The death of Madame Defarge was an accident for the reason she was shot by her own gun in a struggle with Miss Pross. Madame Defarge was trying to kill Lucie and her family when she was found out, and then she shot herself by accident. The death of Sydney Carton was caused by his love for Lucie. Charles Darnay was tried for treason and was sentenced to die by the guillotine. Charles was married to Lucie. Sydney pronouncing his love for Lucie died in the place of Charles.
Sydney did this so Lucie would be happy with Charles for the rest of her life. All these themes are interconnected in one way or another. They all end up to be talking about the same people and the actions they took to make something happen the way they want it too. The themes above are a couple of the major themes in this book by Charles Dickens. The theme of sacrifice in this book shows the audience it is sometimes all right to give up something means something to them. The theme of love and hate gives the audience a real look at life and how love and hate effects the life of a person. The theme of death is a theme of many books, because it happens to everybody no matter how hard they try to stop it from happening.
There are also some class struggles in this book. This theme is inevitable in a novel concerning the French Revolution. Dickens chooses a side, ultimately showing opposition to the Revolution due to the ruthless and uncontrolled force of its aroused mobs. Even so, the story of the Marquis's rape of the peasant along with other details of aristocratic mistreatment of the lower classes provide some justification for the goals of the French mob. In the end, he portrays the mob as having moved beyond the pale to a degree beyond what happened in England; the French mob acts with such force that it resembles a natural element like fire or water. Further, because those who feel the negative effects of injustice begin to struggle against it. Dickens maintains a complex perspective on the French Revolution because although he did not particularly sympathize with the gruesome and often irrational results, he certainly sympathized with the unrest of the lower orders of society. Dickens vividly paints the aristocratic maltreatment of the lower classes, such as when Monseigneur only briefly stops to toss a coin toward the father of a child whom he has just run over. Because the situation in France was so dire, Dickens portrays the plight of the working class in England as rather difficult, though slightly less difficult than in other works such as Hard Times or Oliver Twist, which also emphasize social injustice.
The novel focuses attention on the preservation of family groups. The first manifestation of this theme occurs in Lucie's trip to meet her father in Paris. Although she worries that he will seem like a ghost rather than her father, the possibility of a reunion is enough to make her undertake the long trip. After Lucie marries Charles Darnay, the novel tends to be concerned with their struggle to keep their family together. When Darnay laments his own death sentence, it is for the sake of his family, not for his own sake. The final triumph is the sacrifice of Carton, a man who is unattached to any sort of family, who thus preserves the group consisting of the Doctor, Lucie, her husband, and her children.
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