Themes of a Tale of Two Cities

Themes of Novel A Tale of Two Cities are described here very well.

1. Themes of Novel " a tale of two cities " .

2. 1- Resurrection Resurrection is the overriding theme of this novel. Book 1 named “Recalled to life” concerns the rediscovery of Doctor Manette, who has been jailed in the bastille for eighteen years. This theme is treated humorously through JERRY CRUNCHER’s trade of digging up dead bodies and selling their parts seems gruesome. This provides him with a knowledge that a spy named ROGER CLY has been literally resurrected that he was never burried at all. [email protected] 2

3. The most important resurrection is of CHARLES DARNAY. S ydney C arton’s resemblance with him saves him from being convicted and executed in England. These resurrections are surrounded with heavily religious language that compare carton’s sacrifice of his own life for other’s sins to christ’s like sacrifice on the cross. [email protected] 3

4. 2- Class struggle This theme is inevitable in the novel concerning the french revolution. Dicken s shows opposition of the revolution due to the uncontrolled force of its aroused mobs. The story of MARQUI’S rape of peasent is shown as a aristocratic mistreatment of the lower class. The french mobs acts with such a force that it resembles a natural element like fire or water. [email protected] 4

5. 3- Fate This novel carefully marks the passage of time.Track of time is important because time carries out fate. Individual characters also feel the pull of fate. Darnay feels himself drawn back as if under the influence of a magnet. Lucie’s feeling of noise of feet in her home describes about some future intrusions that are going to happen. Fate operates omniously rather than optimistically among the characters in the novel. Darnay also pays for the wrong of his ancestors. [email protected] 5

6. 4- Doubles Dickens signal that this novel is about Duality. Everything from the setting ( London, Paris ) to the people come in pairs. The pairs often are related together. A crucial incidence of doubling involves the resemblance of CHARLES DARNAY and SYDNEY CARTON. The pairs are more often oppositional.For example, LUCIE’s physical and moral brightness is played off against the dark MADAME DEFARGE. [email protected] 6

7. 5- Reversals and inversions One of the major effect caused by the French revolution was that it turned the society upside down. When Darnay returns to France, he observes that the noblem e n are in prison, while criminals are their jailors. The replacement of Darnay with Carton at the end of the novel is another reversal showing that a bad man can replace a good man in such a revolutinary society. [email protected] 7

8. 6- Family The novel focus 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 thought that he will seem like a ghost. The possibility of reunion is enough to make her undertake a long trip. After LUCIE married CHARLES DARNAY,the novel is concerned with their struggle to keep their family together. [email protected] 8

9. 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 i s unattached to any sort of family, who thus preserves the group consisting of the Doctor, her husband and her children. [email protected] 9

10. 7- Social injustice This theme is related to the theme of class struggle. Because those who feel the negative effects of injustice begin to struggle against it. Dicken s sympathized with the unrest of the lower orders of society. Dicken s vividly paints the aristocratic maltreatment of the lower classes. [email protected] 10

11. Such as when MONSEIGNEUR only briefly stops to toss a coin towards the father of a child whom he has just run over. Dicken s portrays the plight of the working class in E ngland as rather difficult, which also emphasize social injustice. [email protected] 11

12. 8- Love and Hate This novel also presents the theme of love and hate and their inteaction . MADAM DEFARGE represents hatred on account of her past sufferings. Carton and Darnay, on the other hand, exhibit love which they shower on LUCIE while CARTON sacrifices his life for love. Lucie’s love for her father brings him back to life from his prolonged incarceration. So, love and hatred go hand in hand in this novel. [email protected] 12