A Tale Of Two Cities: Plot Analysis, Themes, Symbols

Charles Dickens in the 1850 wrote a classic novel known as the tale of two cites. It is about the French revolution portrayed in the city of London and France. The novel shows a sensational use of characters and themes throughout the whole story. Charles Dickens features a poor character in the novel who does something very heroic I shown in character Sydney carton, a drunk lawyer which becomes the hero in the novel. Dickens has written a phenomenal piece of literature which depicts the struggle of a man to keep his promise to the woman he loves, even if that sacrifice is his life.

In 1812 England Charles was born in the city of Portsmouth. He had8 siblings and was born in a poor family. He led a childhood filled with oppression. He had to work had at age of 12 to pay off his family debt. The same difficult childhood that sent Dickens to work at a young age inspired Dickens greatest works like Oliver Twist and David Copperfield. Dickens signature style focused on the extreme plight of the poor in nineteenth-century Britain. Dickens serialized A Tale of Two Cities from April through November of 1859 in a magazine titled The Year Round. At the same time, Dickens was starring in a play by Wilkie Collins entitled The Frozen Deep. This play gave Dickens the first spark in writing A Tale of Two Cities. In the play, Dickens’ character sacrifices himself so his rival may have the woman whom they both adore. This plot becomes the basis of A Tale of Two Cities. This novel contains several themes the reader can decipher, the main of which is the theme of Resurrection. Can a ‘dead’ character come back to life? The character who contains this theme is very obviously Sydney Carton.

Sydney Carton’s transformation throughout the novel is an especially poignant one. From his introduction, Carton is presented as an alcoholic and a tortured soul: in a conversation with Stryver, he dejectedly admits that he “had no chance for [his] life but in rust and repose” Days before, inebriated and bitter, he claims to Charles Darnay that he “cared for no man on earth” and feels that “no man on earth cares for him” His sour perspective on life begins to sweeten, however, as he is introduced to the kind and beautiful Lucie. His quickly-growing love for and devotion towards her, although unrequited, gives Carton an entirely new purpose in life. Readers of the novel begin to see Carton’s innermost transformation shortly after the marriage between Lucie and Darnay transpires; as the couple returns home from their wedding, Carton is the first to appear at their home to congratulate them. Darnay notices a new “rugged air of fidelity about him,” even though Carton’s looks and habits appear to be the same as they have always been.

His love for Lucie and respect for her happiness and well-being instills a sense of passion within Carton that he had never experienced prior. Before Lucie marries, Carton professes his affection for her and declares that he will “embrace any sacrifice for [her] and for those dear to [her]” (Dickens, p 161). This declaration proves to be prophetic: after Darnay is imprisoned by the revolutionaries and is sentenced to death, Carton devises and executes a plan in which the two switch identities from within the jail.

In the novel, Sydney Carton’s death makes a new and peaceful life for Lucy Manette, Charles Darnay, Little Lucy, and even Carton himself. When Carton goes to the guillotine, he becomes the hero of the story. Carton becomes a Christ-like figure in the fact that his death saved the lives of the other major story characters. Sydney, in the beginning, was dead. The Carton name was torn and tattered, muddled by his alcoholism; however, Carton comes back to life and Sydney Carton’s tattered image is wiped clean. After his death, the novel even implies that Sydney has, in fact, been resurrected. The novel states, “I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in Me, though he be dead, yet shall he live: and in Me shall never die.” This quote exemplifies the theme of resurrection also giving the reader insight on what happens to Sydney after his death. The metaphors (symbols) are another critical piece in the analysis of A Tale of Two Cities. The book has four metaphors, all of which have a significant part in the understanding of the novel. The first metaphor the readers encounter is the broken wine cask. The wine cask represents the plight of the poor and the blood of the revolution. The scene explicitly describes the people literally licking the streets and dripping the wine into the mouths of their children. The novel states, “Some men kneeled down, made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped, or tried to help women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine had all run out between their fingers. Others, men and women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated earthenware, or even with handkerchiefs from women’s heads, which were squeezed dry into infants’ mouths; others made small mud-embankments, to stem the wine as it ran; others, directed by lookers-on up at high windows, darted here and there, to cut off little streams of wine that started away in new directions; others devoted themselves to the sodden and lee-dyed pieces of the cask, licking, and even champing the moister wine-rotted fragments with eager relish.” The novel also shows the wine cask as a metaphor for the blood of the revolution. The red color of the wine is similar to that of rich, red blood, shed by many because of the plight of the poor experienced in France. The second metaphor would be revealed as the grind stone. The grind stone, which was used to grind the food the poor needed so badly, later became used to sharpen the tools the poor would use to overthrow the government. The grindstone became a metaphor of killing and empowered poor throughout the novel. The third metaphor is the shadow. A shadow represents the great unknown, the great unexpected. Not a single person may prepare for the unknown. None of the characters could prepare for the events that came about in the plot, such as the denouncement of Evermond by Doctor Manette or Sydney Carton becoming the hero of the novel by his death. The fourth, and last metaphor in the novel is the guillotine. The guillotine is a symbol of hope then despair, as the guillotine was made to be a mercy killing but became a method of torture. The simple explanation of the torture that came with the guillotine was the dullness of the blade. Since guillotine executions were usually mass, the blade only stayed sharp for the first two to three people. After the first two or three executions, the blade would become dull therefore the ‘mercy killing’ was more a form of torture.

A Tale of Two Cities is a novel with great theme and symbolism. Dickens masterful use of his well-known plot of the tattered character becomes the hero. The themes and symbols exemplify the disparity and unrest experienced by the French during this time. Dickens has written a phenomenal piece of literature which depicts the struggle of a man to keep his promise to the woman he loves, even if that sacrifice is his life.