Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Good job!

Good Essays
367 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Good job!
kmmkkjnhdkfhewkfnejwncrnng,ngr
Defarge's wine shop lies at the center of revolutionary Paris, and throughout the novel wine symbolizes the Revolution's intoxicating power. Drunk on power, the revolutionaries change from freedom fighters into wild savages dancing in the streets and murdering at will. The deep red color of wine suggests that wine also symbolizes blood. When the Revolution gets out of control, blood is everywhere; everyone seems soaked in its color. This symbolizes the moral stains on the hands of revolutionaries. The transformation of wine to blood traditionally alludes to the Christian Eucharist (in which wine symbolizes the blood of Christ), but Dickens twists this symbolism: he uses wine-to-blood to symbolize brutality rather than purification, implying that the French Revolution has become unholy.

Knitting and the Golden Thread
In classical mythology, three sister gods called the Fates controlled the threads of human lives. A Tale of Two Cities adapts the classical Fates in two ways. As she knits the names of her enemies, Madame Defarge is effectively condemning people to a deadly fate. On the other hand, as Lucie weaves her "golden thread" through people's lives, she binds them into a better destiny: a tightly-knit community of family and close friends. In each case, Dickens suggests that human destinies are either predetermined by the force of history or they are tied into a larger pattern than we as individuals realize.

Guillotine
The guillotine, a machine designed to behead its victims, is one of the enduring symbols of the French Revolution. In Tale of Two Cities, the guillotine symbolizes how revolutionary chaos gets institutionalized. With the guillotine, killing becomes emotionless and automatic, and human life becomes cheap. The guillotine as a symbol expresses exactly what Dickens meant by adding the two final words ("or Death") to the end of the French national motto: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death."

Shoes and Footsteps
At her London home, Lucie hears the echoes of all the footsteps coming into their lives. These footsteps symbolize fate. Dr. Manette makes shoes in his madness. Notably, he always makes shoes in response to traumatic memories of tyranny, as when he learns Charles's real name is Evrémonde. For this reason, shoes come to symbolize the inescapable past.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    “ I wear the chain I forged in life…I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on my own free will and of my own free will I wore it” (Dickens 10). This statement made by Marley from “A Christmas Carol” not only embodies that of the story it hails from, but also another prominent Christmas classic titled “It’s A Wonderful Life”. Additionally both stories share similarities that only a senseless man could miss. But behind the mutual correlation between theses two literary plots, the storylines of the pre mentioned scripts do go in two diverse directions. Given these points, the characters and themes of these anecdotes are very comparable in more than one way while being very divergent…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since what seems like the beginning of human civilization, the role of the female has varied from society to society. This role is symbolically represented in The Odyssey by Homer and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, two of the most famous works of literature, and yet two of the most different. In each book, the author uses a rich variety of symbolism to express themes he finds necessary to enrich the story. In both books, feminine figures are used as symbolism to represent the role of the female in the society of the author.…

    • 930 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities Dickens believes that all sacrifices comes with motifs; in other words, love. Without the three characters action and words the sacrifices made would have not been as impactful. Even though some of the sacrifices were predictable each and every one of them are heroic for it holds purpose, theme, and…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the book, Dickens portrays the people as having the hatred necessary for mob violence. Immediately, the book shows us an example how such hatred was created. When a youth’s hands were chopped off, “tongue torn out with pincers” and “his body burned alive” it shows the violence and torture that led to the French revolution. The youth represents the weak in French society just like the child who was run over by the noble Evremonde’s cart. In both instances, youths are killed by the nobles with little thought or concern. At the same time when these youths are killed the people cannot do anything to prevent the deaths. Therefore, the people do not have any justice and they are powerless. This feeling of helplessness created mobs and these mobs eventually caused the French revolution and used the “movable framework with a sack and a knife in it” called the guillotine.…

    • 1478 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate plays a crucial role on the choices characters make and can be defined as “a prophetic declaration of what must be”. The Greeks believed that three women or ‘Moirai’ were in charge of everyones fate and each woman had a specific job. Klotho, whose name meant “spinner”, spun the thread of life. Lakhesis, whose name meant “Apportion of Lots”, measured the thread of life. Atropos (or Aisa), whose name meant “She who cannot be turned”, cut the thread of life. Sophocles once proposed the theory that “Fate determines the character”.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “‘Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop,’ returned Madame; ‘but don't tell me’” (Dickens 606). In A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, the French Revolution is in full effect. Madame Defarge is a wine shop keeper by day and a murderer by night, and Sydney Carton is a pessimistic lawyer with a massive heart. Obsession consumes both Madame Defarge’s and Sydney Carton’s lives. Although they are both obsessive, Madame Defarge is more consumed with an obsession than Sydney Carton is.…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The name Lucie means light, shine, and spirituality. Colloquially, Lucie’s character conveys each of these characteristics. She is the heavenly light that recalls Dr. Manette to life. Lucie Manette is even called the golden thread – speaking of her hair, and the way in which she pulls all of the characters together. Parallel to the goddess Athena (goddess of wisdom and inspiration), Lucie weaves. You notice when analyzing Lucie, she is sensitive and headless. Her vanities are evident. It seems that Lucie…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Every novel has a theme hidden within the story's lines. A theme is the main topic or subject that is shown repetitively throughout the story through the story's line of events. A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, has many themes that are shown throughout the story. The most prominent theme that is shown through out A Tale of Two Cities is the idea, "rebirth or resurrection is possibly through sacrifice". There are many events that occur which support this idea of resurrection through sacrifice. The "rebirth and resurrection is possible through sacrifice" theme is shown when Carton saves Darnay for Lucie, Lorry resurrects Dr. Manette, and the Defarges sacrifice their entire lives for the French Revolution get started.…

    • 776 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people believe our fate is set in stone from the moment we take our first breath. That we walk a path chosen for us, a path that very few events can alter. This is the case in James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis”. In this piece, a young child named Doodle is born into a world where the odds are stacked against him. He is at first helpless, but with the assistance of his brother, eventually learns to cope with his disabilities, and live his life to the fullest. However, in a breaking autumn storm, his seemingly inevitable fate catches up with him, and he dies in his brother’s arms. Hurst uses symbolism, imagery, and foreshadowing to prove that Doodle’s death is unavoidable.…

    • 998 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Atropos Three Fates

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages

    While the particular description of Fates differs in certain eras or cultures, the three Fates embodied the inevitable fate for every human being because Atropos cut the thread of someone’s life, ending it, Lachesis measured the thread of someone’s life, and Clotho spun life’s thread.…

    • 844 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Titled "golden thread" in A Tale of Two Cities, Lucie Manette symbolized loyalty, compassion, and resurrection. She was portrayed by Charles Dickens as the epitomic, perfect woman, "a pretty figure, a quantity of golden hair," with "a pair of blue eyes." In addition, Lucie was delineated as polite, loyal, timid, and loving. For example, Lucie's love was the only thing that kept Dr. Manette from reverting back to his former miserable self and was described as "the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond misery." The golden thread represented Lucie's behavior and sinewy support for others.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Their methods of restoring order and peace are exactly the same as those they opposed: send anyone to the guillotine who disagrees with them. "They are murdering the prisoners," says Mr. Lorry to Darnay after arriving in France (260). Again Dickens uses capitol punishment as a way to show the reader the atrocities that humanity can create when consumed with hatred and evil. Dickens can be seen approaching the subject of the guillotine with cynical sarcasm when he writes, "it was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning gray…who kissed La Guillotine looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack" (271). Just as with the Aristocrats, Dickens does not condone the Jacques use of capital punishment. His disdain is apparent in his tone; which gnaws away at any inkling the reader may have that the treatment of the prisoners is…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses weather to describe the mood of the scene and the emotion in the characters thus reinforcing the motif of darkness and the light by using the golden thread to bring Mr. Manette out of darkness or lighting up a dark and gloomy room. Ms. Lucie Manette is the "eternal light" (Dickens 47) towards all darkness in the many lives she has walked into with "her golden hair" (Dickens 42). When Lucie was first introduced to her long lost father, One Hundred and Five North Tower was sitting in a “dim and dark” (Dickens 37) depository but when Lucie emerged from the doorway “a broad ray of light fell into the garret”(Dickens 38). Lucie "was the golden thread that united [Dr. Manette] to…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    From the beginning to the end of of our lives we constantly think was this what we were meant to be or was this what we were meant to do in our life. Unfortunately life just comes and goes as it pleases not really asking whether or not we want it to or not. The Fates were three sisters whose sole purpose was to create man. By examining the fates background, relationships to other gods, and influence on man we see how they started life, assigned destiny,and cut the thread of life and thus how he/she helped the ancient Greeks understand how they became who they are and were meant to be.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout life, one experiences many trials and tribulations. Although times are tough perseverance is key to living a meaningful life. Accepting achievements and moving forward from losses shows perseverance. Dr. Manette exemplifies the ideal hero as he preserves through the curve balls life throws at him. A change in attitude and new outlook on life inspires Dr. Manette to transform into a new man and reach his full potential. In Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities, direct and indirect characterization portray Dr. Manette as a dynamic character who transforms from a delusional shoemaker, to a humble doctor, and eventually into a passionate father…

    • 910 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays