Violence In A Tale Of Two Cities

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Pages: 4

In A Tale of Two Cities, both the aristocrats and lower class struggle with severely unequal amounts of power. The powerful elite’s misuse of control mixed with the poorer people’s increasing unrest leads to the ideas of a revolution. The author, Charles Dickens, disproves of both viewpoints and seems to believe in a more just, moderate approach. In an attempt to dissuade the Englishmen from revolting despite the unfair conduct of the aristocrats, Dickens writes this novel and incorporates the theme of resurrection to show how dire the consequences of a violent revolution could be. He places beloved characters into life-threatening situations as a result of the tensions within a country and liberalism of the revolutionaries. In A Tale of Two …show more content…
The first of which is when he is on trial for treason. The fact that he can be arrested even though he is innocent shows the growing unrest and mistrust within the country. If he were found guilty, Darnay would be subject to a horrid and brutal death. The savagery, which the public anticipates and watches attentively, reflects how the commoners see violence as an acceptable solution. Dickens shows the fault in this point of view by having Darnay be innocent. Once this innocence is proven, Darnay can be resurrected by avoiding execution. This idea is returned to later in the novel during the revolution, leaving Darnay in his second near-death situation. At this point, Darnay is captured by the revolutionaries, who are arresting and murdering anyone they perceive to be a threat to the country. The revolutionaries are clearly depicted as the villains here, despite the nobility seeming to be evil through the resurrection of Dr. Manette. This is further proof to support how Dickens tried to warn against violent revolution in spite of unjust governing. After this arrest, Darnay is condemned to be executed; however, resurrection will once again save