Book Review
A Tale of Two Perspectives?
Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Name of Author: Charles Dickens
Year of Publication: 1859
Publisher: Chapman and Hall.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” That is how my great exploration into the French Revolution of Charles Dickens began. Published in 1859, almost a century after the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities stands as one of the most prominent narratives to understand the events of 1789. As the name suggests, the narrative is set in two cities: London and Paris. It is intriguing to note what exactly motivated Charles Dickens, an Englishman, to write a novel about the famous revolution in France. Dickens was seemingly in awe with historian Thomas Carlyle, whose work The French Revolution (1837), had greatly influenced the writer to compose the novel. Dickens identified certain similarities between the unrests of 1789 and those in his own nation during his time.
The story begins in England and France of 1775. The plot revolves around a young daughter of former prisoner of Bastille, Lucie Manette, a former French aristocrat, Charles Darnay, an indifferent, alcoholic lawyer, Sydney Carton, the insane father of Lucie, Doctor Manette and Madame Defarge, a powerful representative of the radical revolutionaries. While Darnay seeks to break away from his legacy, associated with cruel injustices against the French masses, Madame Defarge, though very passive and calm initially, harbours an extremist instinct to punish all of aristocracy for their heinous crimes. The novel provides us with a different take on the revolution, the many unaccounted sides of the story. The revolution was inevitable, yet, we are still not aware whether all of aristocracy deserved to be persecuted. Moreover, Darnay’s character is projected as innocent, because he is trapped for his father and uncle’s transgressions.
The narrative highlights themes like sacrifice (let’s not give away spoilers!), class conflict, possibility of resurrection and justice. The sacrifice of Sydney Carton is powerfully attached to his image as a hero of the novel, thus securing him a hypothetical possibility of being resurrected. Class conflict is very inherent in the novel as the Marquis Evrémonde runs down a plebian child with his carriage. The episode reflects and justifies the reasons of revolutionaries turning to violence for their endless sufferings. The need for “justice” is what prompts the revolutionaries to act.
The novel is of enormous value for historians and literary enthusiasts alike, for both, the lay reader and the academician can find a rich experience about the unacknowledged truths of the French Revolution.
