Historical Context of A Tale of Two Cities

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Introductory

A Tale of Two Cities is the second attempt of Charles Dickens in writing a historical fiction right after Barnaby Rudge. The plightful tale was told in 1858 when the Industrial Revolution was sweeping away the cottage industry in England. A Tale of Two Cities is, basically a story of two cities with a difference of authority with a strong historical context. Paris is the centre of the French Revolution while London is the centre of Industrial Evolution.

 

French Revolution

The bloody French Revolution took place in the late eighteenth century in France and the result of the revolution appeared as the elimination of the Ancient Régime. It was the French monarchy which divided the French people as thus (just as we see in the Great Chain of Being):

1. The Nobility
2. The Clergy
3. The Commoners

Nobility was comprised of the king and his attenders. The clergy was mainly composed of religious personnel 'devoted' to religious activities. The twos were respected and adored by a large number of common persons although they were small in numbers. It was the nobility's first pursuit to crush the commoners and to suppress the masses under their thumb. They had been achieving their goals through their tyrannical behaviour towards the French public.

 

In the hunted air of the people there was yet some wild-beast thought of the possibility of turning at bay.

 

The lava kept burning and flaming inside the hearts of the people in the shape of hunger and rage but they were waiting for a suitable moment to show "vengeance". The time arrived, people gathered against the aristocracy and beheaded the stouter foundation. It was the boastfulness of the aristocracy which gave fire to the beastfulness of the general public. They were wild, dancing and celebrating the La Guillotine. Blood seemed to quench their thrust and hunger. It was obviously "the worst of time". It was the French Revolution.

 

Traces of French Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities is filled up with the French Revolution. The historical incident has a strong influence over a large part of the novel. Mr. Alexander  Manette is confined in the castle of Bastille for eighteen years just in the guilt of revealing the callousness of the Evrémonde family. One member of the previously mentioned aristocratic family kills the family of Defarge and Madame Defarge uses this incident to gather other revolutionaries under one platform. When Lucie comes to Paris to rescue her father, her husband also follows her path as one member of the Evrémondes needs help as he is afraid that his life might be taken away by the furious mob (because Charles is himself the last wind of Evrémonde). But our hero gets caught up by the mob and he is imprisoned. He is saved once but is sentenced to die on account of his father's making Lucie's father rest in a lightless prison. (please correct me if this comes false). In this novel, the mob is seen swaying in the intoxication of power and freedom of killing everyone if one goes against the "laws" of the revolutionaries.

 

Industrial Revolution

To associate this novel just to French Revolution will be sheer injustice. Dickens came from a poor family so he was well aware of the hard life of the poor people at that time. Humans are evolving from time to time but the Industrial revolution affected the workflow of humans on a very large scale. The agricultural activities, once run by humans were being earned by the machines. When Dickens was about to write this novel, he acted in a play in which he had to play a role of the lover who sacrificed his life for the sake of his love lady and her beloved in the context of the Industrial Revolution and we see happening the same in the novel when Sydney Carton sacrifices his life for Lucie and Mr. Darnay. Dickens liked the theme of rebirth, redemption, love and violence and interchanged them while producing A Tale of Two Cities in the direction of a British historian, Thomas Carlyle for staying in the revolutionary context in an accurate manner.

 

Conclusion

Charles Dickens is the artist who paints the sufferings and hardships of the working class narratively. But in A Tale of Two Cities, he presents the same living picture but in an appropriate chronological fashion.

 

References and Citation

1. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/A-Tale-of-Two-Cities/context/
2. https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/tale-of-two-cities
3. https://academicjournals.org/journal/IJEL/article-full-text-pdf/C9CA86946103#:~:text=Two%20Cities'&text=The%20revolution%20began%20in%201789,by%20his%20friend%20Thomas%20Carlyle.
4. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/twocities/context/
5. https://medium.com/@udayudayuday/tale-of-2-cities-the-industrial-revolution-fc27c3a54b39