a tale of two cities

Humanism in a Tale of Two Cities

Lyn English072 200710010214

Charles Dickens (1812-1870), one of the most outstanding English writers in the literary history of 19th century, is a representative of criticism. He is a tough man whose life was full of ups and downs, devoted to his writing career. A Tale of Two Cities, published in the year of 1859, is widely considered as a historical novel which is one of the most significant works of his late period. Using the French Revolution as the background, this novel incisively exposed that the society then was corrupt and filled with social class contradictions and darkness. Through this novel, with many sorts of characters being perfectly portrayed, Dickens showed his great mercy and love to the people in lower class, which gained him a reputation of being a humanist. His thoughts of love and humanism were deeply influenced by the social constitutes at his time and his own life experiences.

The Times of Charles Dickens

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness , it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of the despair……”①

Just like the descriptions in the first chapter, Recall to Life, the times of Charles Dickens were both the best and the worst, full of light and darkness era. It was also the very era when the contradictions between English Classes were under the acute circumstances. With the development of the Industrial Revolution, it revealed every aspect of the English society, which resulted in the contradiction where the Working Class and the Capitalist Class becoming the main one. It was a period in which those capitalists sped up carrying out the cruel suppression and exploitation on the workers in the country, as well as actively expanded their overseas markets to get as much wealth as possible. The workers were living under poor conditions and they got paid little. It?s confirmed by the fact that the poor suffered from overcrowding, hunger, and repetitive labor, and long hours of working. Poor workers were exploited greatly by the aristocrats and they led a terrible life. On the contrary, the aristocrats shared luxurious material plundered from the poor. What?s more, the upper class bullied or even killed the poor without any mercy. Under the circumstances, great movement Chartism opened in 1838 and it didn?t come to an end untill 1848. This movement had a huge effect on the thoughts among the thinkers in England, Charles Dickens included.

Childhood of Charles Dickens

“Dickens's family life was as emotionally charged as anything in his fiction.”②Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, the son of a clerk in the Naval Pay Office who had a poor head for finances, and in 1824 found himself imprisoned for debt. Charles was put to work at Warren's Blacking Factory. At the age of twelve years old, Dickens was further wounded by his mother's insistence that he continued to work at the factory. His father, however, rescued him from that fate, and between 1824 and 1827 Dickens was a day pupil at a school in London. At fifteen, he found employment as an office boy at an attorney's, while he studied shorthand at night.

Dickens? childhood was kind of miserable. He had to go out to earn money to support his family, and where he worked was always where the poor people worked. Experiencing the pain and the poor lives of the lower class, he knew much about them, and it inspired him to show sympathy to the poor workers. Meanwhile, he strongly condemned the feudal aristocrats?cruelty and inhuman behaviors. He held the view that love was always more powerful than resentment. It?s also inferred in the novel, A Tale of Two Cities, when Sydney Carton for Lucie Manette?s sake sacrificed his own life to rescue Darnay. Dickens also firmly believed that the contradiction could be solved by the great love between all people.

Characters in A Tale of Two Cities

In A Tale of Two Cities, without any hesitation, Dickens exposes what the Evremonde brothers have done. In order to own a peasant woman, the Evremonde brothers caused four innocent peasants to die. As well as the Evremonde brothers, the Marquis lead a quite luxurious life too. Their travelling carriage is “conducted by four post-horses and two postilions”③; they greedily think that all the lands are not god?s but theirs; their carriage ramps around the street and runs over a poor child, but they accuse him of hurting their horses. They are the typical characters who would never show any concern to others but only care about themselves——their profits, social status, rich life. Obviously, it?s that kind of character that Dickens hate s very much, for they are against humanism. On the way round, he sings highly of Dr. Alexander Manetee, Lucie Manette, Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay for their honesty, kindness and humanitarian spirits.

Anyway, i t?s easy to observe that the primary three characters to show Dickens? thoughts of love and humanism are a tiger-like woman, Madam Defarge, who tried the revenge with methods of force; a kind doctor, Mr. Manette, who suffered a lot in the prison and who was at length recalled to life with his daughter taking care of him;

and a young good man, Sydney Carton, who, for his dear lover?s sake, committed a self-sacrifice.

Madam Defarge is a deplorable woman who suffered a lot from the cruel society. Her father and brother were victims of the Evremonde brothers? guilt. She lost her happy family since she was very young. When Dickens described Madame Defarge?s unfortunate childhood, his sympathy came out of the bottom of his heart. “she is a strong, driven woman who does not hesitate to circumvent her husband when she perceives that his resolve is waning.” ④Possessing a remorseless bloodlust, Madame Defarge embodied the chaos of the French Revolution. She was really brave which could be easily found in the description: “Madame?s resolute right hand was occupied with an axe, in place of the usual softer implements, and in her girdle were a pistol and a cruel knife” “…I go,? said madam, …with you at present. You shall see me at the head of woman, by-and-by.?”⑤However, as the revolution broke into full force, Madame Defarge revealed her true viciousness. Due to her unfortunate experience, she was kind of violent and firmly believed that only violence could defeat the upper class. She hated the upper class so deeply that her protests against them turned to be blind, even attending to send Darnay to death. What she did became bloody, which didn?t please Dickens also for the reason of inhumane.

Different from Madam Defarge, Doctor Manette is a peace lover who generally agreed the marriage of his daughter and Darnay, though he once suffered too much w hich was led by Darnay?s uncles who did harm to Doctor Manette and many other people. He was not blind; he knew that Darnay was different from his uncles, so he preferred to give him chances to be a real good person and also proved to others that he was a gentleman. Fortunately, Darnay didn?t let him down. Besides, he set his own safety aside to rescue his son-in-law and other prisoners, speaking his miserable experience out to the publics. We should know how painful was then in his deep heart! “Manette undergoes a drastic change over the course of the novel. He is transformed from an insensate prisoner who mindlessly cobbles shoes into a man of distinction.”⑥Having suffered so much, he didn?t try to protest by means of force. On the contrary, he was tolerant and kind-hearted. That is reflection of humanism which lay in the deep heart of Charles Dickens and Doctor MAnette might be the correspondence of Dickens? own life experience.

As for Sydney Carton, he is considered as the person who might be the most gentle lover. “While many readers, and Dickens himself, found Sydney Carton's self-sacrifice to be extremely moving.”⑦He first appeared as a lazy, alcoholic attorney man. Later, He fell in love with Miss Manette. Before she wedded Darnay, Carton professed his love to her, though he still persist in seeing himself as essentially worthless. Instead of fighting against Darnay, he chose to stand by Miss Manette

quietly and protected her with no intention of asking for return. “Carton becomes a Christ-like figure, a selfless martyr whose death enables the happiness of his beloved and ensures his own immortality”.⑧What he did actually is a big contrast between Madam Defarge and other people who were violent, whose hearts were filled with hatred. What he did is always spoken highly by most readers for his selfless. What he did was a mirror of the idea of humanism and great love lying in the heart of Charles Dickens.

Finally, the humanism was reinforced when Carton “claims to see …this place,? the bloody square where he is going to his execution, at some day in the future …then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day?s disfigurement?”⑨. He believed that in the future it would become a peaceful, lovely and humane world, and that is also the belief of Charles Dickens.

Notes:

①A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, P.1, L.1-5

②The Economist, “Charles Di ckens An extravagant imagination”, September 12, 2009 ,U.S. Edition,

③A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, P.97, L.4

④https://www.sodocs.net/doc/b812325477.html,/AtaleofTwoCities/essayquestions.html

⑤A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, P187, L25-27,L29-30.

⑥、⑧https://www.sodocs.net/doc/b812325477.html,/lit/twocities/canalysis.html

⑦https://www.sodocs.net/doc/b812325477.html,/notes/ttc/BIO.html

⑨Charles Dickens,John O. Jordan, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, P.73, L.11-13.

Bibliography:

①https://www.sodocs.net/doc/b812325477.html,/dickens/twocities/

②https://www.sodocs.net/doc/b812325477.html,/essay.php?t=25295

③https://www.sodocs.net/doc/b812325477.html,