[Music]
let's review the main themes in A Tale
of Two Cities
the first is injustice many people who
did so little to deserve severe
punishment fill the novel with injustice
doctor Manette's imprisonment which tore
him down emotionally was unjust being
imprisoned for trying to do something
honorable which Darnay also does is pure
injustice Darnay were announced as his
heritage because of the cruelty his
family inflicted on people but
revolutionaries want to get him for
being part of an aristocratic family
that had previously done wrong and most
Nobles unjustly go too long without
their own punishment another theme is
love
Dickens explores many powerful love
relationships in the book romantic love
love between parent and child love from
afar love between friends and love for
mankind
he also examines differences between
people in how they love as well as how
love can be twisted or even overridden
by circumstance or an individual spoils
Lucy and her father Lucy and her
daughter Lucy and Darnay the Mets even
lorry and carton the bonds of love are
everywhere resurrection is another theme
recalled to life is an important message
in the novel doctor Manette was
imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille
but he is not resurrected from death
just once in his making shoes
he's completely separated from the real
world and it is Lucy who resurrects him
once again to return him to a real life
and Familia love in London other
characters who also experience
resurrections are Charles Darnay who
survives several death sentences Roger
cly whose funeral is held in book 1 but
who turns up alive later and John Barsad
and Madame Defarge who experience
resurrections when their true identities
become known self-sacrifice is another
key theme Lucy embodies self-sacrifice
taking on her father and caring for him
doctor Manette's effort to report rape
and murder by denouncing the Marquis and
his brother is another
example of it since he risks his own
safety by doing so Charles Darnay puts
his life on the line standing up for an
aristocrat servant risking his own life
but Sydney Carton makes the ultimate
self-sacrifice he takes darnay's place
at the guillotine in order to make sure
that Lucy and her family will be
together and happy vengeance is another
important theme when the table's turned
on the cruel aristocracy and the
revolution got underway in France the
common people driven by generations of
starvation and mistreatment went even
further
Dickens examines the topic of vengeance
from the perspective of not only classes
but also of individuals for some like
Madame Defarge and many other
revolutionaries vengeance is the primary
driver of their actions for others such
as Charles Darnay the man acts in Sydney
Carton vengeance is another form of
violence and should be avoided as it
perpetuates it violence is indeed a
theme the French Revolution was all
about bloodshed and Dickens portrays it
graphically including state sanctioned
torture and killing mob violence and the
brutal reign of terror as the novel
progresses the revolution takes hold and
violence becomes increasingly brutal and
pervasive
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