Dickens & the French Revolutio

A detailed Summary of Dickens & the French Revolutio


A Tale of Two Cities and the French Revolution

Dickens, in A Tale of Two Cities, portrayed the French Revolution unfairly, and not entirely completely. I don't think that Dickens goal in writing A Tale of Two Cities was to portray the stability of England as a nation, but that was the main message I derived from the film. Also, some of the causes of the revolution seemed to fade into the background, leaving an incomplete picture of the French people's suffering.

Dickens does not do justice to the Revolution, as he portrays it as mostly meaningless violence and bitter revenge. In reality, the Revolution started a chain of events that would change France for the better. Though it may have taken some years for this to be fully realized, when Dickens wrote the novel, he should have known that the revolution's ends somehow justified the means. In my view, Dickens made it look as though no matter what the ends, the means could not be justified.

The Terror was a very violent period, and it is true that a lot of the violence could have been completely avoided. I think that Dickens trivializes the struggle that the Third Estate went through before they ever res


In Dickens present, England was at a 'tender' time. Some feared that revolution was coming, and Dickens only weapon against that was his fiction. In order to make the English realize that revolution was unnecessary, the French were made out to be savages and brutes. Their violence was made to look excessive and meaningless. By comparison, the British in A Tale were far more sensible and civilized. This, I think, was a device to help avert revolution in Dickens time. There was justice in the violence that was committed in the name of the revolution. Dickens, and others of his time, were afraid of the consequences of a second great revolution rocking Europe.

Though by some rights, the movie version of A Tale of Two Cities was fair and correct, it also fell short. Bias came heavily into play when Dickens tried to bring England into the picture. Also, the true causes of the revolution became hidden when the violence became the main imagery of the movie.

The bourgeoisie and the peasants quickly became enamoured with the new philosophy. Once they came to understand that people could be equal, and that their place in life could be more than just where you were bor

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Approximate Word count = 786
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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