Opposite and Parallel Dualism in the novel A Tale of Two Cities.
Duality is one of the main themes developed in the novel “A Tale of Two Cities”. This technique of combining two different things that Dickens uses in his narrative papers not only to describe double oppositions, such as the conditions in which England and France are in 1775 and the expression of Madame Defarge and Lucie Manette’s personality but also to disclose hidden parallels. An example of this is the resemblance between the two central male characters, Darnay and Carton.
The writer begins the narrative by writing “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…” for the reason that he makes a literate comparison of a dual antagonism between England and France in 1775. On the one hand, in England, people concern of religious predictions, popular paranormal phenomena and the messages that a colony of British citizens in America has sent to King George III. On the other hand, in France, the citizens observe that the members of the nobility are spending disproportionate amounts of money and that there is extreme violence all around them which is the trend towards the anticipation of the creation of the guillotine.
As regard the ladies’ personality, it is clear enough all along the novel that Lucie Manette is a model of compassion and her love has the power to transform all around her, for instance, this powerful love makes his father, Doctor Manette, to be recalled to life and moreover it is capable of converting Sydney Carton, who is a jackal, into a hero. It is also well-defined to the readers that Madame Defarge represents the chaos of the French Revolution for she is a heartless insurgent who spends most of the narration knitting a register of each person who should die for the revolutionary cause. According to Dickens, Madame Defarge’s coldblooded behaviour reflects the result from the oppression and personal tragedy that she has suffered in her youth by the members of the aristocracy, specifically by the Marquis Evrémondes, who is Charles Darnay’s uncle. In spite of this, the author supports her vengefulness attitude by justifying that the aristocracy’s oppression has made an oppressor of herself.
Besides the examples of dualism that are explained above, the novelist shows off a dichotomy between Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton. While Darnay is a French aristocrat by birth who prefers to live in England because he does not tolerate the cruel injustices of the French social system and who is a man of honour, respect and courage conforming the archetype of the hero, Carton appears as an insolent, lazy, indifferent and alcoholic barrister who has no real prospects in life and does not pursuit anything and who sees Darnay as a figure that reminds him of what he could have been but has failed to become. Nevertheless, by the end of the novel, Sydney converts himself from a good-for-nothing into a hero when he decides to sacrifice his life to save Darnay who is sentenced to die by the guillotine.
To sum up and taking into account the comparisons and the contrasts between some of the characters of the novel and between England and France from 1775 to 1793, which are presented all along this essay, it is evident that dual oppositions as well as parallel dualism is one of the main themes described in A tale of Two Cities.
To sum up and taking into account the comparisons and the contrasts between some of the characters of the novel and between England and France from 1775 to 1793, which are presented all along this essay, it is evident that dual oppositions as well as parallel dualism is one of the main themes described in A tale of Two Cities.
