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Dickens’ use of symbolism in 'A Tale of Two Cities'
A TALE OF TWO CITIES contains an abundant use of symbols and symbolic imagery.Symbolism implies the use of an object, an idea, or a person in a larger or wider deeper sensethan is literary conveyed by that object. An employs symbolism in order to give a deeper meaningto his writing. Symbolism is an essential element in the structure of the novel.
The Woodman and the Farmer as Symbols:
The Woodman symbolizes Fate ad the Farmer issymbolizing Death. The author says that they work silently and no one hears them when theywalk with their muffled steps. They work like Fate and Death silently and these are the two forceswhich destroy France.
Journey of the Mail-Coach
: The manner in which the writer describes the journey of the mail-couch is also highly symbolic. It is an uphill journey; the hill, the harness, the mud and the mailgive the horses a tough time. The horses, however, continue with their drooping heads. There isalso an atmosphere of suspicion all over. The rough journey and the air of suspicion aroundsignifies the following crisis for the Manette family and the turmoil for the land of France.
The Spilling of Wine
: A striking use of symbolism is made in the chapter called, “The Wine-Shop”. A cask of wine gets broken in the street by accident and the wine is spilled on the ground.This red wine paints and stains the streets of Saint Antoine in Paris symbolizing the bloodshedand massacre looming over the country. Many people rush towards it to drink mouthfuls of wine.The people’s hands and foot are stained red by the wine. This symbol becomes perfectly explicitwhen some body dips his fingers in the wine and scrawls upon a wall the word “blood”. Theauthor comments on his action: “
The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled onthe street-stones and when the stain of it would be red upon many there
.”
The Mill, the Grindstone, and the Carmagnole
: In the same chapter, Mill has been symbolized.Literally, a mill of course, grinds wheat into flour which serves as food fro the human beings. Herethe mill performs a different function. Here we are told that the people of Saint Antoine hadundergone a terrible grinding and re-grinding in the mill. The writer says that the children in thissuperb had “
ancient faces and grave voices
” and the sign of Hunger is apparent upon the facesof the children, the young and the old. So the mill is not grinding wheat for the people, adverselyit is grinding the people themselves. In the later case, the revolutionaries are described assharpening their bloody hA Tale of Two Citieshets, knives and swords at a grindstone. Both themill and the grindstone are the symbols of destruction which the people in France face. Alliedwith these two symbols and with the symbol of the spilled wine, is the account of the Carmagnolewhich also occurs in the final part of the novel. The dancing of the Carmagnole is a dreadful sightfor spectators like Lucie
The Echoing Steps
: In the chapter called “Hundreds of People” Lucie, in her conversation tellsthe others that she has often sat alone in a corner of the house in the evenings, listening to theechoes of all the footsteps which are to come by and by into their lives. Sydney Carton thereuponremarks that, “
If such be the case, there will be a great crowd coming one day into the lives of all of them
.” The whole scene is symbolic. Lucie says that she hears footsteps and Sydney remarksthat a crowd will come into the lives of all. Just then there is a roar of clouds and a flash of lightening. All these are the indications of the coming of a great tempest in their lives in the formof French Revolution when people will be in the state of turmoil and the Manette family will getinvolved with those multitudes.
The Bastille, a Symbol of Tyranny
: The Bastille is another symbol. Hundreds of prisoners havebeen languishing in this prison for years and years, neglected, un-cared and almost forgotten anddead. The inhabitants of Saint Antoine, under the leadership of Monsieur and Madame Defarge,march upon the Bastille and capture it. Their jubilation knows no bounds. The governor is seizedand Madame Defarge herself cut off his head with a knife.
La Guillotine, symbol of excesses
: La Guillotine symbolizes the excess committed by therevolutionaries. If the Bastille was the symbol of tyranny and the government of the King LouisXVI, La Guillotine has reversed the process. La Guillotine has become, “
The National Razor which shaved close
.” It is regarded as the sign of regeneration of the human race. The eloquent,the powerful and the beautiful are all being mercilessly beheaded. La Guillotine is a symbol of
the tyrannies, the brutalities which are committed by the down-trodden and poor revolutionaries.La Guillotine is an ugly and hateful symbol as the Bastille previously was.
Madame Defarge, Miss Pross and Carton as Symbols
: Madame Defarge symbolizesunlimited hatred and evil. She certainly has motive and reason for her revengeful and blood-thirsty attitude but all her vindictiveness and blood-ruthlessness cannot be explained in terms of those motive and reasons. She is the personification of hatred, revenge and violence. Her knitting requires a sinister significance because in her knitting are registered those who must beexterminated from the ground. Miss Pross on other hand is a personification of love. Her attachment to Lucie is deep and abiding. In the tussle between Madame Defarge and Miss Pross,the Frenchwoman is killed by a bullet from her own hands thus symbolically representing thattruth prevails and evil is self-destructive. Sydney Carton has a symbolic purpose. His sacrificialdeath symbolizes the way by which the highest human aspirations can be achieved and also themeans by which a profligate can attain regeneration.
Opposed Symbols of Life and Death
:
William H. Marshall tells us that A TALE OF TWOCITIES is a story about rebirth through death and that therefore, Dickens gives us opposed symbols of life and death. These symbols, he says, take the form of images of food and destruction. The symbol of death seems to triumph over the symbol of life.
A TALE OF TWO CITIES contains an abundant use of symbols and symbolic imagery.Symbolism implies the use of an object, an idea, or a person in a larger or wider deeper sensethan is literary conveyed by that object. An employs symbolism in order to give a deeper meaningto his writing. Symbolism is an essential element in the structure of the novel.
The Woodman and the Farmer as Symbols:
The Woodman symbolizes Fate ad the Farmer issymbolizing Death. The author says that they work silently and no one hears them when theywalk with their muffled steps. They work like Fate and Death silently and these are the two forceswhich destroy France.
Journey of the Mail-Coach
: The manner in which the writer describes the journey of the mail-couch is also highly symbolic. It is an uphill journey; the hill, the harness, the mud and the mailgive the horses a tough time. The horses, however, continue with their drooping heads. There isalso an atmosphere of suspicion all over. The rough journey and the air of suspicion aroundsignifies the following crisis for the Manette family and the turmoil for the land of France.
The Spilling of Wine
: A striking use of symbolism is made in the chapter called, “The Wine-Shop”. A cask of wine gets broken in the street by accident and the wine is spilled on the ground.This red wine paints and stains the streets of Saint Antoine in Paris symbolizing the bloodshedand massacre looming over the country. Many people rush towards it to drink mouthfuls of wine.The people’s hands and foot are stained red by the wine. This symbol becomes perfectly explicitwhen some body dips his fingers in the wine and scrawls upon a wall the word “blood”. Theauthor comments on his action: “
The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled onthe street-stones and when the stain of it would be red upon many there
.”
The Mill, the Grindstone, and the Carmagnole
: In the same chapter, Mill has been symbolized.Literally, a mill of course, grinds wheat into flour which serves as food fro the human beings. Herethe mill performs a different function. Here we are told that the people of Saint Antoine hadundergone a terrible grinding and re-grinding in the mill. The writer says that the children in thissuperb had “
ancient faces and grave voices
” and the sign of Hunger is apparent upon the facesof the children, the young and the old. So the mill is not grinding wheat for the people, adverselyit is grinding the people themselves. In the later case, the revolutionaries are described assharpening their bloody hA Tale of Two Citieshets, knives and swords at a grindstone. Both themill and the grindstone are the symbols of destruction which the people in France face. Alliedwith these two symbols and with the symbol of the spilled wine, is the account of the Carmagnolewhich also occurs in the final part of the novel. The dancing of the Carmagnole is a dreadful sightfor spectators like Lucie
The Echoing Steps
: In the chapter called “Hundreds of People” Lucie, in her conversation tellsthe others that she has often sat alone in a corner of the house in the evenings, listening to theechoes of all the footsteps which are to come by and by into their lives. Sydney Carton thereuponremarks that, “
If such be the case, there will be a great crowd coming one day into the lives of all of them
.” The whole scene is symbolic. Lucie says that she hears footsteps and Sydney remarksthat a crowd will come into the lives of all. Just then there is a roar of clouds and a flash of lightening. All these are the indications of the coming of a great tempest in their lives in the formof French Revolution when people will be in the state of turmoil and the Manette family will getinvolved with those multitudes.
The Bastille, a Symbol of Tyranny
: The Bastille is another symbol. Hundreds of prisoners havebeen languishing in this prison for years and years, neglected, un-cared and almost forgotten anddead. The inhabitants of Saint Antoine, under the leadership of Monsieur and Madame Defarge,march upon the Bastille and capture it. Their jubilation knows no bounds. The governor is seizedand Madame Defarge herself cut off his head with a knife.
La Guillotine, symbol of excesses
: La Guillotine symbolizes the excess committed by therevolutionaries. If the Bastille was the symbol of tyranny and the government of the King LouisXVI, La Guillotine has reversed the process. La Guillotine has become, “
The National Razor which shaved close
.” It is regarded as the sign of regeneration of the human race. The eloquent,the powerful and the beautiful are all being mercilessly beheaded. La Guillotine is a symbol of
the tyrannies, the brutalities which are committed by the down-trodden and poor revolutionaries.La Guillotine is an ugly and hateful symbol as the Bastille previously was.
Madame Defarge, Miss Pross and Carton as Symbols
: Madame Defarge symbolizesunlimited hatred and evil. She certainly has motive and reason for her revengeful and blood-thirsty attitude but all her vindictiveness and blood-ruthlessness cannot be explained in terms of those motive and reasons. She is the personification of hatred, revenge and violence. Her knitting requires a sinister significance because in her knitting are registered those who must beexterminated from the ground. Miss Pross on other hand is a personification of love. Her attachment to Lucie is deep and abiding. In the tussle between Madame Defarge and Miss Pross,the Frenchwoman is killed by a bullet from her own hands thus symbolically representing thattruth prevails and evil is self-destructive. Sydney Carton has a symbolic purpose. His sacrificialdeath symbolizes the way by which the highest human aspirations can be achieved and also themeans by which a profligate can attain regeneration.
Opposed Symbols of Life and Death
:
William H. Marshall tells us that A TALE OF TWOCITIES is a story about rebirth through death and that therefore, Dickens gives us opposed symbols of life and death. These symbols, he says, take the form of images of food and destruction. The symbol of death seems to triumph over the symbol of life.
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