Tale of Two Cities: Violence and Revenge - Essay Example

The violence, human feelings, and moral questions on the issue that Dickens raised cannot be questioned. French Revolution, indeed, is an integral and significant part of history. It had its impacts on the minds and actions of people which cannot be denied. In that, Dickens's concerns were true and honest. The events that the novel describes are beautifully and realistically portrayed. The novel makes the reader ‘live’ that age and understand the events of that period.

Critics believe that Dickens was in favor of revolutionaries without paying much attention to the middle-class social group of the 18th century and their contributions to the French Revolution. T.A. Jackson (1930) suggests that the representation of Dickens is in support of the violent acts, cruel manners, and vengeance to answer the feelings of domination that revolutionaries had. However, others view violence and revenge as a means of portraying the negativity of violent acts and the horrors of revenge on society, people, and the involved parties themselves. Dickens depicts violence and revenge as the beginning of another violent and brutal disagreement rather than the end of the enmity that existed between two groups, a tale of two cities is analyzed to affirm Dickens’s firm belief in this notion.

Annotated Bibliography
Glancy, R. F. (2006). Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge.
This book is a good source of information and provides a detailed analysis of the novel written by Dickens. The book provides various authors’ views and analyzes the novel in detail. For our research, this book will help in providing the views of critics on the novel and its content. Dickens’s portrayal of violence, the general position of revolutionaries, and the tone are being analyzed in the light of different critics.

Cotsell, M. (1998). Critical essays on Charles Dickens's A Tale of two cities. New York: G.K. Hall.
Cotsell provides an in-depth analysis of the positives and negatives of the novels. The theme of violence is portrayed in the book in terms of the feeling to take revenge. The beauty transforms, for instance, into power and violence to pursue the ultimate goal of revenge for Madame Defarge’s sister. This book provides information on other themes like relationships, values, and personal rivalry as well.

Rulo, K. (January 01, 2009). A Tale of Two Mimeses: Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities and Rene Girard.Christianity and Literature, 59, 1, 5-25.
This article exposes the themes of violence used by Dickens. It emphasizes the horrors of war, its social impacts, and the terrifying results which lead to distress. The article uses the views of various authors to support its claims and concludes that the ultimate use of violence in the novel is the idea that violence gives rise to more violence. It also sees the various themes used in the novel in light of Christian beliefs and criticizes the novel in light of it.

Raguet, C. (September 01, 2009). Terror is foreign or familiar - Pleasure on the edge: Translating a tale of two cities into French. Dickens Quarterly, 26, 3, 175-186.
This article is a true evaluation of how violence, cultures, revenge, and mistakes play a part in the lives of people connected to the novel. The article claims that “the aristocrats had to pay for their excessive violence and injustice, hence the Evremondes' condemnation and the Vengeance's satisfaction, and even pleasure, at seeing her family's suffering cleansed in blood.” The article emphasizes the blood-shedding, violence, and feeling of revenge as major predictors of people’s future behaviors and activities. Read More