-
Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities
XXX
A
Tale
of
Two
Cities
(published
in
1859)
is
one
of
the
greatest
novels
on
the
French
Revolution.
Partly
inspired
by
Thomas
Carlyle’s
French
Revolution,
it
is
a
mammoth
work
of
imagination,
giving
a
fictional
account
of
the
events
and
causes
leading up to that fateful summer of
1789.
I
t is quite difficult
to write about the novels
written
by
Charles
Dickens
(7
February
1812
–
9
June
1870).
He
was
an
British
novelist, generally was considered the
greatest of the Victorian period. when he was
12 years old, his father was put in
prison, he had to withdraw from school and forced
to
work
in
a
factory.
As
a
young
man,
he
worked
as
a
reporter.
His
fiction
career
bega
n with short pieces
reprinted as Sketches by “Boz” (1836). A Tale of
Two Cities
(1859)
appeared
in
the
period
when
he
achieved
great
popularity
for
his
public
readings.
Dickens's
works
are
characterized
by
an
encyclopaedic
knowledge
of
London, pathos, a vein of the macabre,
a pervasive spirit of benevolence and geniality,
inexhaustible powers of character
creation, an acute ear for characteristic speech,
and
a highly individual and inventive
prose style.
It
is
the
year
1775,
and
England
and
France
are
undergoing
a
period
of
social
upheaval and turmoil. The forces that
are leading to revolution in France are colliding
with
a
circle
of
people
in
England,
causing
their
destinies
to
be
irrevocably
intertwined, Dr. Manette was picked up
and sent to the Bastille prison by the noble
Marquis St. Evremonde. 18 years after
in 1775, his only daughter, Lucie Manette, fell
in
love
with
Charles
Darnay,
the
nephew
of
the
Marquis
St.
Evremonde,
which
abandoned the noble degree to
live by himself.
“Let
the past
be past.”
Thought
Dr.
Marnette,
and
was
preparing
to
have
a
happy
new
life
with
his
daughter
and
her
husband.
But
the
revolution
of
France
broke,
and
because
of
his
family,
Charles
Darnay was denounced by a letter which
was wrote by Dr. Marnette himself 18 years
ago. But Sydney Carton, the lawyer of
England, who took after Charles very much,
finally was killed instead by his own
mind.
Alexandre Manette made a deep
impression on me, he was a kind doctor with
mercy. He once saw the Evremondes’
violence to the sl
aves eighteen
years ago, he
wanted to
report their crimes. But unfortunately, the
Evremondes framed Manette in
the
Bastille Prison. Also according to the description
of the time he just played: “
He
had a white beard, raggedly cut,
but
not
very
long, a hollow
face, and exceedingly
bright eyes. The hollowness and
thinness of his face would have caused them to
look
large, under his yet dark eyebrows
and his confused white hair, though they had been
really
otherwise;
but,
they
were
naturally
large,
and
looked
un-
naturally
so.
His
yellow rags of shirt lay open at the
throat, and showed his body to be withered and
worn
(2008,p33).”
We
can
see
the
faintness
was
not
the
faintness
of
physical
weakness and we can deeply imagine how
this old man had been harmed. In addition
when
you
asked
him
questions,
his
first
words
are
always
do
you
say?(2008,p5,p33...)
we
can
infer
that
he
had
used
to
talking
to
nobody
everyday
and he could not
reflect others' words quickly. All these had
implied that his character
and
spirit
were
much
easier
to
be
influenced
especially
when
he
met
with
the