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A Tale of Two Cities

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In Charles Dickens’ 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, several themes are prevalent, one of them being “light versus darkness,” which we covered in class. Other themes include fate, sacrifice, love and hate, death and resurrection. Lucie Manette, one of the main characters, represents the light, while the Defarges (Ernest and Madame) signify the darkness. Lucie is angelic, lovely and the emotional pivot around which the story turns. She is the center around which all the love in the book revolves. Two men, her father, her caregiver Ms. Pross, and her child all love Lucie. On the other hand, the Defarges, owners of a wine shop and revolutionaries with hearts of vengeance, have drawn up a list of potential victims for the guillotine.
Another example of light versus darkness can be found in the two different countries, France and England. France is in darkness while England remains in the light. As Dickens details events surrounding The French Revolution, which occurred from 1789 to 1793, he paints France as a long, hard fighter which becomes an embattled society. During this time, the aristocrats were overthrown by the lower classes and France dissolved into chaos and terror. Everyone in France was subject to death by the guillotine. On the contrary, England chooses to remain uninvolved after a brief period of concern about the social upheaval in its neighbor, thus protecting and preserving its image as an honorable country.
There is plenty of contradiction in the story—light vs. darkness, love vs. hate, selflessness vs. selfishness, and contrasting words as well. For instance, the introductory paragraph, “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, it was the spring of hope,

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