i
THE CRITICISM TOWARD REVOLUTIONARIES AS
REVEALED IN CHARLES DICKENS’ A TALE OF TWO
CITIES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
BENEDIKTUS BANGUN BAWOKO Student Number: 054214106
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA 2011
i
THE CRITICISM TOWARD REVOLUTIONARIES AS
REVEALED IN CHARLES DICKENS’ A TALE OF TWO
CITIES
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
BENEDIKTUS BANGUN BAWOKO Student Number: 054214106
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
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Any law which violates the inalienable
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Any Law which violates the inalienable
rights of man is essentially unjust and
tyrannical: it is not a law at all
By Maximilien Rabespierre
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Dedicated for:
My Lord, Jesus Christ
My only grandmother, Soerahni
My Father, Frans Puji Susetyo
My Mother, Endang kuswilambagni
My sister, Fransiska Cita Sari
My brother, Rian
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to God the Almighty, the writer has completed this thesis to fulfill one of the requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letter, Sanata Dharma University.
The writer realizes completely that the thesis is far from perfect, so there might be errors in the content as well as in the language. Besides, the writer would not be able to do a lot without the guidance and help from people who have enabled the writer to complete this thesis. Therefore on this opportunity, the writer would like to thank Ms. Elisa Dwi Wardani, S.S, M.Hum as the advisor and Ms. Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S, M.Hum as the co-advisor who have given the writer suggestion and support in writing this thesis.
The writer would also like to thank Mr and Mrs. Frans Puji Susetyo, the writer parents who have given motivation, support, and prayer night and day, Ms. Soerahni the writer grandmother, the writer sibling Rian and Cita, the writer beloved girl friend Yosephin Artiani, the writer uncles and aunts, the writer friends James, Galih, Bruno, Sindhu, Aris, Norie Paramitha, Herni.
Last but not means least; the writer owes a great debt of gratitude to all the lectures of English Letters for giving knowledge and sharing their experiences to the writer.
Criticism and suggestion from other sides are hoped by the writer for the sake of the improvement of this thesis. Hopefully, this thesis will be useful and
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ... vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ... 7
A. Review of Related Studies ... 7
C. Review on the historical background ... 15
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c. Climax ... 33
d. Denouement ... 34
2. The injustices caused by Revolutionaries ... 36
a. Illegal justice ... 36
b. Social injustices ... 37
c. Power Injustices ... 37
d. Inter-Personal Injustices ... 37
B. Criticism toward revolutionaries as experienced by characters ... 38
1. Related to the Injustices ... 39
a. Illegal injustices ... 39
b. Social injustices ... 40
c. Power injustices ... 41
d. Inter-personal injustices ... 42
2. Related to Revolutionaries ... 43
a. French Citizens ... 43
b. Monsignor Defarge and Madame Defarge ... 47
c. Solomon Pross or John Barsad ... 50
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ... 51
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 54
APPENDICES ... 56
a. Summary ... 57
x ABSTRACT
BENEDIKTUS BANGUN BAWOKO. The Criticism toward Revolutionaries as Revealed in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2011.
We can get a satisfaction as well as knowledge when reading literature. There are positive values in literature that give us reflection and suggestion to follow in our life. Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is a kind of the example of literature. Charles Dickens wrote the novel about the French revolution based on his experiences. However, his perspective about revolution is different from others. Dickens criticizes that there are injustices which have been done by revolutionaries towards the aristocrats and the innocent victims. Therefore, the writer is interested to analyze the injustices caused by revolutionaries towards the aristocrats who used to be unjust as criticism toward the revolutionaries.
There are two questions that have to be answered in this thesis. The questions are what the injustices are caused by revolutionaries as reflected in the plot and how the novel reveals criticism toward Revolutionaries as experienced by characters in A Tale of Two Cities.
This study is a library research. The primary source is Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, while the secondary resources are some books of literature, and sociology. In this thesis, socio-cultural-historical approach is used because it talks about the social condition in which a work was created and which it necessarily reflects. Therefore this approach is the most suitable to be used in analyzing the criticism toward revolutionaries.
There are two points that can be concluded after analyzing the novel. First, through the depiction of plot, there are injustices that have been done by revolutionaries. They are illegal justice, social injustices, power injustices, and inter-personal injustices. Those happened because of the revolutionaries’ hatred toward the aristocrats. Second, the novel tells the criticism toward the revolutionaries. This happens because of Revolutionaries’ hatred in the past. There are two criticisms such as criticism related to the injustices and related to the revolutionaries. First, the revolutionaries themselves have conducted violence which in turn also oppresses their enemy and this causes the injustices. The revolutionaries have turned from the ones who are oppressed to become arrogant oppressors themselves. Second, the revolutionaries only think about their own benefits and revenge.
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BENEDIKTUS BANGUN BAWOKO. The Criticism toward Revolutionaries as Revealed in A Tale of Two Cities. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2011.
Kita akan mendapatkan kenikmatan tersendiri dengan membaca karya sastra. Bukan hanya itu, kita juga akan mendapatkan pengetahuan. Di dalam sastra, terdapat nilai-nilai yang postif yang dapat kita cerminkan dan diterapkan dikehidupan nyata. Salah satunya karya novel dari Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities. Beliau menulisnya sesuai dengan apa yang dia ketahui mengenai revolusi Perancis. Akan tetapi, sudut pandangnya terhadap nilai-nilai yang ada di dalam revolusi berbeda dengan para pengarang lainya. Dickens mengkritik adanya ketidakadilan yang dilakukan revolusionaris terhadap kaum aristocrat dan orang-orang yang tidak bersalah. Oleh karena itu, saya tertarik untuk menganalisa ketidakadilan yang dilakukan para revolusionaris terhadap aristokrat yang sebelumnya bersikap tidak adil sebagai kritik terhadap revolusionaris.
Ada dua pertanyaan harus dijawab dalam tesis ini, yaitu ketidakadilan apa saja yang di sebabkan oleh revolusionaris yang terefleksikan di dalam plot dan bagaimana novel A Tale of Two Cities mengungkapkan kritik terhadap revolusionaris yang dialami oleh para karakter.
Skripsi ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumbernya adalah novel A Tale of Two Cities karya Charles Dickens dan buku-buku sastra serta buku kemasyarakatan. Pendekatan yang paling sesuai adalah sosiokultural historikal sebab membahas kondisi sosial saat karya sastra diciptakan..
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Literature is one of the great creative works and is an expression of communicating the emotion, spiritual, or intellectual of mankind. It helps the readers to develop their knowledge and personality. It also gives pleasure as well as knowledge to the readers. The real condition in our life becomes the inspiration for a writer to produce a literary work. Thus, literature is important for our life as it contains the real life of human being, such as love, beauty, injustices, conflicts, and so on. The most important thing in literary work is the idea and the writer’s feeling about life.
Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities contains his private experiences in life, the value of truth, and the description of French people’s effort to change the legal government of the old regime as a protest. French Revolution as a process of history includes many aspects of life. Through the portrait of life at that time including the values of truth and beauty in literature, the readers can be brought back to the history and are taught about lessons in the past so they might realize how important they are when applied in their daily life in society. Many of Dickens’ novels are about the unsatisfactory social conditions of its time. A Tale of Two Cities is one of his two attempts at a historical novel. It was published in 1859 and is about a story of the French Revolution (1789). The scene is laid in the two cities of London and Paris and the time action is from 1757 to 1793.
According to Graham Little in Approach to Literature, he defined literature as follows:
Literature is the principle element of a culture. It contains the record of values, thoughts, problems, and conflicts, that are transmitted either through written or spoken words. With such acknowledgment, literature state as a tool to pass the experience from one generation to the next. Literature, then, functions as a representation of the situation time and place (1981: 1).
In other words, literature is media to represent the social reality of human beings life. Moreover, the writer found that a literary work becomes a good reflection of the society where the work is written. By reading a literary work, the readers can find out the value that set in the novel. Literature is one elements of culture. It contains values, thought, problems, and conflicts. Literature stands as the way to reflect our experience from one generation to next generation. Literature has also a function as describing of situation happened in certain setting time and place.
Theory of literature by Rene Welleck and Austin Warren also states that “Literature represents life and life is in large and the inner of subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary imitation” (1956: 94). By reading literature, the readers can learn about social condition in a certain area and in a certain time because literature and life can be an object as the imitation of the reality.
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social realities which are artistically portrayed by the author. The author himself can be the member of the society.
The late seventeenth century is marked by extremities. For the aristocrats in France and rising middle class in England, it was the best of times for they are living in the pleasures and extravagance of life. For the poor, it was the worst of times for they are dying of poverty. In England, everything was going well and the people were generally happy while France was in need of reform and was not a good place to live in. A Tale of Two Cities is filled with romance, action, and violence. It is a story of the people of two countries struggling to rise out of poverty and cruelty. It is a story of friendship, love and freedom.
The novel opens in November 1775 when Dr. Manette is being taken back to London by Mr. Lorry and Lucie Manette. Eighteen years earlier, Dr. Manette was taken by the Evremonde brothers to help the woman they had assaulted and her brother who was dying of a sword wound. He is imprisoned after he threatens to tell officials what has happened. After being imprisoned, Dr. Manette writes a letter explaining what happened with the Evremonde brothers and hides it in the wall of his cell. After Dr. Manette is out of prison, his daughter Lucie tries to restore his memory and his strength. Charles Darnay is tried and acquitted of treason in 1780. The next year, Lucie and Darnay are married and in 1793, they have a daughter.
While the Manette’s are trying to regain their life, the middle and lower class in Paris are starting a revolution. In July 1789, the revolutionaries storm the Bastille, where Defarge searches for Dr. Manette’s letter in his cell, 105 North
Tower. When Charles Darnay tries to help Gabelle escape from jail in France, he is caught and thrown in prison. The revolutionaries sympathize with Dr. Manette and agree to imprison Darnay. The same night Darnay is released from prison, he is taken back on charges brought on by the Defarge's. Madam Defarge wanted revenge for her sister's assault by Darnay's uncle and other relatives. Defarge submits the letter he found from in Dr. Manette’s jail cell and Darnay is charged for the crimes of his ancestors and sentenced to die. That night in the Defarge’s wine shop, Sydney Carton overhears Madam Defarge talking about executing Lucie and her daughter too. Carton arranges for the Manette immediate departure from France Carton visits Darnay in prison, drugs him, and takes his place to die. As Darnay, Lucie, their child and Dr. Manette speed away from Paris, Madame Defarge arrives at Lucie’s apartment, hoping to arrest her. There she finds the supremely protective Miss Pross. A scuffle ensues, and Madame Defarge dies by the bullet of her own gun. Sydney Carton dies at the guillotine, finally bringing meaning to his life.
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B. Problem Formulation
This part contains the questions to be analyzed and based on the explanation of the background above. There are two questions that appear in this section. The questions are:
1. What are the injustices caused by the revolutionaries as reflected in the development of the plot?
2. How does the novel reveal criticism toward Revolutionaries as experienced by the characters through the plot in A Tale of Two Cities?
C. Objectives of the study
Based on the problems formulations stated above, the first objective is about the several injustices caused by the revolutionaries as reflected in the plot. The writer finds the content of the plot that is the injustices after analyzing the plot. Then the writer highlights the injustices and forms it into several injustices. The second objective, the writer elaborate the explanation of question number one, to reveal the criticism itself through the injustices happened in the novel. Thus, the second question will provide the evidence to reveal criticism towards the revolutionaries as seen in the novel.
D. Definition of term
This part consists of the prominent terminologies for the readers to understand. In order to understand this paper better, French Revolution and Revolutionaries are needed to answer the question in problem formulation.
1. French Revolution
French Revolution is happened in between 1789 and 1802; France was wrecked by a revolution which radically changed the government, administration, and military series of wars. France went from largely feudal state under an absolutist monarch to a republic which executed King Louis XVI (using of guillotine) and then to an empire under the regime of Napoleon Bonaparte. http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/p/ovfrenchrev.htm.
2. Revolutionaries
Revolutionaries or French people are people who overthrew their ancient government in 1789. They took as their slogan the famous phrase "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite". Equality, or doing away with privilege, was the most important part of the slogan to the French revolutionists. For equality they were willing to sacrifice their political liberty. They did this when they accepted the rule of Napoleon I. Fraternity, or brotherhood with all men, was also sacrificed. However, they did win equality before the law. http://history-world.org/french_revolution.htm 05/05/2010.
7 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel by Charles Dickens. Thus, people give comments and suggestion to criticize the literary works. It proves that they enjoy reading the story. They give an explanation to their comments and it helps the writer to get the information to analyze the works.
“If all French noblemen had been as willing to abandon their privilege as Darnay, if all intellectuals had been as willing to expose abuses as Dr. Mannete; if all men were as willing to make sacrifices for their fellows as Sidney Carton; then, we are expected to assume the world would be a far better place, in which revolutions would no longer take place and prisons would not build for men to buried in” (Woodcock; 1970, 22).
Based on the quote above, Woodcock criticized the society life that punishes members of the nobility and even the innocent. This gives a suggestion how to avoid the society’s anger. If they abandoned their privilege like Darnay and act as gentlemen like Mannete and Sydney at that time, the French noblemen would not create the worse condition, which may bring terror to others. Unfortunately, Dickens did not give suggestions on an ideal type of society as an example. He raised the criticism on the French Aristocrats attitude at that time, which made the social abuses without taking care of others. Woodcock also expected The French government and its people to have such a personality as Charles and Sydney have, so that the world could be better.
Woodcock explains that Darnay has a willingness to renounce the inheritance of his family and his position as nobleman. Moreover, he explains the value of being savior that Sydney Carton has sacrificed his life for Darnay and his family.
The writer also gives another quote to improve the thesis and in order to give additional knowledge about the situation happening during The Revolution.
’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, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only”. http://www.answers.com/topic/a-tale-of-two-cities-novel-7
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A Tale of Two Cities is full of sadness; it is full also of enthusiasm; there is one circumstance which does render important the fact that A Tale of Two Cities is one of the presently works of Dickens. This fact is the fact of his dependence upon another of the great writers of the Victorian era. The connection with this fact is we can best see the truth; the truth that his actual ignorance of France went with amazing intuitive perception of the truth about it. Here, he has the most clearly the plain mark of the man of genius; that he can understand what people do not understand (http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/twocities). The writer finds the fact in the early chapters of the novel that indicates Dickens’s thought about the specific situation where there is a different situation between France and England during the French Revolution. For the aristocrats in France and rising middle class in England, it was the best times for they are living in the pleasures and extravagance of life. For the poor, it is the worst times since they are dying of poverty. He is concerned with the revolutionaries. The change of mind occurs at the beginning of the terror, time, and occurrence is significant. History makes it perfectly clear that in every revolution there must be a certain amount of what is called cold blood killing.
B. Review of Related Theories
The theories used to support this study are the theory of character, the theory of conflict, the theory of plot, the theory of revolutionaries, and the theory of social class. The explanations of the theories are as follows:
1. Theory of Character
Character is person in dramatic or narrative work that will be interpreted by the readers to have certain attitude or quality through his conversation or action. The characters in this novel are based on narrator’s idea to create a person that has written through the attitude or even the conversation quality (Abrams, 1981: 20).
The other meaning of using the character, according to Harvey; A character is created by the author of the work, and the author has the right to create any character he wants (1968: 32). Moreover, the writer’s opinion according to Harvey’s theory is Dickens actually described himself into the character of Darnay and Sydney.
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2. Theory of conflict
According to Holman and Harmon (1986: 107-108) in a literary work, conflict holds an important role as an intrinsic element because it builds plot. He describes conflict as “the struggle that grows out of the interplay of the two opposing forces in a plot”. Conflict provides interest, suspense and tension. Thus, it is used to give the writer the information in order to answer the question of the problem formulation number one and two, and this theory gives the writer to judge the kind of conflict in the novel then to get a good analysis. Moreover, there are five kinds of conflicts;
a. Struggle against nature
b. A struggle against another person, usually antagonist c. A struggle against society
d. A struggle for mastery by two elements within the person
e. A fifth possible kind of conflict is often cited the struggle against fate or destiny.
Based on the description, conflict exists because of the gaps. For the first kind of conflict, the gap is between the character and the nature, the second one shows the gap among characters, the third shows the gap between the character and society, the fourth shows the gap between a character and something inside himself, and the fifth one shows the gap between a character and his fate. The conflict itself in the novel is number 2, 3, 4 and 5; the gap between the government’s system with the society and the gap among the classes are the main conflicts. The example is between Aristocrat and the society. We could say the
oppressed against the oppressor, between the societies, and reveal of the cruelty of Evremonde family towards Mrs. Defarge’s family. Then, it turned revenge and causes the innocent victims. Madame Defarge does a fatal thing and makes a terror for others.
3. Theory of Plot
All stories are unique, and in one sense there are as many plots as there are stories. In one general view of plot, however, one that describes many works of fiction, the story begins with rising action as the character experiences conflict through a series of plot complications that entangle him or her more deeply in the problem. This conflict reaches a climax, after which the conflict is resolved, and the falling action leads quickly to the story's end. Things have generally changed at the end of a story. It is often instructive to apply this three-part structure even to stories that do not seem to fit the pattern precisely.
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greatest point of tension and finally, in the end of the story, the conflict will be resolved. (1966:14-19).
4. Theory of social injustice
According to Aristotle's principle of injustice, Social injustice is a concept relating to the perceived unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rewards and burdens. The concept is distinct from those of justice in law, which may or may not be considered moral in practice. Social Injustice arises when equals are treated unequally and unequals are treated equally. This theory will take a role to criticize the revolutionaries who makes the revolution becomes worse. teachers.greenville.k12.sc.us/sites/jmckeith/.../Definition%20Essay.ppt (28 may 2011).
5. Theory of Justice
Rawls argues that the two principles that would be reached through an agreement in an original position of fairness and equality are, first, each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others and second, social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage and attached to positions and offices open to all. So, the writer’s opinions about the revolutionaries that they are actually make the injustice towards the aristocrats. http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/Readings/Rawl_Justice.pdf 6. Theory of Power Injustice
Power is intoxicating, but feelings of injustice soon sober up the one with the power. PhD student Joris Lammers investigated the role that the meaning of a
power situation has on the automatic effects of power. In his thesis he concludes that feelings of injustice reverse the automatic effects of power on behavior and cognition. The one with the power becomes more careful and the subordinate displays more uncontrolled behavior. The revolutionaries have the power on the revolution so that they do the power injustice.
7. Theory of Revolutionaries
The French people overthrew their ancient government in 1789 with their slogan, the famous phrase "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite". Equality, or doing away with privilege, was the most important part of the slogan to the French revolutionists. For equality they were willing to sacrifice their political liberty. They did this when they accepted the rule of Napoleon I. Fraternity, or brotherhood with all men, was also sacrificed. However, they did win equality before the law. With the meeting of the Estates-General on May 5, 1789, the Revolution began. The representatives of the Third Estate led the way. Some of the nobles and many of the clergy joined with them. They changed the name of the gathering from Estates-General, which represented classes, to National Assembly, which represented the people of France. The part of the document was the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It included the following points: http://history-world.org/french_revolution.htm
a. All men were born free with equal rights.
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c. Every person shall be free to speak, write, or print his opinions provided. d. The amount of taxes which a person is called upon to pay shall be based on
the amount of wealth that he possesses.
8. Theory of Social class
It can be defined as an unorganized group of people who become members by birth, or by later entry into the groups, who treat each other as approximate equals, who associate with each other more intimately than other persons from other groups within the society (Roucek and Warren in Sociology: An Introduction; 1959: 61). In other words, social classes have no formal organization, but each member of the class is tied to his/her class. The conflicts are happened between the aristocrats and the peasantry in the novel. It shows that they represent conflict in the different social class.
C. Review on the Historical Background
This section is contained of the record of the background that has happened. It will provide the information about French Revolution, Guillotine, destruction of Bastille, and The French Third Estate.
1. The French Revolution
It began in 1789 with the meeting of the States General in May. On July 14 of that same year, the Bastille was stormed: in October, Louis XVI and the Royal Family were removed from Versailles to Paris. The King attempted, unsuccessfully, to flee Paris for Varennes in June 1791. A Legislative Assembly
sat from October 1791 until September 1792, when, in the face of the advance of the allied armies of Austria, Holland, Prussia, and Sardinia, it was replaced by the National Convention, which proclaimed the Republic. The King was brought to trial in December of 1792, and executed on January 21, 1793. In January of 1793 the revolutionary government declared war on Britain, a war for world dominion which had been carried on, with short intermissions, since the beginning of the reign of William and Mary, and which would continue for another twenty-two years.
The Committee of Public Safety and the Revolutionary Tribunal were instituted immediately after the execution of the King. The Reign of Terror, during which the ruling faction ruthlessly exterminated all potential enemies, of whatever sex, age, or condition, began in September of 1793 and lasted until the fall of Robespierre on July 27, 1794: during the last six weeks of the Terror alone (the period known as the "Red Terror") nearly fourteen hundred people were guillotined in Paris alone. The Convention was replaced in October of 1795 with the Directory, which was replaced in turn, in 1799, by the Consulate. Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor in May of 1804.
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liberals as well, and by some who saw it, with its declared emphasis on "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity". http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist7.html.
2. The Guillotine
It designed by Dr Joseph Guillotine, a man described as kindly and who wanted to make execution more humane, the guillotine quickly became a symbol of tyranny during the French Revolution. Victims were placed on a bench, face down, and their necks positioned between the uprights. The actual beheading was very quick - often to the gathered crowd's disgust - taking less than half a second from blade drop to the victim's head rolling into the waiting basket. However, debate rages over whether the quickness of the execution was humane or not, as many doctors put forward the notion that it could take up to 30 seconds before the victim lost consciousness. That piece of gruesome news would not have worried the crowd, which continually called for aristocratic and royalist blood to be spilt. An estimated 40,000 people travelled on the tumbrels through Paris to die under Guillotine. http://www.napoleonguide.com/guillotine.htm
The facts and figures of Guillotine:
a. Total weight of a Guillotine was about 580 kilos (1278lb) b. The blade weighed over 40 kilos (88.2lb)
c. Height of side posts was just over 4m (14ft) d. The blade drop was 2.3m (88 inches)
e. Power at impact was 400 kilos (888lb) per square inch.
3. The Destruction of Bastille
This famous prison was originally the castle of Paris, and was built by order of Charles V., between the years 1370 and 1383, by Hugo Aubriot, Provost of Paris, at the Porte St. Antoine as a defense against the English. Afterwards when it came to be used as a State prison it was provided during the 16th and 17th centuries with vast bulwarks and ditches. On each of its longer sides it had four towers of five stories each, over which ran a gallery which was armed with cannon. It was partly in these towers and partly in cellars under the level of the ground that the prison was situated. The unfortunate inmates of these abodes were so effectually removed from the world without as often to be entirely forgotten, and in some cases it was found impossible to discover either their origin or the cause of their incarceration.
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the Faubourg St. Antoine, which by no means contented the exasperated multitude. Someone cut the chains of the first drawbridge, and a contest took place, in which one of the besieged and 150 of the people were killed or wounded; but the arrival of a portion of the troops, which had already joined the people, with four field pieces, turned the fortunes of the conflict in favor of the besiegers. Be Launay, the Governor, who had been prevented by one of his officers, when on the point of blowing the prison into the air, permitted the second drawbridge to be lowered, and the people rushed in, killing De Launay himself and several of his officers. The destruction of the Bastille commenced on the following day amid the thunder of cannon and the pealing of the Te Deum. This event in itself apparently of no great moment, leading only to the release of three unknown prisoners, one of whom had been its tenant for thirty years, broke the spirit of the Court party, and changed the current of events in France. http://chestofbooks.com/reference/A-
Library-Of-Wonders-And-Curiosities/The-Destruction-Of-The-Bastile-Of-Paris.html.
4. The French Third Estate
The French society then was divided into three classes, called estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy, the second State consisted the nobility, and the third estate consited peasants, city workers, the rich and poor middle class. Members of the Second Estate were highly privileged. They owned about a quarter of the land of France and held the highest offices in church, the government and the army. Some nobles owned large estates but paid almost no taxes. In feudal times, nobles continued to received produce, labor and fees for
various services of the peasants. The nobility expanded their privileges at the expense of the peasants.
It was one of three estates or ranks that made up the country of France. Estates separated the clergy from the noblemen, and the noblemen from the peasants. Anyway you look at it, it spells oppression.
The First Estate was made up clergymen. They were very wealthy and all they did was give sermons for the Second Estate and buy land. They worked together with the Second Estate to gain majority in voting.
The Second Estate was made up of everyone who worked for the government. That also included advisers and monarchy. The Second Estate also included aristocracy, land owners, and anyone of importance or money.
The Third Estate was the worst off of all three estates. They were everyone who didn't qualify to be in the First or Second Estate. They included lawyers, housewives and teachers, or in other words, peasants. They were the ones who were stuck with paying the King's taxes because in Louis's mind, they didn't do anything helpful to him. (http://www.smfc.k12.ca.us/stage/lalosh2/francepg1.html)
D. Theoretical Framework
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writer must be able to analyze the influences of main characters and other characters in the story toward the revolutionaries and the social condition at the time; there are also theory of conflict, theory of plot, theory of revolutionaries and theory of social class which take an important role to support analysis. It is also required for the writer to take review in descriptions during the French Revolution. In order to answer the question number one, the writer will use the theory plot that explain about the beginning, the middle, and in the end of story that based on Kenney’s Theory, it will also include the theory of character, conflict, revolutionaries. The second question the writer will reveal the criticism towards revolutionaries and it is based on the novel. Thus, those are related studies and the related theories have written in order to answer the question.
22 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
A.Object of the Study
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B. Approach
Socio-Cultural-Historical approach is an approach that sees a literary work as the imitation of certain reality, especially history and society in a certain time. Rohr Berger and Woods stated in their book explained that there is a relationship between society and literature. They argued that there are two important things in the relation: “First, that literature is not created in a vacuum, and second, that literature embodies ideas significant to the culture that produces it” (1971:9). Therefore, the analysis using socio-cultural-historical approach will focus to see the relation between a literary work and society, including the culture, in certain time of history. The socio-cultural-historical is the most suitable approach in this study because the study will focus on finding the relation the literary work and the social class in two different cultures, between English and French society when French revolution happened.
C.Method of the Study
The researcher uses library research, because all of the data are taken from books or journals that are related to the topic. In writing this paper, the first thing that the researcher does is finding a topic. In the process of finding the topic, the researcher read the novel many times to obtain the essence. After understanding the novel, the researcher tried to find books to be used in analyzing A Tale of Two Cities.
There are two kinds of sources that the researcher used in this study: the primary and the secondary. The primary source is the novel, while the secondary one is other books to find theories and other things needed in analysis.
In writing this research, the writer has done some steps. The first step was reading the Novel retold by Sidney Dark, understanding the novel in order to make the thesis which was essential and detailed. Secondly, the writer decided the topic to be discussed in this study, which was social criticism on Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. The writer used the characters description to portray the social issues to criticism. In order to clear what the conflict is through the character towards the social-condition at that time.
The next step was collecting sources, theories, and views that needed for the research. Then the writer conducted the analysis by answering the problem formulations using the knowledge that was gained from the primary and the secondary sources. The writer analyzed the characters that had significant roles in the story through what they had roled in the plot. Then, the writer combines the theory of character and plot to show the injustices toward the characters in the story. Finally, the writer explains the depiction of injustices experienced by the characters and the criticism towards revolutionists as revealed in the novel briefly. That is why the writer has chosen both theories to make a good analysis. The author’s criticism on it via historical will be shown. The last step is to draw the conclusion and to sum-up the discussion.
25 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
The writer will explain chapter IV in order to answer the problem formulation in the previous chapter. Firstly, the writer answers the question about the injustices experienced by the characters shown through the plot of the novel. The writer divides the plot into three parts. In the first part, the writer will draw the beginning of the plot which contains the exposition or the introduction of the story. The second part is about the middle of plot or complication that happened and rising toward the climax which has included also the injustices experienced by characters as the conflict. The third part is about the end of plot or falling action, or the part of plot after the climax, when the drama subsides and the conflict is resolved. Then, the writer also highlight the injustices that referring through the plot.
Secondly, after answering the first questions, the writer will continue by revealing the criticism towards revolutionaries. This analysis is based on the novel itself and the criticism is given to reveal the injustices towards the revolutionaries, including the revolutions, the hatred of one character to another character, the cruelty of the peasants to the aristocrats, the using of guillotine. Moreover, the criticism will also draw how another characters because of their love and friendship stop the cruelty even it must give self-sacrificing as a prized of the revolution. There is love from a father to his daughter, love from a lover to his beloved, and love from a friend to her best friend.
A.1. Depiction of the Plot
Kenney’s theory explains that there are three important structures of a plot. They are the beginning, the middle and the end. Each part of the plot has a role that explains the elements of the plot: exposition, complication, climax, and falling action or resolution.
This theory is used by the writer to analyze the first problem formulation and later, the writer highlights the injustices caused by the revolutionaries as reflected in the plot briefly. The explanation is as follows
a. Exposition
Exposition is the first part of plot that tells the reader what they should know. The exposition explains the basic information of the characters during the revolution. The first book of the novel is about what happened in 1775. Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellson's Bank, is travelling from England to France to bring Dr. Alexandre Manette to London on his return trip. Before crossing into France, he meets a 17 year old girl Lucie Manette at Dover, and reveals to her that her father, Dr. Manette, is not dead, as she has been told. Instead, he is a prisoner in the Bastille for eighteen years.
Lorry and Lucie travel to Saint Antoine, a suburb of Paris and meet Monsieur Ernest and Madame Therese Defarge. The Defarges run a wine shop where they use to lead a secret group of revolutionaries. They refer to each other by the codename "Jacques", as French revolutionary group.
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relative meet in his wine shop. Because of his long imprisonment, Dr. Manette enters a kind of craziness and has become obsessed with making shoes, Dr. Mannete is the ex-prisoner in Bastille who has lost his memory temporarily, all he does there in Bastille is making many kinds of shoes, all he remembers is only the named “One hundred and Five, North Tower” he never sees his daughter till finally his daughter finds him still alive and recalls to life. (bk.1 ch.6: 61).
“Did you ask me for my name?” “Assuredly I did.”
“One Hundred and Five, North Tower.” “Is that all?”
“One Hundred and Five, North Tower.”
At first, he does not recognize his daughter. Lucie who is born without understanding who her parents are, is an orphan, and later, she becomes an important character in book one to recall her father’s life to forget his darkness because he has a daughter who has been waiting for him for a long time. She has to suffer from this misery because of the cruelty of aristocrats who imprisons her father. Finally, Dr. Manette forgets it because he gets happiness with his daughter.
“O sir, at another time you shall know my name, and who my mother was, and who my father, and how I never knew their hard, hard history. But I cannot tell you at this time, and I cannot tell you here. All that I may tell you, here and now, is that I pray to you to touch me and to bless me. Kiss me! O my dear, my dear!” (bk.1 ch.6: 65).
Dr. Manette eventually recognizes his daughter by comparing compares her long golden hair with her mother's, which he finds on his sleeves when he is imprisoned. He notices her blue eyes color. Lorry and Lucie then take him back to England.
As for another exposition about the background of aristocrat, The Evrémonde’s family as the first estate, cause the anger of the lower people who want the old regime to change so they make a movement to throw it. This is caused by an old regime that has collected money from the lower class.
“Expressive signs of what made them poor, were not wanting; the tax for the state, the tax for the church, the tax for the lord, tax local, and tax general, were paid here, and to be paid there, according to solemn inscription in the little village, until the wonder was, that there was any village unswallowed”. (bk.2 ch.8: 137).
Gaspard who has also experienced an injustice by aristocrats, is very angry with the Marquis St. Evrémondes (Monsignor). Darnay's uncle, who runs over and kills the son of the peasant Gaspard throws a coin to him to compensate for his loss.
“You dogs!” said the marquis, but smoothly, and with unchanged front, except as to the spot on his nose: “I would ride over any of you very willingly, and exterminate you from the earth. If I knew which rascal threw at the carriage, and if that brigand were sufficiently near it, he should be crushed under the wheels.”(bk.2 ch.7: 134-135).
Then, Monsieur Defarge comforts Gaspard. As the Marquis's coach drives off, Defarge throws the coin back into the coach, enraging the Marquis. Gaspard follows the Marquis to his château, hanging under his coach.
“Monseigneur, it is true.”
“What did you look at, so fixedly?” “monseigneur, I looked at the man.”
He stopped a little, and with his tattered blue cap pointed under the carriage. All his fellow stooped to look under the carriage.
“What man, pig? And why look there?”
“Pardon, monseigneur; he swung by chain of the shoe-the drag.” “Who?” demanded the traveler.
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On the next night, Gaspard murders the Marquis while he is sleeping. He leaves a note saying, "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from JACQUES." (bk.2 ch.9: 153).
Dr. Manette is locked away in the Bastille by Darnay's father and his uncle for trying to report their crimes against a peasant family. Darnay's uncle has become obsessed with a girl, whom he has kidnapped, raped and whose husband is killed. Before she dies defending the family honor, the brother of the raped peasant has hidden the last member of the family, his younger sister. In the Bastille, Dr. Mannete writes what has happened on paper by using the mixture of his blood and charcoal from the chimney.
“These words are formed by the rusty iron point with which I write with difficulty in scrapings of soot and charcoal from chimney, mixed with blood, in the last month of the tenth year of captivity. Hope has quite departed from my breast. I know from terrible warnings I have noted in myself that my reason will not long remain unimpaired, but I solemnly declare that I am at this time in the possession of right mind-that my memory is exact and circumstantial-and that I write the truth as I shall answer for these my last recorded words, whether they be ever read by men or not, at the Eternal Judgment-seat. (bk.3 ch.10: 354).
Dr. Manette has lost everything, he is caught by two Evrémondes brothers, they are afraid in case their secret open in the court, so they take their own measure to punish Dr. Manette. Then, Dr. Manette sent to the Bastille, which is the place is dark and scared him.
“An urgent case in Rue St. Honore, he said. It would not detain me, he had a coach waiting.
“It brought me here; it brought me to my grave. When I was clear of the house, a black muffler as drawn tightly over my mouth from behind, and my arms were pinioned. The two brothers crossed the road from a dark corner, and identified me with a single gesture. The Marquis took from his pocket the letter I had written, showed it me, burned it in the light of a lantern that was held, and extinguished the ashes with his foot. Not a word
was spoken. I was brought here; I was brought to my living grave. (bk.3 ch.12: 367-368).
b. Complication
Complication is the basic tension, predicament, or challenge that develops a story’s plot. A conflict provides interest, suspense and tension. In a plot, a conflict takes an important part in the complication. The conflicts that later bring the rising action for revolutionaries. They storm the Bastille, capture the aristocrats, and kill the whole workers who work for the Aristocrat. The event is known as the French Revolution. The French people want a change and want to make revolution, by using the slogan "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" as their movement.
The revolutionaries storm Bastille which is a sign of destruction of aristocrats that will be exterminated. The aristocrats are murdered by the revolutionaries with their weapon and their passion of killing and revenge.
“Patriots and friends, we are ready! The Bastille!”
“To me, women!” cried Madame his wife. “What! We can kill as well as the men when the place is taken!” And to her, with a shrill thirsty cry, trooping women variously armed, but all armed alike in hunger and revenge.” (bk.2 ch.21: 243-244).
Darnay’s decision to go to Paris to save Gabelle makes him imprisoned. People are not concerned about what they have done. They are still angry with what Darnay’s father and uncle have done to the people.
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that, as he walked to and fro in the Temple considering what to do, he almost hid his face from passers-by. (bk.2 ch.24: 270).
When arriving there, Darnay is arrested and accused of being an enemy of revolutionaries or as a traitor by the lower class people. They hate the aristocrat and feel that this is the time to revenge.
The postmaster interposed himself between this man and the rider’s bridle (at which he was evidently making), and soothingly said, “Let him be; let him be! He will be judged at Paris.” “Judged!” repeated the furrier, swinging his hammer. “Ay!” and condemned as a traitor.” At this the crowd roared approval. (bk. 3 ch.1: 279-280).
Darnay is brought to court and is sent to the prison of La Force. He never knows what he has done, since the court stands for a new rule that every Evremonde or former oppressor must be punished.
“Without doubt. You are consigned, Evremonde, to the prison of La Force.”
“Just heaven!” exclaimed Darnay. “Under what law, and for what offence?”
“We have new laws, Evremonde, and new offences, since you were here.” He said it with hard smile, and went on writing. (bk.3 ch.1: 282)
It becomes worse that he has no barrister to defend him from the accusation. Defarge, the one whom he expects to save, is being rough to him. Defarge is only thinking about his hatred for the members of the Evremonde family.
“It is of the utmost importance to me (you know, citizen, even better than I, of how much importance), that I should be able to communicate to Mr. Lorry of Tellson’s Bank, an English gentlemen who is now in Paris, the simple fact, without comment, that I have been thrown into the prison of La Force. Will you cause that to be done for me?”
“I will do,” Defarge doggedly rejoined, “nothing for you. My duty is to my country and the people. I am the sworn servant of both, against you. I will do nothing for you.” (bk.3 ch.1:284).
Darnay is free from the accusation thanks to the influence of Dr. Manette. However, he is then rearrested because Defarge finds new evidence that he is a member of the aristocrats. The evidence comes from the letter that is written by Dr. Manette during his imprisonment.
The tension rises when Madame Defarge finally finds that the misery of her family is caused by Evremondes. Madame Defarge hopes the whole Evremondes get the punishment they deserved from the evidence that is read in court.
“I knew,” said Defarge, looking down at his wife, who stood at the bottom of the steps on which he was raised, looking steady up at him- “I knew that this prisoner, of whom I speak, had been confined in a cell known as One hundred and Five, North Tower. I knew it from himself. He knew himself by no other name than One hundred and Five, North Tower, when he made shoes under my care. As I serve that day, I resolve, when the place shall fall, to examine that cell. It falls. I mount to the cell, with a fellow-citizen who is one of the jury, directed by a jailer. I examine it, very closely. In a hole in the chimney, where a stone has been worked out and replaced, I find a written paper. This is the writing of Doctor Manette. I confide this paper, in the writing of Doctor Manette, to the hands of the president.”(bk. 3 ch.9: 352).
Madame Defarge is the only member of the peasant family who survives from the cruelty of the Evremonde’s family. The secret is uncovered when her husband shows the paper to the court about the cruel things that has been done by Darnay’s father and uncle.
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the ground was my sister, that husband was my sister’s husband, that unborn child was their child, that brother was my brother that father was my father, those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for things descends to me! (bk.3 ch.12: 377)
Madame Defarge knitted the whole Evremonde to the last of their race to be guillotined. She wants Darnay to feel about the misery and the loss of his family as she experiences before.
c. Climax
Climax is the plot's most dramatic and revealing moment. It is usually the turning point of the story. In A Tale of Two cities, the climax is the court will execute Darnay with the Guillotine. He then gets a capital punishment as an enemy of republic.
“Unanimously voted. At heart and by descent an Aristocrat, an enemy of the republic, a notorious oppressor of the people. Back to the Conciergerie, and death within four-and-twenty hours!” (bk.3 ch.10: 369).
When the day of the punishment arrives, there comes a hero. He is Sydney Carton who then replaces him on the day Guillotine’s execution. He exchanged Darnay’s executed in Guillotine day. Carton’s decision to sacrifice his life to save Darnay is very courage.
“Don’t fear me. I will be true to the death.”“Have no fear! I shall soon be out of the way of harming you and the rest will soon be far from here, please God! Now, get assistance and take me to the couch.”
“You?” said spy nervously. “Him, man, with whom I have exchanged. You go out at the gate by which you brought me in?” (bk.3 ch.13: 389)
Sidney also hears that Madame Defarge will kill Lucie and her daughter so he asks her to leave French. That is because Madame Defarge seeks for revenge against Darnay and his relatives. She demands the whole Darnay’s family to be exterminated or she will kill them by his own hands, so she takes a chance by herself to chase Lucie, little Lucie, and also Dr. Manette in order to destroy all the Evremondes completely.
“My husband has not my reason for pursuing this family to annihilation, and I have not his reason for regarding this doctor with any sensibility. I must act for myself, therefor. Come hither, little citizen.” (bk.3. ch.14: 396)
However, Madame Defarge’s effort to exterminate the whole Evremondes, is too late. They have escaped before she comes. Then Madame Defarge even fights Miss. Pross. During the fight when Madame Defarge takes her gun to shoot her down, Miss. Pross tries to defend herself, and finally has accidently shot herself.
Soon Madame Defarge’s hands ceased to strike, and felt at her encircled waist. “It is under my arm,” said Miss Pross, in smothered tones, “you shall not draw it. I am stronger than you, I bless Heaven for it. I’ll hold you till one or other of us faints or dies!” (bk.3 ch.14: 406).
d. Denouement
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At the denouement part, it is told that everybody is ready to witness the execution of Guillotine. The Vengeance waits for Madame Defarge. However, she never shows up, because she is already dead. The knitting women call Defarge’s name to witness the execution, but it is too late that the carts are empty and the knitters have counted heads that fall down to the ground.
All the devouring and insatiate monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, are fused in the one realization, Guillotine. And yet there is not in France, with its rich variety of soil and climate, a blade, a leaf, a root, a sprig, a peppercorn, which will grow to maturity under condition more certain than those produced horror. Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind. (bk.3 ch.15: 408)
The day when Sydney Carton will be executed by revolutionaries, he sees the angry people, as if he sees a new oppressor in the town, in France. The people’s hate goes wild and shows no mercy. They want bloods, bloods for revenge and blood for a change that they have waited for a long time.
“I see Barsad, and Cly, Defarge, The Vengeance, the juryman, the judge, long ranks of the new oppressors who have risen on destruction of the old, perishing, by this retributive instrument, before it shall cease out of its present this use. I see a beautiful city and brilliant people rising from this abyss, and, in their struggles to be truly free, in their triumphs and defeats, through long, long years to come, I see the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.”(bk.3 ch.15: 413)
All Sydney has done is to show something right and useful. He has also sacrificed himself to whom he loves although his love has been rejected by Lucie. He does it by replacing his friend, Darnay for his mistakes and he gives a lot of value to himself. He realizes that society make their world worse. He hopes the
world will be better after the revolution. Then, Carton is finally sentenced to death,
“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known.” (bk.3 ch.15: 414).
Carton, the failed, the drunkard, the hack of a mean self-seeker, has to quietly die instantly for his fellows without the feeling of anger. His idea to save Darnay is successful. This act of Carton also has an implied meaning that if someone wants to find a hero, he/she has to search among the failed, the despised, and the simple, or the sinners.
2. Injustices caused by Revolutionaries as reflected through the plot
Referring to the depiction of the plot shown in the previous explanations, the writer then highlights the injustices happened base on the plot. These explanations will make the important role in the first problem formulation in order to answer it.
a. Illegal Justice
The illegal justice is the unjust of law. The revolutionaries do the illegal Justice towards the character of Darnay. They break Darnay’s right to defend from the accusation and Darnay is not allowed to accompany by a barrister. He has not served well in court.
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before law. The use of Guillotine is the horrible acts to punish human. All the aristocrats and their servant are executed using the Guillotine.
b. Social injustice
Every one who is aristocrats or the enemy of republicans must be punished. Whether they are guilty or not the republicans have the right to decide what will happen to them. This injustice is caused by revolutionaries based on their hatred or revenge. All the innocent victims have been Guillotine in the name of the revolution. There is no Liberty, Equality, or Fraternity, but there is only a tyranny, terror, and anger to kill to take revenge. There is a change but in other side they also create cold blood, which the whole citizen become wild, uncontrolled by their over enthusiasm to the revolution itself.
c. Power injustice
The revolutionaries have a power to do whatever they want. They use their power to kill, threat, and robbing the property. They also collect money from every emigrant who comes to the French. This power change the revolutionaries from the oppressed to becoming the oppressors.
d. Inter-personal injustice
The historic event has grown becomes hatred. This is happened to Madame Defarge. She is looking to exterminate the aristocrats who was killed her family. Madame Defarge is finally reveled that her family is killed by Darnay’s family. She decides to make Darnay to feel her misery. Not only Darnay but also she targets his family to be exterminated. She uses her power as a member of revolutionaries to accomplish her own mission.
B. Criticism toward Revolutionaries as experienced by the characters explained first in earlier plot
Revolutionaries are presented by the third-estate who leads the revolution. The movement’s goals are to throw the legal regime, to change the monarchy system into Republic, and to erase the injustice that they have suffered. They come from peasants, the nobles and the clergies. They change the name of the gathering from Estates-General, which represented classes, to National Assembly, which represented the people of France. According to the data, it has been stated that based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the revolution itself includes the following points; all men were born free with equal rights; all citizens have the right to take part in electing representatives to make the laws; every person shall be free to speak, write, or print his opinions provided. But in contrast, what they have done is different from what they have declared and their goal. The fact that they want to change the legal regime becomes horrible and scary. Guillotine becomes a symbol of tyranny. Their new law also shows that they are the same as the old one, the revolutionaries becomes a new oppressor. In A Tale of Two Cities, some revolutionaries are looking for their own goals; to take revenge, to get the achievement, and later, they become the new oppressor with their new rule. A guillotine becomes the tool to satisfy the revolutionaries to revenge the all of aristocrats.
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story. Since A Tale of Two Cities is a novel that tells about the revolution and the members of revolutionaries are the French citizens, Defarges, Madame Defarge, and John Barsad who will be discussed also as criticism.
1. Related to injustices
This is the first criticism want to be discussed by the writer. The writer will show the criticism towards the revolutionaries through the injustices that happened in the novel.
a. Illegal injustices
Firstly, the Revolutionaries make a system of terror after doing the revolutions; they intimidate the aristocrats through their own way and it is far from their motto of revolution like liberty, equality, and fraternity. As we know they want liberation from the aristocrats about the high tax. But, in fact, the revolutionaries make a decree to the ex-aristocrats. This law is laid down without any debate or vote. In the story, it happens when Darnay is supposed to be an Emigrant, A person who leaves France to save their wealth because of fearing the revolution. The revolutionaries ask Darnay to give his properties into the republics and they insist him to pay the escort although he needs no escorts. Although Darnay is no longer becoming the next Evremonde and asks his servant not to order the peasant to pay tax, they, Darnay and his servant do not have any right to defend themselves.
Secondly, the revolutionaries break the equality before the law. This situation is shown in the character of Darnay by the fact that he is not accompanied by the barrister in the court. He gets a punishment although he has
done nothing wrong. Their argument to frame him is not reasonable that they have a new law.
One of the most worrying aspects of the French Revolution as portrayed in A Tale of Two Cities is the use of guillotine. Many believe that this is very brutal, that the French revolutionaries have a very cruel way of passion in taking the lives of the aristocrats. This causes the sympathy for the old regime of France and the members of the nobility at that time who was beheaded with a Guillotine. In the process of death punishment, it sometimes takes repeated blows to sever the head completely. The Guillotine must be confirmed that it is really sharp to cut off heads painlessly. As a matter of fact, the guillotine is then the only legal execution method in France.
b. Social injustices
In chapter 3 of Book three entitled “The Shadow,” Lucie, her daughter, and Miss Pross are sent by Mr. Lorry to a nearby temporary housing under the protection of Jerry. When Darnay is arrested, all they can do is to mourn and pray for him. England sees women as individuals who are not capable of defending themselves and must be protected. In France, women are depicted as equally to men. They join in battles and carry weapons. They take away lives. France sees women as strong and fearless individuals. As seen in the character of Madame Defarge who is a French woman.
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revolution. The revolutionaries in the end of the story are very satisfied to watch the death of aristocrats through the giant-killing machine, Guillotine.
Sydney Carton is a person who seems useless at the beginning of the story, but he finally changes himself from zero to hero. His act to replace Darnay for Guillotine becomes something valuable. His act is brave and gentle. He does something right and to show that love is not always joyful but needs sacrifice instead. The revolutionaries cannot show the feeling of love. What they want is just a blood from the aristocrats as revenge. Carton expresses his feeling before being sentenced by Guillotine. Finally, he can do something good and give the happiness to his friends and his lover. Carton’s death is to be seen as a sacrifice which shows that there is a criticism in the novel, because it tells about how a change requires virtue not violence or vices. This does not only show how the violence of the revolutionaries caused unfair cruelty toward the innocent victims, but it also shows that the innocent victims do not deserve those cruelties. Carton is an example of victims of the violence of the revolutionaries.
c. Power injustices
As in the novel A Tale of two Cities, the nobles are the oppressors and the peasants are the ones who are oppressed. The nobles are the picture of cruelty while the peasants are the picture of pitiful people. However, with the characters of Charles Darnay and Madame Defarge, the novel reveals the reverse portrayal of nobility and peasants. It brings to light that not all aristocrats are cruel. Some aristocrats including Darnay, do not want oppression nor possess a lust for money
and power. Some peasants, on the other hand, can be crueler than the aristocrats as what is shown by the character of the blood-lust Madame Defarge.
The French peasantry was oppressed by the French Aristocracy, and in the year leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality is demonstrated by revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats. It follows to the life of Darnay and the innocent victims through this revolution; Darnay is a French once-aristocrat who falls as a victim of the revolution although he is different from his father or his uncle who does the oppression and during the revolution he is being oppressed.
d. Inter-personal injustices
The criticism is aimed at Madame Defarge because she does not accept the condition of Dr. Manette. She knows that her family has been murdered by his son in-law’s relative, Darnay. As a republican, Dr. Manette has the right to release his son, but because of her hatred for Darnay’s family, she abandons the fraternity or solidarity to forgive him. She plans to kill Dr. Manette as a member of republican, because of his son in-law background in the past.
Madame Defarge is the vengeance of revolution in A Tale of two Cities, and she is a woman who has turned into a villain because of her desire for revenge. The final struggle between Madame Defarge and Miss Pross is a contest between the forces of hatred and love. It is the love that wins. This happens when Madame Defarge dies, through the accidental discharge of her own pistols.
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to please his daughter. On the other hand, Madame Defarge, She does not care whether Darnay is guilty or not. She wants to exterminate the whole Evremonde including Darnay, his wife, his children and Dr. Manette who tries to save her family.
2. Related to the Revolutionaries
Not only the injustices that the writer wants to analysis but also it is about the revolutionaries because they have done criticism. The revolutionaries are the people who make the revolution worse and horrible. They consist of The French citizens, Monsignor and Madame Defarge, and Solomon Pross or John barsad. The criticisms toward the revolutionaries are about their revenge, their brutality, and their own benefits. They are dominance in A Tale of Two Cities as criticism. a. The French citizens
The French citizens include the peasants, the patriots, citizens or people of French, and officer or republican armies. They have an enthusiasm to throw the old regime. They bring revolution and have an important action to attack and to destruct the Bastille.
“With a roar that sounded as if all the breath in France had been shaped into the detested word, the living sea rose, wave on wave, depth on depth, and overflowed the city to that point. Alarms-bells ringing, drums beating, the sea raging and thundering on its new beach, the attack began”. (bk.2 ch.21: 243)
Their action makes them to be an arrogant people. The revolutionaries turn to become oppressors. This is shown when they attack in chateau. They enjoy the power by burning the house and terrorizing around the chateau
