A Brief Analysis of the Main Theme of A Tale of Two Cities.doc

双城记的主题简分析a brief analysis of the main theme of a tale of two citiescontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction.11.1introduction to the author.11.1.1the authors fame.11.1.2the authors growth and main works.21.1.3the authors writing skills in this novel.31.2introduction to the story.31.2.1the content of the novel.31.3introduction to the background of the french revolution.4ii. the main theme.5iii. main characters.63.1 doctor manette.63.2 lucy manette. .63.3 darnay.73.4 carton.73.5 mrs defarge.7iv. analysis of difference characters.74.1benevolence.84.2animosity.12v. conclusion.13references.14摘 要: 双城记是狄更斯晚年的一部力作.作者以法国大革命为时代背景,在人道主义的旗帜下,通过几个家庭的悲剧故事和一段凄美的爱情故事,表现出法国大革命的血腥恐怖,从而呼吁英国政府用仁爱对抗暴力,用仁爱拯救英国子民.作者的人道主义思想感情色彩在这部小说里得到了充分的展现.本文从作者的情感思想的对比(即暴力和仁爱)着手来研究双城记中作者的人道主义观点.同时,对作者的生平和主要作品以及当时的时代背景进行介绍,是我们能更好地了解作者的人道主义观点在作品中的体现.关键字:双城记;人道主义;暴力;仁爱abstract: a tale of two cities is one of charles dickens main works in his old time. the author took the french revolution as the background and took humanitarianism as the flag to display the bloody horror of the revolution through several families tragic story and a deplorable love story. dickens aimed for appealing the authority to use benevolence to resist violence and use mercy to save the mass in britain. the authors colorful humanitarianism views were fully expressed in this novel. this paper will study the dickens humanitarianism views in a tale of two cities through the contrasts among the authors emotion thoughts, meanwhile, i will introduce the authors experience, main works and the historical background at that time, which will make us get better knowledge of dickens humanitarianism views displayed in this novel.key words: a tale of two cities; humanitarianism; violence; benevolencei. introduction 1.1 introduction to the authorthis paper mainly talks about the authors emotion thoughts such as love and animosity and what should to be done when facing them. before we discuss it, we must have some understanding of the author.1.1.1 the authors famecharles dickens was one of the great figures in english literature and has maintained his popularity to the present day because of his breadth of appeal. many of the characters he created have passed into a sort of modern mythology while many of his quotations have become part of everyday language. his works have been translated into practically every language and his novels have been adapted to plays, films, musicals, and so on. his unique bend of humor, pathos and humanitarianism resounds through all his works, and made him widely popular in his time. today, he is generally regarded as a serious literary artist as well as a social analyst. his depiction of victorian society as being industrialized, greedy, and self important has earned him a seat among the great morally and socially responsible writers of history.1.1.2the authors growth and main workscharles dickens was born in landport, hampshire on february 7, 1812. his father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended up in financial troubles. in 1814 dickens moved to london, and then to chatham, where he received some education. he worked in a blacking factory, hungerford, london, while his family was in marshalea debtors prison in 1824. in 1824-27 dickens studied at wellington house academy, london, and at mr dawsons school in 1827. from 1827 to 1828 he was a law office clerk, and then worked as a shorthand reporter at doctors commons. he wrote for true son (1830-32), mirror of parliament (1832-34) and the morning chronicle (1834-36). he was in the 1830s a contributor to the monthly magazine, and the evening chronicle and edited bentleys miscellany. in the 1840s dickens founded master humphrys clock and edited the london daily news. dickens career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays appeared in periodicals. his sketches by bos and pickwick papers were published in 1836. in the same year he married the daughter of his friend george hogarth, catherine hogarth.the pickwick papers were stories about a group of rather odd individuals and their travels to ipswich, rochester, bath and elsewhere. dickens novels first appeared in monthly installments, including oliver twist (1837-39), which depicts the london underworld and hard years of the founding oliver twist, nicholas nickelby (1838-39), a tale of young nicklebys struggle to seek his fortune, and the curiosity shop (1840-41). among his later works are david copperfield (1849-50), where dickens used his own personal experiences of work in a factory, bleak house (1852-53), a tale of two cities (1859), set in the years of the french revolution and great expectations (1860-61). from 1840s dickens spent much time traveling and campaigning against many of the social evils of his time. in addition he gave talks and reading, wrote pamphlets, plays, and letters. in the 1850s dickens was founding editor of household words and its successor all the year round (1859-70). in 1844-45 he lived in italy, switzerland and paris. he gave lecturing tours in britain and the united states in 1858-68. from 1860 dickens lived at gadshill place, near rochester, kent. he died at gadshill on june 9, 1870. the unfinished mystery novel the mystery of edwin drood was published in 18the authors writing skills in this novel(1). the install of plots and picture.a tale of two cities take doctor manette as the center through the family lifes historical change and the mass struggles life background, and it compared two places (london and paris) to display the historical picture of the french revolution.(2). narration.the author used narration and description, and he did not use comment.(3). contrast.contrast was very obvious in this novel. it took oppression and resistance as border to express the theme through the aspects of city and country; the life picture of france and england. dickens used countrys poor to reflect the courts luxury; the peoples resistance to reflect the marquis violence the authors humanitarianism views were better revealed through those contrasts. 1.2 introduction of the story novel a tale of two cities was written by charles dickens in 1859. it was first published serially in all the year round from 30 april to 26 november and in eight monthly parts from june to december in the same year. this story is considered a masterpiece of charles dickens and one of the most successful novels in the world.1.2.1 the content of the novelthe novel is set in the french revolution; it is divided into three parts: recalled to life; the golden thread; the track of a storm. two cities refer to london and paris, there are two clues spreading in the former two parts of this novel, and combined to be one in the last part, one is doctor manette family in london, which represents the thought of benevolence and mercy, the other one is couple defarges drinkery in paris, which represents the thoughts of animosity and revenge.the story happened in 1775, an unstable and dark year. mr jarvis lorry was a clerk and had worked in t.and co.bank in london for more than 20 years. he and a girl called lucy came to defarges drinkery in paris to pick up an old man whos lucys father doctor manette who was imprisoned in bastille secretly for 18 years. five years later, under the daughters good tendance, he recovered and lived on doctor. a young frenchman charles darnay and a young englishman carton both fell in love with lucy, surprisingly the two young men looked like each other very much but quite different in personalities. lucy chose darnay and they got married before long, in that case, carton gave up, he addicted with wine, after knowing darnays true pedigree, doctor manettes spirit was once abnormal because darnay was the nephew of a loth noble in paris. however, after their marriage, lucy used her love to enlace the family into a happy one.in paris, its dirty, duck, poor and illness, evremonde carriage crushed a boy, he threw out a gold coin and went away at one night, this lord was murdered in his bed, the day had come, that the poor people streamed to bastille, the french revolution had broken out, nobles escaped here and there. darnay came back to france in order to save an old housekeeper. however, as soon as he arrived in paris, he was jailed secretly, only because hes the nephew of the murdered noble. doctor manette and lucy tried their best to save him but in vain in that manettes letter disclosed that he and mrs defarges family were victims of evrimonde. at that night, carton used his idea to replace darnay, walked to death the next day. mrs defarge was dead when she fighted with lucys maid, doctor manettes family escaped out of the dangerous paris. 1.3 introduction to the background of the french revolutionfrench revolution, major transformation of the society and political system of france, lasting from 1789 to 1799. during the course of the revolution, france was temporarily transformed from an absolute monarchy, where the king monopolized power, to a republic of theoretically free and equal citizens. the effects of the french revolution were widespread, both inside and outside of france, and the revolution ranks as one of the most important events in the history of europe. during the ten years of the revolution, france first transformed and then dismantled the old regime, the political and social system that existed in france before 1789, and replaced it with a series of different governments. although none of these governments lasted more than four years, the many initiatives they enacted permanently altered frances political system. these initiatives included the drafting of several bills of rights and constitutions, the establishment of legal equality among all citizens, experiments with representative democracy, and the incorporation of the church into the state, and the reconstruction of state administration and the law code. many of these changes were adopted elsewhere in europe as well. change was a matter of choice in some places, but in others it was imposed by the french army during the french revolutionary wars (1792-1797) and the napoleonic wars (1799-1815). to later generations of europeans and non-europeans who sought to overturn their political and social systems, the french revolution provided the most influential model of popular insurrection until the russian revolution of 1917.from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970s, the french revolution was most commonly described as the result of the growing economic and social importance of the bourgeoisie or middle class. the bourgeoisie, it was believed, overthrew the old regime because that regime had given power and privilege to other classesthe nobility and the clergywho prevented the bourgeoisie from advancing socially and politically. recently this interpretation has been replaced by one that relies less on social and economic factors and more on political ones. economic recession in the 1770s may have frustrated some bourgeois in their rise to power and wealth, and rising bread prices just before the revolution certainly increased discontent among workers and peasants. yet it is now commonly believed that the revolutionary process started with a crisis in the french state. by 1789 many french people had become critical of the monarchy, even though it had been largely successful in militarily defending france and in quelling domestic religious and political violence. they resented the rising and unequal taxes, the persecution of religious minorities, and government interference in their private lives. these resentments, coupled with an inefficient government and an antiquated legal system, made the government seem increasingly illegitimate to the french people. the royal court at versailles, which had been developed to impress the french people and europe generally, came to symbolize the waste and corruption of the entire old regime.ii. the main themea tale of two cities has profound significance. from the historical angle, it vividly displayed the cause of the french revolution and the intense class conflict in france and england, also this book fully described peoples tribulation before the revolution; from the realistic angle, the author saw the incisive contradictions through the prosperous surface in england, just like the pre-revolutionary france, therefore, he hoped the rulers could get experience from france and did not make the same mistake.dickens compared the two cities, one was peaceful, the other one was unstable; one cultured a peaceful angel, the other one cultured a “godless of revenge”dickens thought revolution was pure revenge and its very harmful. in the story, doctor manette could use benevolence to face his enemy and got a new life, so the country should do like this, that is to choose peace to resist revolution. taking violence to revenge only can bring great pains to its people. lucy, the peaceful angel, used her love to have relieved the resistance between two generations. for a country, the government can play the role of lucy too; it can use peace to relieve resistances among different classes (at that time, the main classes in england were feudal and bourgeoisie). the human beings must use benevolence to save them by themselves. that is the main theme of this novel and the purpose of charles dickens.iii. main characters3.1 doctor manettedoctor manette was the books protagonist. when he was young, he was a righteous doctor in paris. one night, he was forced to pay a home visit and discovered the infamy of marquis evremonde who ill-treated a young brother and sister. doctor manette decided to disclose this to the court but unfortunately his disclosing letter had been fallen into the marquis hands, so he was secretly put into the bastille for 18 years and he became abnormal because he was badly torturered. 18 years later he was saved by his daughter lucy and his old friend lorry. he recovered under the good care of his daughter. opportunely lucy fell in love with the nephew of marquis evremonde. considering his daughters happiness and her lovers treacherous action of his family, doctor manette gave up the animosity piled up in his heart for many years and agreed their marriage. doctor manettes benevolence had beaten his animosity. hes a really great man.3.2 lucy manette.lucy manette was doctor manettes beautiful daughter, she grew up in london. on hearing her father was still alive, she soon came to paris to save him with lorry. they succeeded and she tried her best to take care of her beloved father, never giving up, until he recovered. after darnay was arrested, she quickly came to paris to save him with her father; she used all her energy and did not lose heart because she had a strong belief. from these, we can see how brave she was! she was not afraid of difficulties and so kind hearted. when facing difficulties, she appeared like a man to overcome them. she always used her love to take care of her father, her husband, her family and people around her. in this book, she was so great that won all the readers honors.3.3 darnaydarnay was a frontal man though he was the nephew of marquis evremonde. during his childhood, he spent most of his time with his mother, both of whom disliked the infamy of their family. but they could not do anything to prevent them and what they could do was far away from them. darnay came to london and led his life as a french teacher after his growing-up. in london, he fell in love with lucy and married her. they led a happy life, however, the revolutionst in paris cheated him that his old servant was arrested and he came back to paris to save him. after his arriving, he was caught and sentenced to death only because he was the nephew of the marquis who did lots of ugly things. on the afternoon before his death day, he was saved by his love competitor and friend. at last, he escaped from paris with family.3.4 cartonin the story, carton was a tragic character. he fell in love with lucy manette as well as darnay, but lucy accepted darnay. from then on carton drank wine to release his pang day by day. at lucy marriage, he promised her that he would do anything for her as long as her happiness. after darnays arrestment, he used the idiosyncrasy that his looks much like darnays to persuade him to pretend to be him to escape. he succeeded but was beheaded the next day. he paid out all of himself to prove his true love. many female readers sympathized him and spoke highly of him.3.5 mrs defargemrs defarge was a sacrifice of the social tragedy in the french revolution. she was the little sister of the sister and brother who were ill-treated to death by marquis evremonde. she survived only because she was far away from them when the tragedy happened. therefore, she hated the marquis and the upper class very much. the seed of animosity had been planted in her heart since she was a young girl. in the revolution, she behaved so brave that others called her “a great women” and her husband called her “the revenge godless”. she insisted that darnay even his wife and their little daughter should be punished because of darnays birth. she became so ruthless by reason of animosity that she lost humanity. she died from her own gun in the fight of lucys maid. in her