Examples Of Duality In A Tale Of Two Cities

Back and Forth:How Duality effects A Tale of Two Cities

Duality is a big part of the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, so much that it is one of the biggest part of the novel itself. Dickens negates duality to show the change of the characters throughout the novel, including Darnay versus Carton, Dr.Manette versus Jerry Cruncher, and Lucie versus Madame Defarge. In some instances readers see the roles of each character completely switch between the two. This builds character between these two characters in ways that affect them both. Dickens negates duality between characters to show the gradual change between them all.

Darnay and Carton are two different people, but are similar in ways that impact the outcome of the novel. Darney

Madame Defarge is a woman who empowers herself to try to make the city of France better for the peasants;and Lucie is a young girl trying to find the truth, demonstrated by their actions throughout the novel. Lucie “was the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond his misery”(77), linking everyone together and keeping the strength of all together. Madame Defarge is a wine shop owner planning a revolution against the Aristocracy of France with her husband, Monsieur Defarge,as revenge for what they had done to her. Madame Defarge lost her family at a young age by the hands of aristocrats. Her sister was raped by Charles father and uncle, and she would only say “My husband, my father, my brother”(313), as they were all killed by the Evrémonde brothers. Therese (Madame Defarge) was put into hiding to prevent the men from getting to her, and now she wants revenge on all aristocrats. As the leader of this revolution, she has worked out codes to use, as she “coughed another grain of cough,and raised her eyebrows”(32), she signals to the “Jaques” that there is a spy within the wine shop. Madame Defarge is a woman of no pity for anyone,which is seen after the mob has stormed the Bastille, and Madame Defarge “[…]released seven gory heads on pikes”(212) to send a message on who now has control of France. Lucie loves her family, even when her husband Darnay was imprisoned, “She waited there [for] two hours”(268), even without knowing if a Darnay was alive or