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Examples Of Personification In A Tale Of Two Cities

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Maggie Moore E/C III Honors Mrs.Velazquez February 16th, 2023 The Immense Impact of Personification The use of personification takes a story from black and white to full color, acting as both a decorative device while supplying deeper meaning. Personification engages the reader both emotionally and intellectually, contributing a layer of depth to a story. Allowing the reader to see past literal meanings invites them to draw abstract conclusions and fully comprehend the text. Dickens' use of personification in A Tale of Two Cities incorporates emotion and appeal to his writing while foreshadowing future events and establishing the setting. This literary device is utilized in order to properly portray different occurrences throughout Book the …show more content…

Monseigneur, a French lord, is holding a gathering at his grand hotel in Paris. He surrounds himself with the finest service and the poshest company, dressed in the most exquisite clothing "The leprosy of unreality disfigured every human creature in attendance upon Monseigneur '' (Dickens 112). Dickens personifies the concept of unreality by giving it a serious disease, representing his opinion on the French Nobles. Monseigneur leads a very sheltered life, only coming into contact with other spoiled and entitled individuals like himself. Monseigneur is only interested in the things that concern his pleasure and is oblivious to the struggles of others. Through the use of this literary device, Dickens is making a point that the ignorance of the privileged population can be harmful, and this idea is foreshadowing the French Aristocracy losing power because of the Revolution. The third estate is angry that their voices and problems are not being heard by the government, so they act out and revolt. The French government will experience weakness and disfigurement, just like the symptoms of leprosy. At the same time Dickens is criticizing Monseigneur for his lavish practices and unawareness, he is filing an attack on the French Aristocracy as a whole. He uses the life of Monseigneur to paint a picture of the selfishness and decadence of wealthy elites prior to the revolution. As Dickens goes into detail describing how Monseigneur has only the best servants and treatment, he is portraying the contrast between the extravagant lifestyles of French Aristocrats and the poverty being faced by the rest of the population. This comparison helps the reader understand the social and economic inequality in France and establishes a climate of hatred that will eventually lead to the French

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Personification is when a writer gives human qualities to nonhuman things. The first example of personification occurs when the tavern knave describes the death of their friend to the three rioters. He says, “There came a privy thief, they call him Death… He speared him through the heart, he never stirred.” (Chaucer, ll.

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In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Gaspard, a representative of the peasant class, signifies the mistreatment by the wealthy and is used as one of the reasons for the burning of the Monseigneur’s château, as his hanging is alluded to by Dickens during the burning. Monseigneur runs over Gaspard’s son and kills him. In addition, Monseigneur “threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up” in a show of disrespect (Dickens 135), which shows how little the rich care about those who are below them. As a result, Gaspard kills Monseigneur and is “hanged there forty feet high--and is left hanging poisoning the water” (Dickens 210).

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A Tale of Two Cities, written by Charles Dickens, surrounds the cities of Paris and London during the late 1700’s. The novel takes place during the French Revolution, a period of social and political upheaval in France and England. While peasants died in the streets from hunger, aristocrats had more money and power than they knew what to do with. A Tale of Two Cities describes, in detail, the poverty of the time period, as well as the struggle of a people able to overcome oppression. The novel is largely based off of occurrences Dickens experienced during his childhood.

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