Violence In A Tale Of Two Cities Essay

Violence is using physical force to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something. The historical fiction novel, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, has many scenes of violence that add to the meaning of the novel. The novel is set in the period of the French Revolution, which explains why there is so much violence in the novel. The scenes of violence in the novel are due to oppression, social injustice, and vengeance, which play a vital role in the meaning of the novel. One of the many incidents of violence due to oppression is when a mob of the lower class, including Monsieur Defarge and Madame Defarge, go against one of their many oppressors, a man named Foulon. Foulon had told the hungry, “they may eat grass” (Dickens 219). He had faked his death because he feared the uprising of the lower class. However, his plan backfired because Defarge realized he was alive after seeing him moments before. Once Defarge got his people riled up, they went on and attacked. The mob said, “Give us the head of Foulon” and other horrific things (Dickens 221). They attempted to hang him twice but were unsuccessful until the third time. The mob then put his head on a pike “with grass enough in the mouth for all Saint Antoine”(Dickens 223). The murder of Foulon could have been avoided if the aristocrats of France had simply treated the

A mob of revolutionaries stormed the Bastille and fought for “four fierce hours” (Dickens 213). The Bastille surrendered, and Defarge ordered the release of all “The Prisoners!”(Dickens 214). Defarge also ordered to see a specific cell of the Bastille, Doctor Manette’s old cell. Doctor Manette was, like many other prisoners, unjustly imprisoned. After releasing the prisoners, the revolutionaries carried “seven gory heads on pikes” (Dickens 217). The social injustice the lower class faced caused the violence at the Bastille and the freedom of its