There was nothing revealed by the many eyes that looked at him but watchfulness and eagerness; there was no visible menacing or anger. Neither did the people say anything; after the first cry, they had been silent, and they remained so. The voice of the submissive man who had spoken, was flat and tame in its extreme submission. Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes over them all, as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens clearly illustrates the vast chasm that had emerged between the French aristocracy and the peasants at the time of the French Revolution. His vivid depiction of the conflict between the rich and poor in France is similar to, but more extreme than, his depictions of class struggles in England in his other novels. Strife between the wealthy and the poor was an issue that weighed heavily on Dickens. Equality and justice were virtues he greatly cared about, as can be seen in all his novels. However, A Tale of Two Cities is especially grim. Charles Dickens is clearly warning his English readers that if the poor are oppressed and not treated justly, then terrible things will happen in England just as they happened in France. Dickens’ opinion of class struggle can be clearly seen in his own life, his portrayal of the cruel French aristocracy, and his depiction of the oppressed French peasantry.
Born in 1812, Charles Dickens was an English writer described as “a moralist, satirist, and social reformer,” who “crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society,” (Langbauer). Dickens was not a member of the upper classes in London. When Dickens was 12, his father was arrested and he had to work in a shoe blacking factory to sustain his family. These experiences scarred Dickens, and although he kept his father’s imprisonment and his factory work a secret from everyone, even his wife, those events obviously influenced and inspired his novels. Dickens deeply related with the poor in London because he had once been in their same situation. He knew how terrible the factories and workhouses were. However, even worse than the poverty in London was the oppression the poor in France had experienced during the 1700s, just a century earlier. Dickens saw that the atrocities of the French Revolution would be repeated in England if justice and social equality were not pursued. He illustrated this in A Tale of Two Cities when he says, “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,” (Dickens, 218).
Dickens clearly showed just how crushing the “hammers” were in A Tale of Two Cities, describing many cruel acts of the aristocracy, especially of the Evremondes. The Marquis, Charles Darnay’s uncle, is “a symbol of the ruthless aristocratic cruelty that the revolutionaries seek to overcome,” (JetWriters). The aristocrats are greedy, selfish, prideful, and ruthless in A Tale of Two Cities. This is illustrated in the above quote from Dickens, when he says “Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes over them all, as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes.” This describes the aristocracy’s view of peasants: they were rats. The French nobles didn’t see every person as made in God’s image, ruling the lower classes with an iron fist and exacting from the peasants whatever they wanted. Not only were there several incidents of cruelty and murder done by the Evremondes, but the policies of the aristocrats as a whole were terrible. The taxes were especially oppressive, so that it was amazing “that there was any village left unswallowed,” (Dickens, 67). One of the most terrible atrocities performed by the aristocrats was done by Charles Darnay’s father, who, according to Doctor Manette’s letter, raped a girl and killed both her husband and her brother. Charles Dickens informs us that this is not a one-time event; aristocrats often committed crimes and were not brought to justice.
Dickens adds more emphasis to his depiction of the merciless upper class by illustrating the results of their brutality on the peasants of France. The quote at the beginning of this paper clearly portrays how beaten down and subdued the peasants were, their spirits broken and submissive, fearful of what the nobles’ whims might bring upon them. But in many of the people of France there lies hidden a great resentment, and in some, a burning desire for revenge. One of these people longing for revenge is Madame Defarge, the younger sister of the girl raped by Darnay’s father. Madame Defarge desperately wants the total extinction of all the Evremondes, even Darnay, Lucie, and their daughter, as can be seen in her quote, “Then tell wind and fire where to stop, but don’t tell me,” (Dickens, 200). The French aristocrats, in their inhumane oppression of the peasants, had so beaten them down that they became savage, bloodthirsty beasts who had “faces hardened in the furnaces of suffering until the touch of pity could make no mark on them,” (Dickens, 129). After so many years of tyranny, the French peasantry finally exploded, incinerating the nobility and shattering their country, slaughtering thousands of people at the guillotine.
Class struggle is a very obvious theme in A Tale of Two Cities, as can be seen in Dickens’ representation of the French aristocracy and oppressed lower classes. This theme definitely applies to modern American society, which has rich people, a middle class, and poor people. However, classes in America aren’t very defined and obvious like they were in 18th century France, and the American political system is very different from the French monarchy. There is no aristocracy in America, but it is still possible for people to be cruel or oppress those who are less rich and powerful. In America, it can’t be as extreme as it was in France, but oppression can still happen, so everyone must remember to “Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked,” (Holy Bible, Psalm 82:3-4). Proverbs 22:2 says, “The rich and the poor have this in common, The Lord is the maker of them all,” so all people should treat each other with respect and obey God (Holy Bible). Later in the same chapter, it reads, “He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, And he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty,” which clearly happened in the French Revolution (Holy Bible, Proverbs 22:16). The government should not oppress the poor, instead promoting equality and justice, “learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow,” (Holy Bible, Isaiah 1:17). However, paying taxes is not wrong, and it’s the government’s right to impose taxes, as seen in Luke 20:25: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” (Holy Bible). What is clearly wrong are the crimes done by the Evremondes and other aristocrats, as Job 24 shows. Part of that chapter reads, “the murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and needy; and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he disguises his face,” an accurate description of the Evremondes, but later in the chapter it says, “They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone. They are brought low; they are taken out of the way like all others; they dry out like the heads of grain,” (Holy Bible, Job 24:14-15, 24). Let us not be like them!
Works Cited
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1982. Bible.com, https://www.bible.com/.
JetWriters. “A Tale of Two Cities – Social Injustice Essay.” JetWriters, https://jetwriters.org/a-tale-of-two-cities-social-injustice-essay/. Accessed 21 February 2022.
Langbauer, Laurie. “Charles Dickens Biography.” Charles Dickens, Classic Literature Library, https://charles-dickens.org/charles-dickens-biography.php. Accessed 21 February 2022.
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