A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two CitiesIn the movie �A Tale of Two Cities� Jarvis Lorry, an
employee of Tellson's Bank, was sent to find Dr. Manette,
an unjustly imprisoned physician, in Paris and bring him
back to England. Lucie, Manette's daughter who thought that
he was dead, accompanied Mr. Lorry. Upon arriving at
Defarge's wine shop in Paris, they found Mr. Manette in a
very bad state and took him back to London with them.
In 1780, five years later, Lucie, Mr. Lorry and Dr.
Manette were called to testify against Charles Darnay, a
tutor who made constant trips between France and England
and was thus accused of treason, but Darnay was acquitted
when a lawyer, named Sydney Carton, looked much like him
and an eye witness faltered to positively distinguish
between them.
Carton loved Lucie but he was a drunk. Knowing that their
relationship was hopeless, he stated that he would
sacrifice himself for her or anyone she loved in an
emotional conversation. Darnay ended up marrying Lucie.
Darnay's uncle, the Marquiuis St. Evremonde, was
assassinated by the father of a child he ran over and
Darnay inherited the title, Marquiuis St. Evermonde, Now
along with this title came power. Darnay would not take it
because he did not want to exploit the French people as his
uncle did. Around 1790, while the French Revolution was in
full swing, Darnay decided to go to France to save a family
servant. Upon his arrival, he was immediately jailed. Lucie
and Dr. Manette soon showed up in Paris at the doorstep of
Tellson's French office, where Lorry already was present.
Dr. Manette managed to get Darnay released after a year,
yet he was re-jailed the same day by Madame Defarge because
his family, the Evremondes, had previously killed off her
family. Darnay was tried the next day and sentenced to
death.
Manette went back into his demented state with
hopelessness. Carton arrived in Paris and heard a plot to
also kill Lucie and Dr. Manette. Quickly, he made his way
into the prison with the help of spies and, with his close
resemblance, switched places with Darnay. Carton had
arranged for the escape of Lucie, Darnay, and Dr. Manette.
Madame Defarge had been killed by Miss Pross, a sort of
nanny to Lucie, and escaped with Lucie. Carton sacrificed
his life for Lucie, her father, and Darnay at the
guillotine and then died in victory.
Dickens attempted to show his readers the power and dangers
of a revolution in the origonial novel, and it is even
shown more in the movie. He had a clear underlying theme
that oppression and exploitation by an aristocracy will
cause a revolt by those being miss treated, a fact that
made the French Revolution inescapeable. Throughout this
movie, it was visible that Dickens drew a connection
between cruelty and disorder. Yet the power of love and
sacrifice were, in the end, linked with a renewal of
society. The harsh treatment of the aristocracy towards the
poor was constantly shown. In one case, the Marquis St.
Evremonde ran over a peasant child and just through a few
coins at the father to make up for this loss. The anarchy
of the revolution was shown by the many mobs that roamed
the streets of Paris. Many nobles had left France and there
was no powerful government. Therefore a direct connection
was drawn between the cruelty by the high society and the
outbreak of revolution turning quickly into chaos. Dickens
was biased with a sympathy for the fooled, especially for
children. The idea that the victimized, when forced for
long enough, would revolt was a central idea behind this
Dickins plot. The unjust imprisonment of Dr. Manette tore
him apart. He could never truly escape from his prison
experience and in moments of great stress he went back to
the insanity which Mr. Lorry and Lucie had found him in at
Book report..... 12thgrade.... A tale of 2 cities
Defarge's. Darnay had been tried often and came close to
conviction a number of times all due to the past actions of
his family. He was a mere victim of the past. Dickens
clearly showed strong support for Darnay and Dr. Manette
not only in the outcome, where they successfully escaped
France, but also throughout the story. When the peasant
child was run over by Marquis St. Evremonde, Dickens showed
a great deal of contempt for Evremonde, when he merely
offered a few coins as his remorse, and created a sense
that this was a terrible act.
I have learned a great deal about life during the early
French Revolution and viewed the anarchy with much inner
thought while watching this movie. Members of the upper
aristocracy were, in general, more conceited that I had
previously thought them to be. The numerous mobs were more
unstable then I had expected. They roamed, destroying at
random, and went on to a new task with little persuasion.
Many mobs cheered in joy for Darnay when he was acquitted
at his first trial in France but were just as excited when
he was condemned to death the second time. Society in
general during the French Revolution has become much
clearer to me. The movie it self was originally a little
difficult to understand until I became aware of the plot,
and with help from you. At that point I had no problem
following the plot, which actually became quite
interesting. The French Revolution was very well displayed
in all of its violence and anarchy. The underlying ideas of
oppression and anarchy made it enjoyable to see how the
characters interacted. I found Carton especially
interesting. He knew that Lucie would never seek after him,
before and after her marriage to Darnay, yet he devoted his
life to her and gave it up in the end for her. Despite all
of the depressing aspects of the movie, Dickens' theme of
renewl became much more visible towards the end and
actually was quite inspiring. As Carton gave his life for
Darnay and Lucie, his final vision of a better society,wich
was stated in the origonal novel left me with a hopeful
attitude and seemed to be an very good way to close.