In Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, the revolutionaries' actions contradict the supposed ideals of reason with rash decisions blinded by revenge, and supposed ideals of progress because of savage and backward thinking demonstrated by the mob. The Enlightenment was a time of reason and increase in individualism that took place in the 18th century. Prior to the French Revolution, the Age of Reason pushed for equality and logical thinking. The values of reason are disregarded and contradicted when the revolutionaries’ urge “one another, and themselves, to madness with the wildest cries and actions”(221) even if the issue does not pertain to them. They leave “their aged and their sick crouching on the bare ground famished…”(221) while they seek
