Tale Of Two Cities Resurrection Analysis

Resurrection is a common theme presented in everyday life through things like religion, life/death and even hope. In Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, the resurrection motif is used as a beacon for hope, rebirth and the revolution. Through these techniques, Dickens proves his belief that resurrection and rebirth affect everyone personally and socially in order to further demonstrate that it can have both negative and positive consequences.
To begin, Dickens uses resurrection to demonstrate hope: this is especially evident in scenes including Lucie Manette and her father. When Lucie and Mr. Lorry find Dr. Manette in the garret it is clear to see that Dr. Manette has gone into a deep psychosis, as stated in the literature, “He had …show more content…
This can also be used to prove that the Doctor is buried under his own mental struggle and there is little to no hope of him coming out of it. In spite of that he does come out of it. Five years later, Lucie and her father attend the trial of Charles Darnay. After the trial ends with Darnay being recalled to life, Doctor Manette and Lucie talk with Mr. Lorry and Mr. Stryver. The narrator goes on to describe, “Only his daughter had the power of charming this black brooding from his mind. She was the golden thread that united him to a past beyond his misery and to a present beyond his misery: and the sound of her voice, the light of her face, the touch of her hand, had a strong beneficial influence on him almost always” (70). Lucie manages to resurrect her father from the man he once was: deprived of light and hope. She continues to get rid of the “black brooding” in his mind and shed hope on him that was not there before. She “[unites] him to a past beyond his misery” where he is no longer affected by what he went through and a “present beyond his misery” where he can live his life without fear of being overcome by darkness. As a result, Lucie’s never ending hope for her father is the reason he is recalled to …show more content…
Throughout the novel the treatment of the poor by the wealthy foreshadows the start of the revolution. Monsieur the Marquis is a rich French aristocrat who does not care about the well-being of those financially below him. The Marquis stops in a poverty stricken town described as having “one poor street, with its poor brewery, poor tannery…It had its poor people too. All of its people were poor” (102). The repetition of the word “poor” delivers the fact that everything in this town is the same. These people have lived a monotonous lifestyle because of the barrier between the rich and the poor and it is justified to assume that they want a change. After the Marquis confronts a mender of the roads about a trespasser on his carriage, the narrator takes note of the appearance of the poor people in the town, “The half-dozen who were peering at the chain were still among the wheels, like sheep; the wheels turned so suddenly that they were lucky to save their skin and bones; they had very little else to save or they might not have been so fortunate” (104). Without any consideration as to where his wheels will fall, the Marquis leaves in his carriage quickly because the people no longer provide a use to him. The people are described as “sheep” because the nobles don’t see them as people and also because sheep are devoid of any discretion. The aristocracy has drained the poor of any hope of improvement, leaving it