Streaked with Red
16th and 17th century Europe was a time of turmoil and change. Revolutions were shaping and transforming the country by means never seen before. Two books, Les Misérables and A Tale of Two Cities, are perfect examples that demonstrate the chaos of that time. One book, Les Misérables, is written by Victor Hugo, who is French, whereas the author of A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens, an Englishman. However, while Les Misérables and A Tale of Two Cities differ in many ways, the overall theme from these stories is similar.
Revolutionists were a core focus in both books but they were shown in drastically different lights. In A Tale of Two Cities, revolutionists are shown as bloodthirsty and cruel. For example, the story focuses …show more content…
Madame Defarge is a cunning leader who takes charge and is not afraid to get her hands dirty. In one part of the story when Darnay has been arrested for coming to France, his wife Lucie begs Defarge to open her heart and get her husband out of the jail he has wrongly been thrown in. She begs, “O sister-woman, think of me. As a wife and mother” (Dickens 267). Lucie is trying to reach Defarge’s motherly instincts and convince her to please, just this once, release her husband who is an innocent man. Unfortunately, Defarge coldly refuses and shoots back with, “The wives and the mothers we have been used to see, since we were as little as this child, and much less, have not been greatly considered?” (Dickens 267). Since Darnay is an aristocrat, in her eyes he is the same as the many other corrupt, evil men before him. She is shown as being a cold-hearted monster that would let a noble man with a wife and kids who was at the wrong place at the wrong time die because of his family’s past. Whereas in A Tale of Two Cities where the enemies were revolutionists, in Les Misérables the main characters who the audience perceives as the “good guys” fight in their revolution and are seen as outstanding heroes. For
16th and 17th century Europe was a time of turmoil and change. Revolutions were shaping and transforming the country by means never seen before. Two books, Les Misérables and A Tale of Two Cities, are perfect examples that demonstrate the chaos of that time. One book, Les Misérables, is written by Victor Hugo, who is French, whereas the author of A Tale of Two Cities is Charles Dickens, an Englishman. However, while Les Misérables and A Tale of Two Cities differ in many ways, the overall theme from these stories is similar.
Revolutionists were a core focus in both books but they were shown in drastically different lights. In A Tale of Two Cities, revolutionists are shown as bloodthirsty and cruel. For example, the story focuses …show more content…
Madame Defarge is a cunning leader who takes charge and is not afraid to get her hands dirty. In one part of the story when Darnay has been arrested for coming to France, his wife Lucie begs Defarge to open her heart and get her husband out of the jail he has wrongly been thrown in. She begs, “O sister-woman, think of me. As a wife and mother” (Dickens 267). Lucie is trying to reach Defarge’s motherly instincts and convince her to please, just this once, release her husband who is an innocent man. Unfortunately, Defarge coldly refuses and shoots back with, “The wives and the mothers we have been used to see, since we were as little as this child, and much less, have not been greatly considered?” (Dickens 267). Since Darnay is an aristocrat, in her eyes he is the same as the many other corrupt, evil men before him. She is shown as being a cold-hearted monster that would let a noble man with a wife and kids who was at the wrong place at the wrong time die because of his family’s past. Whereas in A Tale of Two Cities where the enemies were revolutionists, in Les Misérables the main characters who the audience perceives as the “good guys” fight in their revolution and are seen as outstanding heroes. For