Harrison 1 (Attention Getter). Guillotines played significant role in the history of England and France during the French Revolution. According to Susan Banfield, the guillotine was first introduced in France in 1792. A guillotine consisted of a large, heavy knife blade that could be raised and allowed to fall between two grooved posts connected at the top by a crossbar (136-137). The killing machine of the French Revolution is what the guillotine in commonly known as. Deaths of many noteworthy people took place by way of the guillotine including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As well as in history, the guillotine also played an exceptionally important role in the novel A Tale of Two Cities. Guillotines contributed in many different ways, but it played a major role in the themes. Major themes and motifs of the story can all be linked with the guillotine and the main themes are sacrifice, violence, and revenge.
The Guillotine plays an extremely significant role in the novel A Tale of Two Cities, especially as it relates to the major motif of sacrifice. Guillotines …show more content…
Revenge is an extremely prevalent theme in A Tale of Two Cities. Madame Defarge plays a major role with revenge in the novel. According to Carolyn Dever, “Defarge and her band of knitting women eagerly, almost greedily, witness the guillotine’s daily work, hailing each execution as one more act of revenge” (9). Madame Defarge was getting revenge for what she had experienced with her sister being raped and killed, her sister’s husband being worked to death and he brother being killed by the Evrémonde brothers. Madame Defarge wanted to put all of the people who had to do with this, dead or on the guillotine to have them die in a public execution. To follow that reasoning up, the guillotine and revenge can go along with the revenge that the revolutionaries of France have against the aristocracy. The
The Guillotine plays an extremely significant role in the novel A Tale of Two Cities, especially as it relates to the major motif of sacrifice. Guillotines …show more content…
Revenge is an extremely prevalent theme in A Tale of Two Cities. Madame Defarge plays a major role with revenge in the novel. According to Carolyn Dever, “Defarge and her band of knitting women eagerly, almost greedily, witness the guillotine’s daily work, hailing each execution as one more act of revenge” (9). Madame Defarge was getting revenge for what she had experienced with her sister being raped and killed, her sister’s husband being worked to death and he brother being killed by the Evrémonde brothers. Madame Defarge wanted to put all of the people who had to do with this, dead or on the guillotine to have them die in a public execution. To follow that reasoning up, the guillotine and revenge can go along with the revenge that the revolutionaries of France have against the aristocracy. The