What examples does charles dickens give to show that in 1775 conditions were bad in france and england?

Question

What examples does charles dickens give to show that in 1775 conditions were bad in france and england?

Answer 1

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the second historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London, England and Paris, France during the French Revolution. It depicts the plight of the French proletariat under the brutal oppression of the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, and the corresponding truculence demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipating English barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of

times . . . it was the season of Light, it was the

season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it

was the winter of despair . . .

—from A Tale of Two Cities

The two kings with "large jaws" and their queens, one fair, one plain, are the monarchs of England and France: George III and Charlotte Sophia; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, respectively.

The references to visions, spirits, and spectres mark the beginning of a deliberate pattern. Mrs. Southcott was a religious visionary; the "c**k-lane ghost" was an 18th-century poltergeist. Moving ahead to his own time, Dickens invokes the "spirits of this very year last past," meaning those spirits raised by D. D. Home, a popular Victorian medium.

These historic ghosts will give way to fictional ones. As you read, look for the mist likened to "an evil spirit" (Book I, Chapter 2), and for the "spectre" of Jarvis Lorry's nightmare (I, 3)- the image is of Dr. Manette, raised from the "death" of solitary imprisonment. References to the spirit world span the entire novel. The ghosts are here for a reason.

If you've heard many ghost stories you know that they create a weird, unreal atmosphere- exactly the effect Dickens was aiming for in A Tale. His spirits and spectres hint at the possibility of another world, of life beyond death. They're images that support two of the novel's themes: unreality versus reality, and- more important- resurrection.

Finally, a reference perhaps familiar from your history classes: the "congress of British subjects in America" describes the Continental Congress, which sent a petition of grievances to the British Parliament in January 1775.