“A Tale Of Two Cities”As A Historical Fiction. The word history always plays an important role in‘ forming the background of Dickens’ literary works. As far as the novel “A Tale of Two Cities” is concerned which can be termed as an historical novel because it has always been important in literary figures. For it always provides a background to their literary compositions. So, it can also be said that history and Dickens always go side by side. French Revolution which had played a very key and vital role in the lives of Europeans who were absolutely affected by its horrible and dreadful results. Their lives took a new great turn after this revolution.

This Revolution not only affected every European’s life but also the lives of all the writers. Dickens was not exempted from it. He was having a very sensitive soul and was deeply affected by the results of French Revolution, he therefore wrote this novel in the perspective of French Revolution.

We observe in this novel that every character is directly or indirectly influenced by this revolution. Sometimes, it seems that Dickens is against the Revolution because it caused a lot of bloodshed, killings, executions, murders, hangings, etc. It seems to be annihilating the whole generation but sometimes, it feels that Dickens favors it; as it helped the poor and crushed people to compensate for the wrong doings and exploitation of the rich and aristocratic sections against them. It also became a medium of raising a voice of protest against the privileged and aristocratic families of the society.

Carlyle’s French Revolution had great effects on Dickens’ imagination and he described the principal historical scenes and events. Yet, there are many limitations in this novel from a historical point of view because other English and French issues of the society are not discussed. Dickens gives us no progress and culmination of French Revolution though he tells us the only hatred of the public towards the privileged classes. He only gives the sketches and scenes of excesses, killings, executions, hangings and barbarities which were committed by the revolutionaries during that revolution. He even does not talk about the systematic analysis of the causes of the French Revolution.

Neither does he take notice of the leading historical figures of the French Revolution such as Napoleon and Mirabeau who did great in making this Revolution a success. On the contrary, Dickens only shows a great injustice of the rich towards the poor which leads to violence, and violence then to inhuman cruelty. To some extent, here Dickens becomes paradoxical. Firstly he supports the crushed and down-trodden sections of the society but in the end he terms them as villains. How a pathetic scene it is when the French Revolution gets its climax when Madame Defarge cuts off the head of the Governor of the Bastille. Apart from these acts of violence, there are also further excesses which show the anarchy of the Revolutionaries.

There is no doubt in saying the fact that Dickens, having a very soft and tender heart, feels a great pathos at such excesses. The Chateau of the Evremondes is set on fire and the old Foulon and his son-in-law are hanged. It is the ending part of the novel in which we see that the brutalities of the French Revolutionaries reach at their peak. The scenes in which weapons are sharpened on the grindstones for the next killing or bloodshed, are really heart-itching and nerve splitting.

The working on La Guillotine which is the National Razor and which shaved close, is really awful to watch. The revolutionary tribunals in which the arrested culprits are trailed to death sentence, also resulted in killing of many harmless people for nothing. In fact, these are such episodes and scenes in which Dickens shows us the atrocities of French Revolution and also clarifies the historical references about this revolution. 

Apart from giving the graphic picture of the French Revolution, Dickens is not ignorant of the vital roles which were played by a group of private characters with its events. These particular individuals are the major characters of this novel who are as Dr. Menette, Luice Manette, Darnay and Sydney Carton. These such characters were forcefully drawn into the horrible revolutionary events as innocent victims who did not at least deserve the sufferings and distresses which were caused to them by the dreadful and torturous events of the French Revolution.

Darnay who loves the poor and common section of people who were being exploited by the rich people. He renounces the properties of his forefathers and bid farewell to the luxurious estate of his family in Paris but even then he is sentenced to death very unjustly and lawlessly. Sydney Carton’s sacrificial execution is an act of supreme sacrifice. It is his noble death which demonstrates the possibility of rebirth through love and expiation.

This novel is different from Dickens’ other novels in its presentation. Dickens presents everything through the symbolism. Being a fine piece of fiction in which Dickens converts a domestic life of a few simple private people with the terrible public event so masterly that the one seems to be the part of the other. As Dickens himself is not a man of revolutionary acts, he makes it clear that it is the upper strata or high gentry of French society which causes the outbreak of out breaking this bloody French Revolution. It was the result of a natural process which resulted in the consequences of the social oppression which had been continuing in France for many centuries.

Note being a true Marxist yet revolutionaries and radicals have been Dickens’ favourite topics, Both Marx and Engels always praised his novels and regarded him as a fellow fighter in the war against social injustices, social inequalities, social exploitation of Victorian England. As a matter of fact is concerned, they are not right in their views because Dickens does not favour or approve the violence, executions, murders, killings, hangings etc. of the revolutions. Dickens had always condemned these acts of bloodshed and he thought always that these are as negative as the oppression of a rigid capitalist social order and all these acts of violence were equally destructive.

Dickens had openly clarified that he always considered revolution as a monster violence which always led to another violence and it was a such kind of process in which the oppressed got oppressive whenever they had an opportunity to dominate. There is an evident example in this regard in this novel “A Tale of Two cities” when Madame Defarge gets oppressive, she gets aggressive and her limitless desire for revenge changes her into the same evil against which she began to struggle. Her hatred is the reward of hatred.

To sum up this above mentioned analysis; we can say in the concluding remarks forcefully and vehemently that Dickens wants to make it clear that aristocratic and high gentry people of any society should not behave exploitedly with the common and poor people of the society that they become so frustrated and angry that they are compelled to revolt and become ruthlessly violent. This bloody French Revolution could be averted if the Frenchmen had behaved like Dr. Manette and Darnay then would not have erupted or started any kind of revolution Dickens always favoured and agreed to the view that every revolution is the product of social injustice, inequality and lawlessness. It is the law of nature that whenever and wherever the subjects will be crushed down by suppression, the oppressors would react in bloody revolution.

George Eliot’s Art Of Narration presents in most of the literary writings and works of George Eliot, we come to know that the psychological interpretation or element is very much prominent in the inner working operations of the minds of the characters of her most of the novels. This is the very reason for which George Eliot has great importance in the history of English fiction.

She always felt delight in dealing with the problems of the human personality and its relationship with forces outside itself. As she had always special interest in psychological analysis of the inner consciousness of human beings which served as determining the future course of the English novel.

The very characteristic of her art of writing novels is that her most of the writings are unique and alive and her major achievements such as “Adam Bede”, “A Mill on the floss”, “Silas Marner and Remola” always run in our blood and stay in our bones. As she always discusses her characters psychologically and her characters are always affected by external forces of nature. As most of the learned and prominent critics mark George Eliot as a pessimist but she is more successful in this presentation of scenes of pathos.

Most of the incidents which she depicted in the novel, really had touched the cores of the ‘hearts of the readers. That’s why her tragedies are always heart rendering. She completed the work of Wordsworth who dealt with the pathos of pastoral life in the spirit of measureless humanity. The uniqueness of her art is observed and acknowledged when she mingled her pathos, with humour and produced the greatest dramatic effect, that’s why, being a serious writer, basically yet she was not without touch of humour. Even there is no lackage of humorist touch in her rustic characters and their dialogues. Mrs. Poyser e.g. there is no doubt that she is unconsciously humorous and she causes mirth & delight in other’s personality. Her humour is not sarcastic and bitter but lucid and genteel.

Her humour is not vast but limited and as far as her style is concerned which is a really lucid and simple one which appeals to every kind of reader. It is over weighed with abstractions. It is by the influence of her excellent dialogues and her command of idioms which enables her to achieve a fine naturalness. Another very sublime trait of her art of writing is that her Biblical and half Shakespearean dialogues impress the readers to the highest degree. By using this technique, she presents the characters in their full colours and tastes.

As it is said that George Eliot is really artful in presenting female characters and they are vividly; openly and convincingly drawn by her. One thing which we commonly observe in her presentation of female characters is that her female characters are always given preference by their lovers. Her stories are always written from the female character’s viewpoint. G. Eliot’s men and women are usually depicted and presented after her relatives and friends because she reveals and presents herself and her relatives through her characters. It is said that Hetty’s aunt shows some glimpses and traits of George Eliot’s mother. Dinah is drawn after her aunt and Adam Bede is drawn after her own father.

In her other famous novels where we see that Maggie Tulliver in “The Mill on the Floss” is depicting her own personality and personal study.Apart from this one, George Eliot achieves great success in drawing complex characters. Mostly this fact is observed when most of the novelists generally concentrate on the outside aspects of the characters but generally fail in the portrayal of complex characters. But it is the successful art of G. Eliot that she draws them successfully because her characters have always close touch with social customs, rites and environment. Her characters are always on the moving dimensions of life and have deep relations with changing trends of life. That’s why they never seem to be static as she always portrays them gradually and perfectly. She is of the view that “character too is a process”.

As far as Dickens and Thackeray’s characters are concerned which to some extent seem to be static and unchanging but George Eliot’s heroes and heroines are radically different from those of above mentioned writers. She presents and depicts her characters in such a marvelous but lucid style that its gradual evolution enables the viewers and readers to know her characters gradually and perfectly. The factor of morality which is the key note to every novelist’s writing we see that George Eliot is not exempted from this because her chief figures are dominated and governed by moral considerations. She always gave too much importance and concentration on the moral side of human nature which becomes a major source of her great place as a novelist in English literature.

Her power of imagination is not distorting glass like Dickens while it is an X-ray with which she brings her characters to life and peeps into their secrets which spring up from their actions. That’s why, all her minor and major characters are true to their respective moral natures and any violation of the moral values and laws, brings of leads her characters to utter ruin. The case of Hetty in Adam Bede is very apt in this respect because a slip in her conduct is likely to lead to serious consequences, though she desires to mould her character into the right shape and form yet it is too late.

In the concluding remarks, it can be said that being the greatest novelist of the Victorian age, she has always a proper and high place in both old as well as new novelists. Though some of her novels seem to be old in their appeal yet most of her novels prove to be the novels of ultra modern trend.

As she is rightly considered as the novelist of intellectual life and her psychological insight into human motives and actions.is deep rooted and profound one. She had the best use of her imaginative power to intellectualism the English novel and characterization and imparted to it moral fervor and ethical bias which Dickens and Thackeray had not yet got. It is she who gave to the English novel an air of sobriety and grimness. Having such qualities, her novels serve as sermons for a vast satisfaction of the readers and her novels are not cheap entertainments but these are the collection of highly complicated, philosophical and abstract thoughts.

Character of Arthur Donnithorne appears in the scene of the novel, we come to know that he is known as the “Young Squire” and “the captain” and is the heir to the state of Hayslope. Being very cultured, mannerful, attractive and refined, he always had a very high opinion of his own self. Above all, he has a warm-blooded and impressionable nature and that’s why he is always ready to confess his faults. Though he has many plus-points in his personality yet he lacks self-control.

Due to this, the very bad and negative point of his personality is that he cannot withstand temptation. On the one hand, he loves Hetty but on the other hand, he does not wish to marry her. After knowing the discovery of the fact that Adam is his rival in loving Hetty, he is greatly shocked.

As he knows the adverse condition of Hetty, he confesses and feels it as a great wrong which he had done to her but it had been too late to make an amendment for. He starts avoiding Hetty when he is beaten by Adam and decides to break the deep relations with her but it has become too late as the fruit of his illegitimate relations start getting shaped in Hetty’s womb. Here, at this time, he shows weakness and this very weakness leads Hetty’s life to a stage or point from where there is no way of returning back. .

As it is rightly said that a weak woman, indeed, is weaker than a weak man. Arthur who is a being an extraordinarily, superficial fellow, even is not moved by a shock of conscience. Though he repents in the end and makes a lot of extraordinary efforts to save Hetty from execution, even though his attitude does not impress us. Here we also see that Arthur does not seem to be a traditional villain.

As it is known that G. Eliot has a special art, of introducing psycho-analysis in her characters, so same she does or presents in Arthur’s character. She gives a graphic picture of the inner operations and workings of his complexity of mind who in spite of his efforts, yields to temptation and seduces an innocent girl and becomes the focus of the hatred of the readers.

It is the very plus point of his personality that he does not harm anybody willingly and has friendly relations with everybody. He is ready to make amendments for any harm he may accidently do. There is no doubt that he is a villain beyond the calculated concept of villainy. If he had been the conventionally wicked squire’s son setting out to seduce the village maiden, he could hardly have made a better start. Here G. Eliot seems to be making us understand Arthur’s right and true nature who gradually falls into the habits of deception, both of himself and of others. We, the readers become in the position to judge how easily an amiable character can deteriorate.

No one can doubt the sincerity of Arthur’s repentance as he drinks the bitter cup of repentance to the full and disappears from the scene. As there starts a chain of sufferings after his sins which is actually a punishment for his sins. As far as the reality is concerned, Arthur is morally, a weak character and his weakness violates the codes and principles of morality and for this he deserves for punishment.

As we know that he is a character of weak moral fibre. who easily yields to temptation whịch results in the tragedy that ultimately wrecks poor Hetty’s life as well as his own one. Actually he knew from the very beginning of his relation with Hetty that he could never marry Hetty, still he flirted with her and had sexual relations with her. She got pregnant and her problem started. Here we understand that Arthur’s responsibility is much greater for the tragedy of poor Hetty.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that Hetty herself is equally responsible for her tragedy because she was allured and fascinated by her worldly dreams of luxuries but Arthur was superior to her both in years and worldly experience. He should not have so advanced to leave her pregnant in the result of his so-called love that was actually an endless lust.

Actually Hetty becomes a puppet in his hands who could easily be misled by him. So, he spoiled an innocent flower and consequently he had to suffer from deep spiritual anguish and torture. His life is also absolutely destroyed and he becomes miserable, wretched and repentant. He tries his best to do the best and amends but he fails to save Hetty from transportation and he is also unable to cure the wounds that he has inflicted on himself, on Adam, on the Poysers and on all those who are related with the tragic tale of poor Hetty.

As we see that at the end, Adam is a totally changed entity and he leaves Hayslope for ever by admitting to Adam that he was wrong from the very beginning. In addition to this, he also says that he would give his life if he could undo it.

To sum up this above mentioned discussion, it can be concluded now that Arthur is one of the most integral and essential characters of the novel. Here George Eliot has used her best technique by using this character to express her psychological characterization. There is no doubt in the fact that Arthur becomes the core of the novel because if he had not been the fucker of Hetty then all the story would not have been possible to be integrated in such an impressive way.