Dear Decathletes:
I want you to be alert and focus on the motif of Darkness and Light. This motif shows up constantly.
Shadow and night, and light and daylight help establish the mood in certain scenes. We already discussed how the opening part of the book had a Gothic mood.
Darkness and light usually symbolize evil and goodness, but in A Tale of Two Cities the two concepts might also refer to ignorance and enlightenment. In this case, ignorance can refer to the ignorance of the aristocracy and later that of the revolutionary mobs. Enlightenment can refer to the revolutionary ideals of liberty, fraternity, and equality.
Can anyone point out some passages/sentences (and page number) in the first 150 pages of the book where Dickens refers to darkness and light? And can anyone provide a brief analysis of how Dickens uses the two symbols in a particular passage/sentence?
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Ok, so I went through some of the chapters, and I have one. Page 40, in "The Shoemaker" chapter:
ReplyDelete"'I want,' said Defarge, who had not removed his gaze from the shoemaker, "to let in a little more light. You can bear a little more?'"
So, I'm thinking that the little light that Defarge lets into Doctor Manette's room is indicating life and hope. Manette "bears the light" when Mr. Lorry and Lucie come in and take him back to London. Since he's been imprisoned for the last 18 years, Doctor Manette is coming out of the darkness and living a more fulfilling life.
As for light and darkness relating to ignorance and enlightenment, maybe Doctor Manette's new life has made him more aware of the outside world and has allowed him to develop new relationships. Or maybe the the darkness of his imprisonment is represeting the ignorance of France's aristocracy by imprisoning him? From what I've read, Mr. Manette has become acquainted with many people, and France's aristocracy is ignorant. Hmm...