A New Beginning in A Tale of Two Cities

            Charles Dickens, author of A Tale of Two Cities, originated from a working class family that had been imprisoned for being in debt as a direct result of their societies strict rules, which favored the aristocracy. Through the characters of the Evremonde family, Monsieur and Madame Defarge, and Mr. Sydney Carton, Dickens represents three categories of society the aristocracy, the revolutionaries, and the intermediates. The story ends with a positive outlook on the future of France due largely in part to those who respected mankind and sacrificed themselves for the benefit of the nation. Charles Dickens supports the French Revolution even though, as he demonstrates, mass protests, huge amounts of violence, and sacrifices had to be made.
             The Evremonde family was an example of the French aristocracy. They only thought about themselves and proudly displayed their wealth during a time when the majority of the population of France suffered, with many dying from starvation. This obviously angered the revolutionaries and made them targets for capture and execution. Revolutionaries such as Mrs. Defarge made registries that listed all people who she, as a revolutionary, deemed suspicious. The suspicious personnel would eventually be brought to justice. Dickens describes the normal, every-day events that occurred by writing, Six tumbrels carry the days wine to La Guillotine. All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, are fused in one realization, Guillotine . Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seed of rapacious license and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind (362). Dickens personifies the guillotine and describes it as a member of the hated aristocracy who consumes its daily amount of wine. This daily consumption is equivalent to the numerous amounts of human lives that were lost every day to the guillotine.