Dickens’ Humanitarianism in A Tale of Two Cities
Name:
Wang Gaichun
Number:
2002051324
Instructor:
Hao Zhuanping
Major:
English
Specialty:
English and American Literature
Department:
Foreign Languages Department
May28, 2006
Wang Gaichun
Dickens’ Humanitarianism in A Tale of Two Cities
Thesis statement: This paper deals with Charles Dickens’ humanitarianism by analyzing the characters in
his works through comparison and contrast.
Outline:
I. Introduction
A. Charles Dickens is the outstanding realistic novelist in the 19th century. His main theme is
humanitarianism.
B. A Tale of Two Cities uses the French Revolution as the background and it reflects the author’s
attitude to the revolution and his humanitarianism.
II. The embodiment of humanitarianism on the characters in A Tale of Two Cities
A. The novel expresses the author’s sentimental humanitarianism on Dr. Manettes’ family.
1.
Lucie, the golden thread of love, shows great love to her family members and other people.
2.
Doctor Manette, the typical humanitarian, loves his daughter and shows his sympathy to the
ordinary people.
3.
Charles Darnay, a rebel aristocrat, shows his sympathy to ordinary people.
B. This novel advocates the Christian love and self-sacrifice.
C. This novel also criticizes the violence and oppression in the society.
1. The Marquis of Evremonde and his brother, two cruel aristocrats, oppress people severely.
2. The Mr. and Mrs. Defarges’, two revolutionaries show great hatred to all the aristocrats.
III. Conclusion:
This novel expresses the author’s capitalistic humanitarianism. He thinks that it is inevitable for the
revolution to break out, but he disagrees with the cruelty and violence in the revolution. He is the
capitalistic reformist in the 19th century.
2
Wang Gaichun
Dickens’ Humanitarianism in A Tale of Two Cities
Wang Gaichun
(Foreign Languages Department, Taiyuan Normal University, Taiyuan, 030012, China)
Abstract: Charles Dickens is the outstanding realistic novelist in the 19th century. And he is also a
humanitarian. The main theme of Dickens’ novels is the humanitarianism and most of his novels reflect
this theme. During all these novels, A Tale of Two Cities is the representative work. It uses the French
Revolution as the background and it reflects the author’s attitude to the revolution. This paper analyzes his
humanitarianism from the characters in this novel. And according to the comparison and contrast of the
characters, we can see his humanitarianism clearly.
Key words: Dickens; humanitarianism; A Tale of Two Cities
狄更斯在<< 双城记>>中的人道主义思想
王改春
（太原师范学院外语系, 山西, 太原, 030012）
摘要：狄更斯是 19 世纪杰出的批判现实主义小说家，他同时也是一个人道主义者。他小说的主导
思想是人道主义。他的很多小说都表现了这一主题。而在他的这些小说中，又以<<双城记>>为典
型代表。<<双城记>> 是一部以法国大革命为背景的小说，它反映了作者对待革命和人性的看
法。本文从他小说中的各种人物分析了他的人道主义思想，通过小说中人物的对比，我们可以很
明确地看出他的人道主义思想。
关键词：人道主义; 狄更斯; 双城记
3
Wang Gaichun
Wang Gaichun
English2002051324
Supervisor Hao Zhuanping
May 28, 2006
Dickens’ Humanitarianism in A Tale of Two Cities
I. Introduction
Charles Dickens is one of the outstanding realistic novelists in the 19th century. His main theme is
humanitarianism. Humanitarianism, as a trend, begins from the Renaissance and it bases on the abstract
and universal humanity. Humanitarians start from humanity and set up their ideological system. So the
start point is not only their beginning, but also their theoretical basis. The humanitarians believe that
human beings are all kind and the morality can be improved. They advocate that human beings should use
the emotion and humanitarianism as the weapon to educate people. And they understand the society from
rationality and emotion. And Dickens’ humanitarianism sets up on the humanity, which is also his start
point. He emphasizes the “ human love ” which is one of the most important points. He does not agree
with the revolution, which he thinks is cruel and just one-way of human revenge. He dreams to use the
morality to educate the society and then improve the villain. We can analyze his humanitarianism
according to his representative work—A Tale of Two Cities.
A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickens’ serious works. It uses the French Revolution as the
background and it reflects the author’s attitude to the revolution and his humanitarianism. This work
embodies the author’s mature thought and deep thinking. The author reviews the reasons of the French
Revolution from the viewpoint of humanitarianism to warn the rulers of the England in such a period when
the social classes conflict seriously with each other. On the one hand, the author expresses his great anger
to aristocrats, his sympathy to the sufferings of the public and the inevitability and justice for the revolution
to break out; on the other hand, he uses the bloody scene to describe the cruelty of the revolution, and the
failure to achieve the poor man’s ideal which the revolution intends to pursue. And then it advocates the
author’s opinion that human beings should use the kindness to solve the real problems, use the humanity
instead of cruelty and horror to harmonize the conflict, popularize the education and improve our society.
In this novel, the author portrays some typical characters that embody the author’s view. First, he portrays
some kind, upright and humane persons, such as Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette, Mr. Lorry, etc. But at the
same time, he also portrays some cruel and ferocious persons, such as the Marquis of Evremonde Brothers,
Mr. and Mrs. Defarge. He uses these characters to make a contrast, which clearly expresses his view.
II．The embodiment of humanitarianism on the characters in A Tale of Two Cities
4
Wang Gaichun
A. This novel expresses the author’s sentimental humanitarianism on Dr Manette, his daughter Lucie and
his son-in-law Charles Darnay.
Dickens’ humanitarianism is sentimental. Most of his works are sentimental which are expressed by
the sympathy and mercy to the ordinary man’s destiny. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens’ capitalistic
humanitarianism is embodied on Dr. Manette and his family members, the special capitalistic family, in the
period of French Revolution. Before the revolution, they are persecuted by the aristocrats. But when the
revolution breaks out, they also suffer the hopeless situation. So when they treat this period and the
revolution, on the one hand, they hate the aristocrats and on the other hand, they are shamed to associate
with the proletarians. They intend to seek a peaceful and harmonious life, which regards love as their tie in
the revolution. This family embodies the author’s humanitarianism very well.
In A Tale of Two Cities, Lucie is the representative of the capitalistic sentimental figures. First, she
links the whole family with love. Like Mrs. Defarge, their families are persecuted by the Marquis of
Evremond and his brother, so they have the similar sufferings. But the most different thing is that Lucie is
not like Mrs. Defarge .She is the golden thread of love, she links the two hateful families together, which
symbolizes the effects of dispelling hatred with love. At the beginning of the novel, after a long separation
with her father, Lucie, the filial girl nearly fainted when she knows that her father is still alive. And when
she sees her father, she feels very surprised and sad. She loves her father and wants to share his sorrow and
sufferings. And her golden curly hair recalled her father’s memory. Her father remembers her according to
the golden hair, and when the white hair and golden hair mingled, this warms our readers and even lights
her father, which symbolizes the freedom of her father.
At last, Lucie uses her love to recall her father’s dead heart, and she takes care of her father in daily
life, makes her father forget his past life in the prison and resume his life, job, rest and happiness.
She is also a virtuous wife. She arranges the housework well when they are in Paris. She loves her
husband. When she knows her husband is in danger, she leaves England and goes to Paris to try her best to
rescue her husband, even kneels down to Mrs. Defarge to plead for her mercy. When Charles Darnay is
arrested again, she goes to the prison and stands there everyday for two hours for her husband to see her.
She is an angel .She is full of kindness in her heart. She is the golden thread of love that unites the whole
family with love.
Second, Lucie not only loves her family members, but also shows great love to other people. When
she gives evidence on the court where Darnay is on trial for the first time, they are only strangers, but
Lucie gives great love and sympathy to this stranger. Her appearance fully proves her sympathy:
His daughter had one of her hands drawn through his arm, as she sat by him, and the
other pressed upon it. She had drawn closer to him, in her dread of the scene, and in her
pity for the prison. Her forehead had been strikingly expressive of an engrossing terror
5
Wang Gaichun
and companion that saw nothing but the peril of the accused. This has been so very
noticeable, so very powerful and naturally shown, that starers who had had no pity for
were touched by her. (Charles Dickens, 1994:74)
And when she has to say something detrimental to Charles Darnay, she even cries out, although he is a
stranger to her. And from these we can see how kind she is. She is magic. She has great influence on
others. And the author also emphasizes this characteristic of Lucie on her attitude to Sydney Carton.
Sydney Carton is a clerk but he is very gloomy in his heart. Lucie knows this and she is very surprised and
saddened at this. Then she shows great love to him. When she married, she tells her husband to help him:
“I think Charles, Poor Carton deserves more consideration and respect than you
expressed for him, tonight.”
“I would ask you, dearest. To be very generous with him always and very lenient on his faults
when he is not by. I would ask you to believe that he has a heart he very very seldom reveals,
and that there are wounds in it. My dear, I have seen it bleeding.”
“My husband, it is so. I fear he is not to be reclaimed, there is scarcely a hope that anything
in his character or fortunes is reparable now. But I’m sure that he is capable of good things,
gentle things. Even magnanimous things.”
“And, O My dearest love! Remember how strong we are in our happiness and how weak he
is in his misery!”(Charles Dickens, 1994:254)
This is Lucie. When she enjoys her happiness, she always thinks carefully about others’ sadness. She
shows great love to her family members, to her friends, to all the other people around her. They all center
on this golden thread of love. So Lucie is the representative figure of Charles Dickens’ humanitarianism.
Because of her love, she recalls her father’s memory, recovers her father’s wound and brings happiness for
her family. Because of her love, care and trust, she changes the whole life of the desperate clerk Sydney
Carton and makes him face his life again. Also because of her love, she saves her husband’s life. She has
the magic power. She is an angel.
Charles Dickens is a capitalistic humanitarian. He advocates the justice and humanity and at the same
time, he is also an idealist. He hopes that our society will become better and he thinks that love and
kindness can guide people to the lightness. Dr. Manette is the typical humanitarian. His experiences
embody the author’s theme. Dr Manette is the center of the family. When he was young, he was full of
sympathy. So when he experienced the atrocity of the Marquis of Evremonde, he felt that it was a burden
for him to keep quiet on this thing, so he wrote a letter to the King of France. Then he was put into the
6
Wang Gaichun
prison for 18 years by the Marquis of Evremonde. This action reflects his humanitarianism. When he gets
out of the prison, he knows nothing and recognizes nobody. Owing to his daughter’s love, he recovers. He
loves his daughter and the person whom his daughter loves. The most moving thing is that he hates the
Marquis of Evremonde, but when he knows his daughter loves Charles Darnay, the descendant of the
Marquis of Evremonde, he constrains the great hatred and accepts Darnay’s marriage with Lucie .In this
novel, the author does not write out the sorrow Dr. Manette suffers, but describes it indirectly. When
Darnay expresses his love for Lucie to Dr. Manette, there is a struggle on Dr. Manette’s face, which seems
doubt and dread. But Dr. Manette accepts Darnay, he said that everything against the man his daughter
really loves should be obliterated for her sake. She is everything to him, more to him than suffering, more
to him than wrong, more to him. And after the marriage, the doctor relapses into confusion. He begins to
make shoes; he remembers nothing and recognizes nobody. We can see what he suffers in his heart. But
when he knew Darnay is put into the prison, he takes his daughter to Paris and tries his best to rescue him.
He said his pain, his sufferings have given him the power to gain news of Charles and he knows he can
help Charles out of all danger. He said “As my beloved child was helpful in restoring me to myself; I will
be helpful now in restoring the dearest part of herself to her; by the aid of Heaven I will do it!”(Charles
Dickens, 1994:333) And even in the terrors of the bloody revolution, the doctor walks with a steady head,
he never flinches, he is confident in his power and he has never doubted that he would save Lucie’s
husband at last. And at last, he uses his own power to make Charles out of the prison.
According to the description of Dr. Manette, we can see he is a noble man. He treats everyone equally.
He uses his way to save his family and other people. Dr. Manette is another typical figure of the author’s
humanitarianism.
Charles Darnay is a rebel youth in aristocrats. He hates and criticizes his family. When he talks to his
uncle, he said “We have done wrong, and are reaping the fruit of wrong.”(Charles Dickens, 1994:147)
We can see that he is not satisfied about the situation. He sympathizes with the public and he feels uneasy
for his social position. When his uncle looks at the house, he said the house to his eyes is fair enough, but
seen in integrity under the sky and by the daylight, it is just a crumbling tower of waste, mismanagement,
extortion, debt and oppression. And if this house becomes his, he would put the house into some hands
better qualified to free it slowly from the weight that drags it down, and so the miserable people who can
not leave it may in another generation suffer less. And he also did what he said. He gives up all the
heritages and the title, and earns money by working as a French teacher. Before the revolution, he had told
the Gabelle to compassionate the public and reduce the tax. We can know it from this novel:
he had oppressed no man, he had imprisoned no man; he was so far from having harshly
exacted payment of his dues, that he had relinquished them of his own will, thrown himself on a
world with no flavor in it, won his own private place there, and earned his own bread. Monsieur
Gabelle had held the impoverished and involved estate on written instructions, to spare the
7
Wang Gaichun
people, to give them what little there was to give-----such fuel as the heavy creditors would let
them have in winter, and such produce as could be saved from the same grip in the summer----and no doubt he had put the fact in plea and proof, for his own safety, so that it could not but
appear now. (Charles Dickens, 1994:296)
When the revolution breaks out, Gabelle is put into prison, Charles Darnay takes the risk of going back to
rescue him for defending humanity, but he is put into the prison and then sentences to death. But even in
this situation, he cares nothing about himself but his wife, his daughter and his father-in-law. And this is
the ideal youth in Dickens’ heart. To the author, Darnay’ rebellion to his class, his humanity to the public
are full of humanitarianism. So he has a good ending in this novel: When he will be sent to the guillotine,
there is another person replacing him and going to the guillotine for him and he is sent to London.
B. This novel advocates the Christian love and self-sacrifice.
In this novel, the author also advocates the self- sacrifice and the Christian love. This is mainly
embodied on Sydney Carton, the gloomy clerk and best friend of the Manettes’.
Sydney Carton is a clerk in the law firm. In England, he saves Charles Darnay, because of his
intelligence. But his life attitude is surprising to us. He said, “I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for
no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.”(Charles Dickens, 1994:98) From this sentence, we
can see how desperate he is! He thinks there is no place for him in the world. But when he finds he loves
Lucie, he thinks that he is so degenerate and hopeless, and he has no qualification to love her. So he
decides to give her up .He tells Lucie “Be under no apprehension, Miss Manette, of my ever resuming this
conversation by so much as a passing word. I will never refer to it again. If I were dead, that could not be
surer than it is henceforth.”(Charles Dickens, 1994:183) And when he knows Lucie’s marriage with
Charles Darnay, he still shows great love to her and he decides to sacrifice himself for Lucie’s happiness at
any time. He said to Lucie “For you, and for any dear to you, I would do anything. If my career were of
that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice
for you and for those dear to you.”(Charles Dickens, 1994:184) And Carton achieves his promise to Lucie.
For Lucie’s happiness, he replaces Charles Darnay to go to the guillotine. He uses his body to resist the
violence. His sacrifice saves four lives and expresses his great love to Lucie. This novel advocates the
Christian love. When he walks on the way to the guillotine, he remembers the solemn words which he had
read at his father’s grave “ I am resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.”(Charles Dickens,
1994:464) This sentence gives him strength to walk on the way and makes him bravely face the death.
From these descriptions of Sydney Carton, we can see that although he is a strange man, he is a kind man.
And we also can see the author highly praises Sydney Carton’s sacrifice. He hopes everyone can love each
8
Wang Gaichun
other and sacrifice for others. So Sydney Carton is the supreme embodiment of Charles Dickens’
humanitarianism.
C. This novel also criticizes the violence and oppression in the society.
In this novel, the author not only expresses his humanitarianism on the love between human beings,
but also expresses his view according to his critics to the violence and oppression in that society. The
author expresses his opinion on two parts. First, he criticizes the aristocrats, esp. the representative
Marquis of Evremonde. Second, he also criticizes the revolutionaries in the French Revolution.
The Marquis of Evremonde brothers are two cruel aristocrats. They oppress the people severely. They
have a luxurious life, but their people suffer hunger, cold, nakedness, etc. The Marquis could not swallow
his morning chocolate without the aid of four strong men besides the cook, but at the same time, all the
people are poor, they have nothing to eat but some leaves, grasses and any such small yielding of the earth.
They care for nobody. They never treat their people as human beings. They are very cruel and lack of
humanity. For seizing others’ wives, they never care about how many lives they kill, but use their own way
to reach their aims. When the Marquis’ carriage dashes through streets in an inhumane manner, it kills a
poor child, the Marquis never regrets but scolds the adults for not looking after their baby and at the same
time, he throws a golden coin out of the carriage. This seems that he breaks a simple thing and paying
them money as compensation is enough. Even this, the Marquis does not satisfy about this. He always
remembers the period when they had a lot of privileges and the period when he kills a person but need not
pay anything. He complains that France in all such thing is changed worse. Their ancestors held the right
of life and death over the surrounding vulgar. And now they have lost many privileges. How cruel they are!
So they have a bad ending. They are assassinated by the revolutionaries. From these, we can see Charles
Dickens does not agree with this life of aristocrats. He criticizes the cruelty and oppression on the poor
man and aristocrats’ luxurious life. He thinks these are the reasons for the revolution to break out.
The author describes some revolutionaries to express his opinion on the revolution. In these
revolutionaries, the Defarge’s family is the representative figures. They are poor men. They have no social
status. They hate the aristocrats and crazily revenge them no matter whether they are kind or not.
Mr. Defarge is a servant of Dr.Manette. He sympathizes Dr.Manette and his daughter. So when he
knows Lucie’s husband Charles Darnay is the descendant of the Marquis of Evremonde, he had said “And
if it does come, which we live to see it triumph-----I hopes for her sake, Destiny will keep her husband out
of France.”(Charles Dickens, 1994:223) But when his wife refuses to do so, he pleads with his wife to
admit to show her sympathy to the Dr.Manette, Lucie Manette and her husband Charles Darnay. Mr.
Defarge is also the leader of the French Revolution. He leads the revolution and he shows no sympathy to
other aristocrats. At that time, he becomes a crazy avenger. From these, we can see when the revolution
breaks out, he is a crazy avenger to overthrow the noble class, but he still has a little humanity. He shows
his sympathy and mercy to his master Dr. Manette, Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay.
9
Wang Gaichun
But when we look at his wife, she is just a crazy avenger. She shows no sympathy. She was born into
a peasant family. Her father, brother and sister are all killed by the aristocrats. When she was young, she
suffered hunger, cold and cruelty. She hates all the aristocrats. So when the revolution breaks out, she runs
at the very beginning of the revolutionaries. She has no sympathy. She hopes to kill all the aristocrats, even
the miserable Dr. Manette, who has been put into the Bastille for 18 years and his daughter Lucie. She
knows Charles Darnay is her enemy and she does not care about Lucie and her father’s feelings. She said
“I care nothing for this Doctor, I. He may wear his head or lose it, for any interest I have in him; it is all
one to me. But, the Evremonde people are to be exterminated, and the wife and child must follow the
husband and the father.”(Charles Dickens, 1994:443-444) She is so cruel that she even wants to kill Lucie
and her daughter. When she kills other people, she feels animated and puts her foot upon the dead man’s
neck, with her cruel knife hewing off the man’s head. And at the same time, we cannot regard her as a
human. The author criticizes the woman for her ferocity and at last, this woman is shot by her own gun.
We can see the author’s attitude to her. She is the devil and she is doomed to die.
From the description of the couple, we can see the author does not think high of the revolution. When
the revolutionaries begin their revenge, the author describes that everyone is terrible, the man is terrible,
the woman crazy, and there is not a human creature at that time. We can see although the author does not
show his agreement to the aristocrats’ cruelty, he does not like the bloody revolution, either.
III. Conclusion
Charles Dickens is a humanitarian. He devotes all his life into the humanitarianism. He has a deep
research in humanity and society; he criticizes the injustice in the society and the darkness in people’s
heart. He advocates the kindness and beauties of the people. And according to the analysis of the
characters in A Tales of Two Cities, we can see that the author advocates the universal love and equality
between human beings. He thinks human beings should love each other and sacrifice for each other. This
is the basic element in a peaceful and harmonious society. And he also criticizes the oppression and
violence in the society. He thinks that human beings can be improved by love and moral education. And it
is inhumane and unnecessary for the revolution to break out, although he does not agree with what the
aristocrats have done. He thinks that the tyranny is inevitably leading to the revolution, blood will lead to
more blood, and it will never end. Everyone should love people and only the humanitarianism can improve
this situation. And A Tale of Two Cities is the best work, which embodies his humanitarianism. So that we
can see that Charles Dickens is an outstanding humanitarian of the capitalistic reformism in the 19th
century.
10
Wang Gaichun
Bibliography
Chen Jia. A History of English Literature (volume 3) [Z]. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1990.
Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities [Z]. London: Oxford University Press Beijing: Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press, 1994.
Zhang Dingquan. A New Concise History of English Literature [Z]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language
Educational Press, 2003.
迪更斯著，周辉译 《双城记》[Z] 北京：中国致公出版社，2003。
王爽, “On humanistic thinking in A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens” [A] 长春大学学报，长春大学学报
编辑部, 2003 年第 13 卷第 6 期。
杨慧林，张良村,《外国文学阅读与欣赏》 [Z] 北京：首都师范大学出版社，1999。
杨金才,“感伤主义文学之见” [J] ,《外国文学研究》, 北京： 中国人民大学出版社，1994 年第
4 期。
张世红,“《双城记》的人道主义思想与艺术风格”[J], 国际关系学院学报， 国际关系学院学报编
辑部，1998 年第 4 期。
赵炎秋,“论狄更斯小说的多元整一结构” [J], 《外国文学研究》, 北京：中国人民大学出版社
1993 年第 11 期。
《双城记》与狄更斯的人道主义精神 http:www.jpke.jnu.edu.cn.
《双城记》中的人物形象分析 http:www.jpke.jnu.edu.cn.
11