FINAL A Tale of Two Cities Flashcards
The Woodman
The Woodman is a symbol of Fate.
“There were growing trees, when that sufferer was put to death, already marked by the Woodman, Fate, to come down and be sawn into boards to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a knife in it, terrible in history” (Dickens 2).
His character foreshadows the killing and brutality that will be shown later in the story.
“But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous” (Dickens 2).
The Farmer
The Farmer is a symbol of Death.
“It is likely enough that in the rough outhouses of some tillers of the heavy lands adjacent to Paris, there were sheltered from the weather that very day, rude carts, bespattered with rustic mire, snuffed about by pigs, and roosted in by poultry, which the Farmer, Death, had already set apart to be his tumbrils of the Revolution” (Dickens 2).
There are animals in the tumbrils right now but the farmer is putting them to the side to use for the guillotine.
This character foreshadows how death will be very prominent during the Revolution.
“But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous” (Dickens 2).
Wine
Wine represents the bloodshed that will spread through St. Antoine and France.
1. In the beginning it spread through the street, and in the end the literal blood had spread through the street.
2. The joker who wrote “blood” on the wall.
3. The stain of red wine that couldn’t come out was just like the trauma that the bloodshed put on the citizens that could not be removed.
Gorgon/stone faces
The gorgon/stone faces represent
1. The Marquis is stabbed and sort of turned to stone because he is dead.
St. Antoine
St. Antoine is France revolutionists in a nutshell. They start off by being very secretive about their plans and did not expect to get so brutal and cause so many deaths, but in the end they did. (they turned into animals basically)
Jackal
The jackal represents the character Sydney Carton. A jackal is an animal that is not at the top of the food chain and is not respected. They are often followers and do work for others which explains Sydney Cartons character exactly.
Lion
The lion represents the Mr. Stryver. Lions are known to be very powerful and they are the top of the food chain. They are often leaders which is exactly who Mr. Stryver is.
Golden Thread
The golden thread is Lucie Manette. It represents hope throughout the story and the positive attributes in peoples lives. The golden thread makes situations better just like Lucie.
Scarecrows
Scarecrows scare birds away. The birds represent the aristocrats and the scarecrows represent the peasants.
“For, the time was to come, when the gaunt scarecrows of that region should have watched the lamplighter, in their idleness and hunger, so long, as to conceive the idea of improving on his method, and hauling up men by those ropes and pulleys, to flare upon the darkness of their condition. But, the time was not come yet; and every wind that blew over France shook the rags of the scarecrows in vain, for the birds, fine of song and feather, took no warning.”
“For, the rooms, though a beautiful scene to look at, and adorned with every device of decoration that the taste and skill of the time could achieve, were, in truth, not a sound business; considered with any reference to the scarecrows in the rags and nightcaps elsewhere (and not so far off, either, but that the watching towers of Notre Dame, almost equidistant from the two extremes, could see them both), they would have been an exceedingly uncomfortable business—if that could have been anybody’s business, at the house of Monseigneur. “
Bird of fine song and feathers
The Defarge’s show the mender of the roads the aristocrats and refer to the feathers and birds saying that you would choose the best looking ones. This influenced the mender of the roads/wood sawyer to become a revolutionary (changed his blue cap to red cap).
Knitting
The knitting represents sacrifice and death throughout the revolution/story. The woman would knit the names of the people that they wanted to be killed. They are sacrificing others. Addionally, Madame Defarge knits with red thread and Lucie represents the golden thread, there is definitly corrolation with that and perhaps doubles as well. (They are opposites.)
Sea
The represents the protests and riots that the citizens in France participated in. They were a great wave that crashed on different cities and towns and people. The sea can be known to be very rough but also calm. That is the same with the people, at first they were calm whereas now they are very rough/brutal.
Madame Defarge
Madame Defarge represents all of the people that were affected by the inhumane actions of the aristocrats. She represents the people who were frustrated and furious about this treatment and how crazy people became so fast. She represents all of the people who were furious about the government and were for the revolution.
The Vengeance
She represents revenge in the story and people anger towards the aristocracy.
Shoe bench
Represents Dr. Manettes past trauma
Fire
Fire represents the spreading of the revolution
Fountain
The fountain represents the life of the people (the one in St. Antione) because everyone goes there to drink and talk with one another.
Blue flies
The blue flies are around a dead body and less blood thirsty than large animals but France is more animalistic so it is showing they are more thirsty for blood and death.
Grindstone
The grindstone is used to sharpen the blades and it shows the revolutionaries want for the revolution. It shows how killing just been normalized. It also made the reader/the Manettes realize how far this revolution has gone.
This event takes place
Footsteps
In France that means that revolutionaries are com
The footsteps are the trauma of other peoples past for example Charles Darnay heard footsteps in his house and Manette has footsteps when he is pacing and having relapses.
Shadows
Darkness and danger (there is a little bit of a shadow in the Soho
The Vengeance is the shadow of Madame Defarge
Carton is the shadow of Stryver
Bastille
The prison that Dr. Manette was in for 18 years (105 North Tower)
The revolutionists Stormed the Bastille in 1789 and rescued the innocent prisoners.
Château
- In France
- The Marquis mansion
- It was burned down by the 3rd estate
- “The Chateu and all the race”
- Made out of stone to represent the Marqui and how he died and how there is no change in the system when it is burned down the change is finally made (aristocracy realized that they were very crazy at this point)
Tellson’s Bank (London)
“Old fashioned, dark, ugly, cramped” but they say that they are very proud of their old fashionedness and people respect that because of their lack of change.
Tellson’s Bank (Paris)
The home of an aristocrat/noble that was abandonded because he fleed. He puts on the clothes of his cook to escape (cooks dress). Large gate and coutryard
Guillotine
- This device was being built by the woodman in the beginning of the story.
- It symbolizes how the killing became emotionless, automatic, and normalized.
- It was later personified as a drunk lord always drinking wine (blood) which suggested the widespread bloodthirstiness of the revolutionaries and showed how Christianity/the cross was replaced by this
- ## Also seen as the barber of Samson who is a christian man who looses all power when his hair is cut offParis. Cuts off people’s heads All red wine(blood) was brought there. Was being built at beginning of book by Woodsman.
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”Lovely girls; bright women, brown-haired, black-haired, and gray; youths; stalwart men and old; gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, all daily brought into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons, and carried to her through the streets to slake her devouring thirst.” (Dickens 279) This is saying that the peasants were thirsty for blood and enjoyed seeing these beheadings.
Soho
Stryver’s Office
Defarge’s Wine Shope
St. Antoine
