A Tale of Two Cities

1. A Tale of Two Cities Background Information

2. Journaling Questions • What is the definition of history? • What is the definition of fiction? • Think about the ONE person in this world who you love the most. What would you do/give up so that person would be happy?

3. Why did Dickens “waste” his time? • A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction novel, which sets it apart from Dickens's other work. • When Dickens was writing A Tale of Two Cities, the French Revolution was still the most dramatic issue in the public's recent memory. • He created the most famous paradox in his opening line! • A literary term in which a situation or a statement seem to contradict itself, but on closer inspection, it does not.

4. Dickens and The French Revolution • The French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity (Dickens adds Freedom to the concepts in A Tale of Two Cities) • Charles Dickens • political radical who believed in poor law reform • campaigned for a more equal society • Portrays in TofTC • hunger of the French people • brutality of the French aristocracy • embodied in the novel by the Evrémonde family • Justifies the lower class' desire for a revolution and illustrates the barbarity of the revolutionaries when they do rise to power.

5. Why did the French Revolt? • Feudalism had long placed the clergy and nobility far above the rest of the French citizens, despite the fact that many of those citizens far exceeded nobles in wealth and reputation. • Moreover, these exclusive titles—most of which had been purchased and passed down through families—essentially placed their bearers above the law and exempted them from taxes. • In 1789, when France’s legislative body, the Estates-General, reconvened, it became apparent that the higher-ranking classes refused to forfeit their privileges (no taxes) in the interest of saving the country. • The French Revolution was a battle to achieve equality and remove oppression.

6. The French Revolution (July 14, 1789-Napoleon) • July 14th,1789-The Storming of the Bastille (Paris, France’s prison) • Citizens stormed the city’s largest prison, the Bastille, in pursuit of arms (weapons) and it began the French Revolution. • Celebrated today asFrance’s Independence Day • Mob Mentality- You lose your individualism and conform to the group because of that loss; your actions are all justified. • Jacquerie- (zhäk´´r´)- nickname for the French peasant, began in 1358 with the revolt of the French peasantry (Jacques- singluar)

7. France: King Louie XVI Marie Antoinette (her coined phrase “Let them eat cake.”) Video- Chptrs 2-4 (15 min), 13 (5 min), 21-23 (20 min) England: George III (lost the American colonies) Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz On the Thrones

8. Torture and “Madame Guillotine” • From the mid-14th century to the end of the 18th century, torture was a common and authorized part of the legal proceedings of most European countries. • Dr Joseph Guillotine, a man described as kindly, wanted to make executions more humane, so he designed the guillotine. • Victims were placed on a bench, face down, and their necks positioned between the uprights. • The actual beheading was very quick - often to the gathered crowd's disgust - taking less than half a second from blade drop to the victim's head rolling into the waiting basket; • however, debate rages over whether the quickness of the execution was humane or not, as many doctors put forward the notion that it could take up to 30 seconds before the victim lost consciousness. • That piece of gruesome news would not have worried the crowd, which continually called for aristocratic and royalist blood to be spilt. An estimated 40,000 people traveled through Paris to die under “Madame Guillotine.” • It became a symbol of tyranny during the French Revolution. • oppressive, harsh, or unjust act • oppressive power, example is a dictatorship

9. Sources • About Tale of Two Cities. 1 March 2002 • <http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/taleoftwocities/about.html>. • The French Revolution (1789-1799): Overview. 1 March 2002 <http://www.sparknotes.com/history/european/frenchrev/context.html>. • 1 March 2002 http://www.napoleonguide.com/guillotine.htm • 1 March 2002 http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/law/hrlc/hrnews/feb97/torture.htm • 1 March 2002 http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/terms/2terms.html#Paradox