Dickens wants us to be on Defarge’s side, one example of this is in the passage on page 229 where is says,
“Saint Antoine’s blood was up, and the blood of tyranny and domination by the iron hand was down-down on the steps of the Hotel de Ville where the governor’s body lay- down on the sole of the shoe of Madame Defarge where she had trodden on the body to steady it for mutilation.”
The first words I notice are “tyranny” and “domination” in the first line. Tyranny means to have an oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler and domination means an act to rule over. So the unjustly government that has ruled over France up to this point. I take the word “blood” to be referring the spirit of both Saint Antoine and the Tyranny, and the spirit of the tyranny is down because they are being “mutilated”, which mean to injure or disfigure.
Through the making of the rebellion we have seen it through the Defarge’s point of view, so we can see their opinions of the government, which of course we know they don’t like because they are planing to over throw them. So Dickens wants us to not like the tyranny because all we have read about the people in power have all been mean, like Monsieur the Marquis who only wants things his way and doesn’t care about the poor citizens. We also read about these mean governors running over these poor citizens both metaphorically and theoretically. Dickens wants us to see the government through Defarge’s eyes so we are happy when they are overthrown.
I hope one day Northern Ireland can belong to the rest of Ireland again, so my Grandparents can be happy. I’ve heard them talk about Northern Ireland pride and they talk about how terrible the UK is, so I’ve grown up wishing for Northern Ireland to gain it’s independence. Sometimes looking through one point of view isn’t always the best way to look at things, but I think in the case of the French revolution it is a good thing for Dickens to do because his readers are happy when they’re overthrown.
I think it's interesting that the way in which Dickens tells the story sways our views of the characters. For example, I bet that the story would be really different had it been written by one of the aristocrats at this time! Do you think we would have felt bad for them? Or have seen Defarge as a criminal or a traitor? It's something to think about! Looking at the language Dickens uses is a good way of telling his views on the subject, but it's also important to keep an open mind and look at the situation from all angles.
ReplyDeleteI like your connection to personal experience in this post, Megan -- it unifies your piece by opening and closing with this anecdote.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you looked closely at the language in the passage you quoted. Nice job!