Bastille By The Force Of The People example essay topic

The first case where the force of nature shows up is during the storming of the Bastille: suddenly the sea rose immeasurably wider and higher, and swept Defarge of the wine-shop over the lowered drawbridge, past the massive stone outer walls in among the eight great towers surrendered! So resistless was the force of the ocean bearing him on, that even to draw his breath or turn his head was impracticable as if he had been struggling in the surf at the South Sea, until he was landed in the outer courtyard of the Bastille. (Thompson, p. 37) In the quote above, Defarge is urged to go inside the Bastille by the force of the people who follow behind him. The sea symbolizes the people of the revolution being strong, merciless, and unyielding. It shows how powerful the people are when they come together to form one big mob they are as fierce as any storm, and as vast as any ocean.

The storming of the Bastille continues into the chapter, The Sea Still Rises. Biblically, the sea rising ties in with Noahs Ark and how God produced flooding to rid the world of sinners. Here, Dickens uses flooding to connect the ideas the multitude of people is washing away the sins of the abusive aristocracy by fighting back and killing the aristocrats. The sea of black and threatening waters, and of destructive up heaving of wave against wave, whose depths were yet unfathomed and whose forces were yet unknown. The remorseless sea of turbulently swaying shapes, voices of vengeance, and faces hardened in the furnaces of suffering (Thompson, p. 59) Here, the readers first get a sense of how the patriots are pushing for retribution; and like nature, this revolution will inevitably occur and will stay its course for a while. The sea rises, the wind blows, the waves crash and the forces of nature summon the patriots, once again, for a taste of fires spreading.

In the chapter, Fire Rises, the people of San Antoine come together to watch the chteau of Marquis St. Evrmonde burn. In the roaring and raging of the conflagration, a red-hot wind, driving straight from the infernal regions, seemed to be blowing the edifice away (Begley, p. 84) The fiery passion of the patriots is displayed through the fire that obliterates the chateau and, in a sense, the cruel Marquis along with all his valuable possessions. That night many other fires were lighted throughout France signifying the hunger of the people for death and destruction. Another force of nature that occurs is the luring of Charles Dar nay from the safety in England to the chaos in France in the chapter, Drawn to Loadstone Rock.

The unseen force was drawing him fast to itself, now, and all the tides and winds were setting straight and strong towards it he left all that was dear on earth behind him, and floated away for the Loadstone Rock. (Begley, p. 109) In this chapter, the magnetic load stone rock is drawing Charles to the unsafe conditions of France. The evil force of this rock that attracts Charles to France means that trouble will surely follow, whatever happens. Here, the second book of the novel ends, and the third one, entitled A Track of a Storm follows. At this point, the eye of the storm, otherwise know as the Reign of Terror, which is the period in the revolution characterized by waves of executions of presumed enemies of the state, sweeps over the nations. Charles gets caught up in the storm, and the only person who can revive him is Dr. Manette himself.

Being respected and pitied for being a Bastille prisoner, Dr. Manette uses his influence to save Charles from the prison and bring him back to Lucie. Thus, he considered to be the calm of the storm and a powerful force for good fighting against the evil: For the first time he (Dr. Manette) felt that in that sharp fire he had slowly forged the iron which could break the prison door of his daughters husband and deliver him and when Jarvis Lorry saw the kindled eyes, the resolute face, the calm strong look he believed (Clawson, p. 145) As the revolution evolves, and the taste of death is all that is savored, Madame Defarge, denouncing Charles, is told by Monsieur Defarge to stop because of the pain Dr. Manette is going through. Madame Defarge, full of hatred dating back from the past, replies: that sister of the mortally wounded boy upon the ground was my sister, that husband was my sisters husband, that unborn child was their child, the brother was my brother, that father was my father, those dead are my dead, and that summons to answer for those things descends to me tell wind and fire where to stop, returned madame, but dont tell me. (Fass, p. 66) The quote above shows the firm intensity of Madame Defarge wanting to kill the rest of the Evrmonde family Lucie and little Lucie. Wind and fire may stop, but not her; she is destined to avenge her family, and the brutality placed upon her family some decades ago by the Evrmonde brothers shall be placed on Lucie and her daughter. Throughout the novel, the patriots were thought to be virtuous by nature but are, in the end, corrupted by society just like the aristocrats.

They tortured the aristocrats just as they tortured them; and thus, the people of France descended into the lower depths of an ocean full of hatred. Instead of pursuing their mission to restore the good in France, they themselves instilled more evil. The theme, Forces of Nature, encompasses all: the French Revolution, the attitudes of the people, and the appalling results of it. Dickens explores the general concept of revolution in multiple ways: questioning mob-mentality, demonstrating the violence and brutality endured by the innocent people, and comprehending how the oppressed can quickly become the oppressors. In A Tale of Two Cities the revolution is understood as something that was inescapable; it was a storm waiting to be unleash, and as it did so, it changed the history of France. Like a hurricane, the strength and the evil of this (will) gradually make expiation for itself and wear out.

(Clawson, p. 72) within the conceptual framework of French revolution, Dickens developed his bright characters, and by telling their individual stories the author was able to tell the story of revolution at large.