A Tale of Two Cities

This novel is a classic of English literature of the nineteenth century. It deals in parallel with the realities of England and a revolutionary France. Taking the French revolution as a point of reference, Dickens shows the social and political problems of England, fearing that history would repeat itself in his native country when he wrote this novel. In the contrast of these two cities presented, England presents itself as confidence, tranquility, the assured future, while France becomes more and more dangerous as the novel progresses. The acts of violence carried out by the French people are among the most memorable scenes in the book. Dickens rejects revolutionary violence in its two forms, both its popular form, by the masses, and in its institutionalized form as is terror.