Well, this past week we had to write two papers on a Tale of Two Cities. A beautiful novel written by Charles Dickens...so I thought I would put them up for ppl to read. (Not that anyone would want to, they're not very good.)
Okay, here is the one that I did on the element of Mystery:
Josie S. Bowers
A Tale of Two Cities
Element of Mystery Essay
March 14, 2007
Full of bizarre characters, beautiful descriptions and an unforeseen plot, A Tale of Two Cities, written by the well-known English author Charles Dickens, is depicted in the classic Dickens fashion, similar to a patchwork quilt. That of mystery and events lapping before the reader as the book progresses, piecing and fitting together as a perfect masterpiece by the conclusion. Dickens employs the element of mystery in two main ways, mystery to the reader and mystery to the characters in his novel.
Chapter Three of Book the First commenced with a brief excerpt from the narrator in which he pondered the secrets and mysteries that each person possesses. “A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human secret is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses it’s own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousand of breast there is, in some of it’s imaginings, a secret to the hear nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself…” (Page 21) Dickens continued to expound on that fact throughout the novel, providing the reader with snippets and clues as to the completion of the plot. For example, Dickens made numerous references to the French Revolution, “The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there.” (Page 38) And many mentions of Madame Defarge’s knitting, “The she glanced in a casual manner round the wine-shop, took up her knitting with great apparent calmness and repose of spirit, and became absorbed in it.” (Page 42) The brief narrative following the conversation Mr. Lorry had overheard also gives the reader an idea of the plot, “Loitering on the way out of court not being allowed, Jerry heard no more: but left them- so like each other in feature, so unlike each other in manner- standing side my side, both reflected in the glass above them.” (Page 85) All had a confusing but intriguing effect yet, Dickens’s work was done cleverly and precisely.
Dickens also used the element of mystery to seize his reader by allowing him to know details that characters in the book are unaware. For example, in Chapter Twenty of Book the Second when Lucie appealed that Charles not speak of Sydney Carton in the rude manner. “Charles Darney made some mention of this conversation in general terms, and spoke of Sydney Carton as a problem of carelessness and recklessness...He had no idea that this could dwell in the thoughts of his fair young wife… ‘I would ask you, dearest, to be very generous with him always, and very lenient on his faults when he is not by. I would ask you to believe that he has a heart he very, very seldom reveals, and that there are deep wounds in it. My dear, I have seen it bleeding.’” (Pages 207-208) For when Sydney Carton graciously requested that Lucie not reveal his affection to anyone she answered, “Mr. Carton,” she answered, after an agitated pause, “the secret is yours, not mine; and I promise to respect it.” (Page 155) Dickens did a brilliant job of depicting this throughout the rest of the novel, even to the point when Darney was imprisoned and in the process of composing his goodbye letters to his family and loved ones. “He never thought of Carton. His mind was so full of the others, that he never once thought of him.” (Page 341) This was another moment when Dickens allowed the reader to once again, be reminded of Carton’s secret.
Dickens creatively portrayed the element of mystery to the reader and for the reader. His capacity to expose both saddening truths and gripping fictionist events, through mystery and secrecy was intriguing. And, sure enough, by the conclusion of A Tale of Two Cities, the artistry and attention to detail that Dickens exampled was truly amazing.
~J
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