“A tale of two cities” is one of Dickens’s most important representative works.The novel profoundly exposed the society contradiction before the French Revolution,intensely attacks the aristocratic social class is dissolute and cruel,and sincerely sympathizes with the depressed classes.The novel also described many magnificent scenes like the revolt people attacked Bastille and so on,which displayed people’s great strength.
The novel has portrayed many different people. Doctor Manette is honest and kind but suffers the persecution actually ， Lucie is beautiful and gentle ，Charles is graceful and noble，Lorry is upright and honest ，Sydney is semblance of indifferent, innermost feelings of warm,unconventional but also selfless and lofty，Miss Pross is straightforward and loyal，Evremonde brothers are cruel and sinister…The complex hatred is hard to solve, the cruel revenge has made more hatreds, loves rebirth in the hell edge,but take the life as the price.
As an outstanding writer,in Dickens’s work,the language skill is essential.Each kind of rhetoric technique,like the analogy,the exaggeration,the contrast,the humorous,and the taunt are handled skillfully,and the artistry of the work is also delivered the peak.”A tale of two cities” has its difference with the general historical novel, its character and the main plot are all fictionalizes.With the broad real background of the French Revolution,the author take the fictional character Doctor Manette’s experience as the main clue,interweaves the unjust charge, love and revenge three independences but also incident cross-correlation stories together,the plot is criss-crossed,and the clue is complex.The author use insert narrates,foreshadowing,upholstery and so many techniques,causes the structure integrity and strictness,the plot winding anxious and rich of theatrical nature,it displayed the remarkable artistic skill.the style “A tale of two cities” is solemnity and melancholy,fills indignantion,but lacks the humor of the early works.
