History repeats itself; an oft quoted expression that is hard to misuse due to the numerous situations in which it is applicable. A Tale of Two Cities, written by the esteemed Charles Dickens some 157 years ago in 1859, takes place even further ago: the late 1700s, during the French Revolution. Such a work of historical fiction wouldn't be predicted to be foretelling, and even during its authorship the intent was unlikely to be a prediction into the future; yet, because of the phenomena of historical recurrence, its resemblances to modern day events cannot be ignored. Although certainly unpredictable by Dickens and taking place over 200 years later than A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens has inadvertently represented the events of the ongoing Syrian Civil War with his characters.
Perhaps the closest thing to an archetypal revolution in the past decade, the Syrian Civil War can be compared to the French Revolution, arguably the most influential political revolution of all time. A witness of the Syrian Civil War, when interviewed by Al Jazeera, said: "Despite the bloodshed, it's worth it, 100 percent. It reminds me of the
French revolution. A lot of people died, but finally they got freedom" (Al Jazeera). The Syrian Civil War has many parties involved in it: most notably, the Syrian Government, the Opposition, and ISIL. In addition, there is the outside world, observing and occasionally interacting. While the way that world crises play out has changed dramatically since the French Revolution as portrayed in A Tale of Two Cities, connections can certainly be made between belligerents in these two conflicts.
Many individual characters in A Tale of Two Cities can represent entire belligerents of the Syrian Civil War. The Marquis St. Evrémonde and the collective "Monseigneur" as used in the novel represent the Syrian Government: established, oppressive, yielding to tradition, and afraid of their own populace. Charles Darnay, Dr. Manette, and likely most French unnamed characters in the novel represent the Opposition: wanting a new, democratic government without bloodshed or tyranny, and overall respectful to all. And then ISIL, in perhaps a somewhat stretch of a comparison, can be viewed in the characters Madame Defarge, The Vengeance, the Mender of the Roads, and the Jacques. These characters, although opposed to the status quo, are certainly not tolerant and seek to establish a new tyrannical rule by terror. Their zeal towards republicanism and revolutionary doctrine might as well be the same zeal that ISIL has towards Sunni Islam. Their worship of the guillotine is uncannily parallel to the frequent beheadings by ISIL. And like ISIL, they want these incidents to be public, their purpose is to invoke fear.
The outside world, as an unofficial belligerent of the Syrian Civil War, is also somewhat simulated in the characters of Dickens. Jarvis Lorry is an English businessman who, although having feelings toward his friends, is overall only concerned with the economic impacts of the French Revolution. This echoes the voice of the modern economist, such as Satyajit Das, who comments: "From the financial and humanitarian cost of supporting millions of
Syrian refugees to the interruption of trade links with China and
Russia, political conflict is bad for the world's economy" (Das). Mr. Stryver, in his upholding of tradition as an esteemed English barrister, seems to take a stance against the Revolution, and when face-to-face with a French émigré, is written as "...broaching to Monseigneur, his devices for blowing the people up and exterminating them from the face of the earth, and doing without them: and for accomplishing many similar objects akin in their nature to the abolition of eagles by sprinkling salt on the tails of the race" (275). In this way, he can perhaps be objectified as Russia, taking a sympathetic stance to the Syrian Government and pursuing military actions to the tune of Stryver's fantasies. And of course, there is foreign espionage. John Barsad, or Solomon Pross, is an Englishman that is originally a spy for the French monarchy but later works for the French republic. Espionage is certainly existent in the Syrian Civil War, with Foreign Policy Magazine reporting that "Continuously, Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, recruited agents
in the Syrian military and government and planted its own operatives
under false identities in Syria to carry out various missions" (O'Grady).
Despite a gap of more than one century in authorship and more than two centuries in events, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens can be interpreted to mirror events of the yet ongoing Syrian Civil War. Although revolutions have changed, wars have changed, and politics have changed, the basic underlying frameworks that compose these concepts have remained in stone. And so Dickens has indeed predicted the Syrian Civil War, not because he had any intent to do so, but because history repeats itself.
2 comments:
Wow Ian, your analysis and recitation of the uncanny similarities between the characters of A Tale of Two Cities and the ever-present Syrian Civil War opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. While I can see eye to eye with most of Dickens' prophecies that you proposed, I can not help but question the validity of your vague comparisons with the archetypal oppression and opposition. Surely to every disagreement one party can be labelled tyrannically conservative, and the other being liberal and oppressed, but were there no specific identities between the two events? In contrast, I found your use of quotations from Satyajit Das exceptional to build upon your comparative viewpoint of the outside world and businessman Jarvis Lorry and Mr. Stryver.
In addition, as a point of praise, I found your Islamic State representatives brilliant in the sense of mirroring attitude towards respective situations. To relive the memorable cinematic presentation of Michael Caine's Alfred Pennyworth, "Some men just want to watch the world burn," is an adequate representation of the linked mindset of Islamic State and Dickens' characters Madame Defarge, The Vengeance, the Mender of the Roads, and the Jacques. I always found Madame Defarge to be an unreasonably frightening and psychopathic character, but it wasn't until you related her to America's second largest national security threat (just behind global warming) that I completely understood how evilly covetous she really was.
Overall, I was very impressed with the scholarly analytics and rhetoric you have produced in this post. You have offered a modern day struggle that consumes all of our lives and was able to successfully relate it to a novel taking place over two hundred years ago. Changing my perspective, and, I'm sure, all of your reader's, on both the offered Charles Dickens novel and the current Islamic revolution, you've enlightened my mind to the striking truth behind the infamous locution, "History repeats itself."
Your comparison of A Tale of Two Cities and the Syrian Civil War was very well done. It is not a comparison I made while I was reading A Tale of Two Cities, but looking back now I can see many striking resemblances. There are many aspects of your post that I find convincing, and one of these is the way you compared certain characters within the novel to their modern day counter parts. I especially liked the way that you compared the outside world to Jarvis Lorry and Mr. Stryver. Comparing the economic results of the French revolution and the modern Syrian Civil War further shows their similarity, especially with the quotes of a modern economist, Satyajit Das. I also liked the way that you mentioned how espionage was relevant to both the revolutions.
Another thing I liked about your post was the quotes that you used. Using quotes from people in modern times, like the French policy magazine and the witness to the Syrian Civil War, in addition to quotes from the novel further establishes the similarities between the two revolutions. Overall, you do a very good job pointing out the similarities between the events of A Tale of Two Cities and the modern event of the Syrian Civil War.
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