A Tale of Two Cities - Kennedy

Writers use many strategies to make it easy for readers to relate and understand their writing.  Archetypes are often used to make characters easily recognizable and allusions are used to relate the text to other well-known stories.  Charles Dickens uses both of these strategies in A Tale of Two Cities and they are used very often throughout all types of literature.

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and creator of Jungian archetypes, describes archetypes in his book Man And His Symbols. He says that, “The archetype is a tendency to form such representations of a motif—representations that can vary a great deal in detail without losing their basic pattern.” What he is saying is that an archetype is like the basic outline for a character, and that these outlines are recurring throughout literature. Writers often use archetypes to allow the reader to easily identify the role and personality of a character.

In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens uses archetypes often with his characters. Lucie Manette clearly fits the innocent archetype, with her unwavering loyalty and compassion. Charles Darnay is a good example of the hero archetype, as he is courageous and noble. He renounces his family name because of their cruelty and is willing to put himself into danger to rescue others. Marquis Evermonde is the ruler archetype through his cruel and uncaring nature to the peasants of France. This rigid conformity to archetypes, especially in Lucie and Charles, make some of Dickens’ characters seem two dimensional and unrealistic. Real people have so many emotions and ideas that  anyone being such a perfect representation of an archetype is ridiculous. However, what he lacks with some characters he makes up with the others. Sydney Carton’s struggle to become a better person is very real and believable, and this is only possible through the virtuousness and innocence of Lucie. Having some characters that are simple and archetypes creates contrast with the more complex characters, and gives the reader a person who they can understand easily.

An allusion is a reference or comparison between something the writer is describing and something well-known throughout the target audience. This allows the reader to more easily understand the characters and events that otherwise would be confusing and foreign to them. Classical allusions are especially helpful, because the alluded material is something integral to a society’s past and culture and is not something that will fade or pass with time. A classical allusion is a reference to a character or event from a classical work of literature, usually Greek, Roman, or biblical. However, in other cultures classical allusions would be to a classic work within that culture rather than Greek or Roman.

Charles Dickens uses classical allusions often throughout A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens compared the guillotine worker Sanson to Sampson of the Bible by saying, “The name of the strong man of Old Scripture had descended to the chief functionary who worked it; but, so armed, he was stronger than his namesake, and blinder, and tore away the gates of God’s own Temple every day” (284). This is comparing Sampson’s destruction of a pagan temple with Sanson’s numerous killings, as calling the body a temple is a metaphor often used in the Bible. It also compares Sampson’s literal blindness and strength to the metaphorical blindness and strength Sanson and the Parisians. Another, more subtle, allusion is made between Madame Defarge and the Fates of Greek mythology. The Fates were the gods of fate and vengeance and were associated with knitting. When they sentenced someone to death it would be by cutting the line of thread they were knitting with. Madame Defarge was ruthless and vengeful and she also sentenced people to death with her knitting.

Many other authors use classical allusions in their writing. In Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Willy compares his suns to Heracles and Adonis, beautiful demigods in Greek mythology and literature. In Sula, by Toni Morrison, several of the characters’ names are classical allusions. Shadrack is a character from the bible who walked through fire and lived and Ajax is a Greek hero with character flaws.

Archetypes and allusions are two of the tools writers often use to make easy for the reader to understand and relate to the events and characters in literature. They are used commonly throughout all types of literature and are integral parts of connecting literature to the reader’s life.