"Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickens Charles)

light and dark, or good and evil. Look for golden-haired Lucie
Manette to lead the forces of light. She's a radiant angel, a golden
thread weaving happiness into the lives of her loved ones. Darkness
and shadows have unpleasant associations with threats and death.
Note the gloom surrounding prisons, hangings (Gaspard's dangling
corpse casts a shadow), and Madame Defarge and company.

5. REALITY/UNREALITY

Throughout the story characters question whether they're awake or
dreaming. Sometimes it's hard to decide which state is preferable.
Both reality and unreality have drawbacks. The Farmer-General, a
cruel oppressor, is certainly real, and the grim Paris slums are the
genuine article.

For its part, unreality is the haunt of ghosts and spirits. Dickens
tells us plainly that unreality pervades Monseigneur's court, symbol
of the old, wicked regime. Dreams, fog, and sleep--closely related
to unreality--are the conditions most like death. The doomed
aristocrats Darnay meets in La Force are described as "Ghosts all!"

6. DOUBLES

The doubles you're most likely to spot at once are Charles Darnay and
Sydney Carton. Yet the novel is filled with pairs: the St.
Evremonde twins; the little mender of roads/the wood sawyer; Jerry
Cruncher and young Jerry.

If you contrast Darnay's generally hopeful outlook with Carton's
pessimism, the two men appear to represent the light and dark aspects
of life. Not all of the pairs, however, are opposites. Young Jerry
seems a perfect miniature of his father, spiky hair and all.

Dickens uses repeated images of mirrors to support the theme of
doubles. When you look in a mirror, you are in a sense seeing your
double. For instance, watch Sydney Carton studying his own face in a
mirror. The image he sees is Darnay's.

7. LOVE/HATE

Several of A Tale's characters are endowed with the force of love.
Observe Lucie Manette, whose "golden thread" of love symbolically
encircles her family. And notice Miss Pross, aided by love in her
struggle with Madame Defarge. Finally, think about the motivation
for Sydney Carton's great sacrifice. In order to give up his life,
he first had to love someone--Lucie--more than himself.

Love may be said to triumph in the end: Lucie and her party escape,
and Sydney Carton has a vision of a better world to come. But
consider the costs--Miss Pross loses her hearing, and Carton gives up