Consider the events leading up to the French Revolution, the Revolution itself, and its aftermath, particularly from the perspective of the characters. Is the French Revolution is justified?

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, tensions are rising throughout the book between the

Third

Estate and the

First

and

Second

Estate.

This

eventually led up to the French

Revolution

, a ten-year struggle for power, where French commoners rose and challenged the monarchy in place.

This

was due to how poorly the

Third

Estate was treated, which made it seem as if

revenge

is necessary. Once the French

Revolution

breaks out, the revolutionaries go on a killing spree, as they start to lose their

sight

on what they are fighting for. Even though the violence of the revolutionaries escalated out of control and clouded their vision of righteousness, the French

Revolution

was ultimately justified because of how poorly and cruelly the 3rd Estate was being treated by the

aristocracy

. Though the revolutionaries committed various acts that were deemed immoral and unrighteous, the

revolution

is justified because of how awful the 1st and 2nd Estate treated the 3rd Estate before the

Revolution

. The revolutionaries may have committed immoral acts to the

aristocracy

because of their

sight

for

revenge

, like killing the prisoners in mass, but since the upper classes committed worse acts towards the 3rd Estate, the

revolution

is justified. In Chapter 7 of the

second

book, the Marquis gets angry after he does not get what he wants, so he orders his carriage to drive down the village roads fast, making people scramble for their lives. The carriage proceeds to turn a corner where a fountain is, and when doing so, “one of its wheels [comes] to a sickening jolt, and there [is] a loud cry from a number of voices,” (Dickens 111). After the Marquis realizes he had just run over a

child

, he scolds the peasants for not taking care of themselves.

This

further

justifies the revolt that stopped the cruel actions by the

aristocracy

from continuing.

Furthermore

, another action that was deemed cruel was that of Foulon, a member of the

aristocracy

who had faked his death. When tasked with the problem of starving commoners, Foulon proceeded to “[tell] the famished people that they [should] eat grass,” (Dickens 219).

This

action caused an increase in tensions between the upper and lower class and was ultimately justified when Foulon was killed and beheaded by the revolutionaries, but the revolutionaries go a little overboard by shoving Foulon’s mouth with grass. Due to

this

, the 3rd Estate was seen as violent and out of control, losing

sight

of the

righteousness

Suggestion

righteous

they fought hard for;

however

, the

revolution

was justified because of Foulon’s actions towards the commoners.

Additionally

, the

revolution

was ultimately justified because the

aristocracy

thought they could solve all of their mishaps and problems by simply giving money for the unlawful acts committed against the poor;

therefore

causing tension between the

aristocracy

and the 3rd Estate over time. Whenever there was an issue with the 3rd Estate, the

aristocracy

thought and believed that they could easily solve the problem by throwing money at the commoners. Before Doctor

Manette

is imprisoned, he is taken in by the Evremonde brothers to help a woman, and when Doctor

Manette

realizes what they did to her and her family he is in shock. The

next

day, when Doctor

Manette

opens his door, a “‘

rouleau

of

gold

was left on [his] door in a little box, with [his] name on the outside,’” (Dickens 327). The

rouleau

the actions and activities assigned to or required or expected of a person or group

role

of

gold

on his doorstep was a bribe from the Evermonde brothers to keep

Manette

’s mouth shut, and when

Manette

eventually does tell the authorities, he is thrown in prison.

This

action

further

exemplifies that the

revolution

was justified, because of the 3rd Estate’s unfair treatment. Another example of the 3rd Estate’s maltreatment is when the Marquis throws a

gold

coin

at the father after running over the

child

. In Chapter 7, just after the Marquis runs over Gaspard’s

child

and scolds the people, the Marquis thinks he can make up for the

child

’s loss by simply throwing a

gold

coin

at the

child

’s father. The Marquis does not feel bad whatsoever, he just “[throws] out a

gold

coin

for the valet to pick up” (Dickens 111), which causes Gaspard to seek

revenge

and go kill the Marquis. The killing of the

child

by the Marquis shows how the

revolution

was justified because commoners like Gaspard wanted

revenge

against the

aristocracy

for actions like

this

. The commoners were being treated as dogs

instead

of real people as they are being thrown “treats” for whenever the

aristocracy

does something to them that harms them. The throwing of the

coin

from the Marquis is an example of how the

aristocracy

uses their wealth to solve all of their problems;

therefore

causing the people to want to revolt because the

aristocracy

thought of the commoners as items, rather than real people. Though there are many reasons why the

revolution

is unjustified due to the clouded vision of the revolutionaries, there are more examples that prove that the

revolution

is justified. Over the course of the French

Revolution

, the revolutionaries lost

sight

of what they were aiming for, which was

righteousness

Suggestion

righteous

, and they

instead

sought to execute anyone who opposed the

revolution

.

However

,

as

Suggestion

at

the time before the

revolution

showed, the revolutionaries had some reason to be as crazed and

blood-thirsty

marked by eagerness to resort to violence and bloodshed

bloodthirsty

they were, because of their poor treatment. Since the 3rd Estate was treated so poorly, the commoners were forced to go crazy and hellish because of all of their built-up anger and suffering. Overall, the

revolution

is ultimately seen as justified because of the unjust treatment of the commoners due to the spoiled aristocrats.