What Does Shadows Symbolize In A Tale Of Two Cities

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The motif of shadows dominates Charles Dickens’s novel, A Tale of Two Cities. It creates a grim and somber mood. Shadows are used throughout the novel to create a gothic atmosphere. The opening chapters are full of the motifs of shadows and darkness. In fact, early on in the book gloomy surroundings are created through the mail coach’s journey from London to Dover on a dark November night. The journey is described as dangerous because of the darkness and the steep hills. The setting of a late night contributes to the uneasy feeling the readers feel. A messenger comes out from the mist to summon Jarvis Lorry from Tellson’s Bank. His identity is unknown to the reader until Lorry recognizes the voice, as the voice of Jerry Cruncher. This contributes to the obscurity surrounding Lorry’s trip to Paris and the imprisonment of Doctor Manette, Lucie’s father. Dickens is pointing out that every human, everywhere has some sort of secret that no one knows, not even close friends or family. This includes Charles, Manette, and Madame Defarge. They all have secrets that they keep from those closest to them. In addition, the room in which Lucie Manette and Lorry meet is dark with wood paneling. Mr. Lorry is lost in the shadows of Tellson’s Bank where he works. He is gloomy and sad. However, when he meets the Manette family he is…show more content…
These shadows and the presence of Madame Defarge create a stiffness between Lucie, described as a doll, and the cold and harsh Madame Defarge, an instrument of the revolution. She is vengeful and violent. When Defarge and his wife saw Lucie, Lorry, and little Lucie, “the shadow attendant of Madame Defarge…seemed then to fall, threatening and dark, on both the mother and the child” (Dickens 277). Every time Madame Defarge appears around Lucy it seems as though Lucy and all others lose hope. The shadows help to illustrate the threat Madame Defarge poses to Lucie, her family, and
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