Tale of Two Cities a historical novel? Give reasons for your answer

Answer

Evaluate Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities as a historical novel. Or Would you call Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities a historical novel? Give reasons for your answer. 

A historical novel is a novel that is designed to take historical allusion. “A Tale of Two Cities” (1859) is an immense creation of the famous Victorian novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870). A historical novel possesses some traits by which we can trace this novel, whether it is a historical novel or not.

Historical Background: For the background of Dickens’s novel, he has chosen historical subject matter. In his novel “A Tale of Two Cities,” he derives the theme from the French Revolution. Charles Dickens uses historical background in his own way. Dickens says:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness….”

Historical Setting: The setting of the novel also revolves around historical importance. The novel starts with the early revolutionary period in 1775 and shows the causes of the French Revolution. So, the first trait is traced in the novel “A Tale of Two Cities.” 

The Historical Theme of the French Revolution: The novel’s central theme has been discussed in the novel French Revolution. If we evaluate the history of France, we can get a clear conception of the French Revolution. The history of the French Revolution has been extracted from the history of France. From this narrating point of view, it is proved that “A Tale of Two Cities” is a historical novel.

 Fall of Bastille: In the novel, we get several evidences of the fall of Bastille. It was a historic phenomenon during the French Revolution of 1789 that lasted till 1799. In the novel, we see that people with low incomes are oppressed brutally by the aristocrats. If anyone raised their voice against the Monarchy of France, he or she was imprisoned in the Bastille. Thus, the revolutionaries attacked the Bastille and, on 14 July