A Tale of Two Cities《'It was the best of times, it was the worst o

'It was the best of times it was the worst of times' the opening of the original version of the novel goes… It was a time for the French proletariats to struggle for freedom and equality. But it was also a time of increasing crimes chaos and brutality.

One success of the novel lies in the characters in the novel: the honest and kind Doctor Manette who suffers the persecution actually the graceful and noble Charles the upright and honest Lorry，the strong and vengeful Madame Defarge the fragile beautiful and timid Lucie; the self-centred Darney but the selfless Carton just to name a few examples.

I really learned a lot from the characters and their stories.

The first one is about revenge. Madame Defarge is who is called the Mother of Revolution but a mother whose nature has gone wrong! She strikes me like lightning to see how destructive is the desire to take revenge on others. She is too blinded by her own thirst for revenge and wealth to perceive that she is only repeating the same mistake that her enemy has done and thus the wheel of revenge goes on forever. It is also deeply ironic to see what we despise and hate turns out to be cause of pain and suffering to others when revenge has overtaken our rational thinking. This is nothing but 'an act of selfishness' isn't it? The story of Madame Defarge tells me that the complex hatred is hard to solve the cruel revenge has made more hatreds and take the life as the price.And we can stop this vicious cycle simply through forgiving and forgetting the wrong things that others have done on us!

The second one is about love. Love does make one strong and brave. In my 18 years of life I have never known anyone like Carton before. In this selfish and material world when most people are pursing money and fame stabbing each other how many will be willing to give up their own lives for someone who is a love enemy? How many will have the courage to give up everything and accept absolutely nothing in return?He just says”It is farfar better thing that I dothan I ever done;it is farfar better rest that I go tothan I have ever known.” The self-sacrifice of Sydney Carton is undeniably a triumph to humanity.

The third one is about the revolution.In my history book what I was told about the revolution are all prises.But in this novelI see the other side of the coin. Not every one of us is born to be evil. I truly believe that we only become what we are by what we are taught to be. I do agree that the French peasants suffered poorly before the French Revolution. Indeed the French aristocracy ought to be criticized for the air of superiority they held especially the Marquis of Evremonde. But everyone deserves a chance to repent for his or her sins don't they? The revolutionary France was practically 'screaming' for the blood of any aristocrat – guilty or not. This was no revolution. They were merely repeating the acts of violence that they themselves had intensely suffered from.