VIDA ESCOLAR

CHARLES DICKENS
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) was Dickens’ account of the
French Revolution – with the story switching between
London and Paris. It views the causes and effects of
the Revolution from an essentially private point of view,
showing how personal experience relates to public history. Dickens’ characters are fictional, and their political
activity is minimal, yet all are drawn towards the Paris of
the Terror, and all become caught up in its web of human
suffering and human sacrifice. This novel features the
memorable episode when wastrel barrister Sydney Carton redeems himself by smuggling the hero out of prison
and taking his place on the scaffold. The novel ends with
the memorable lines: “It is a far, far better thing that I do,
than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go
to, than I have ever known.”

Great Expectations (1860-61) traces the adventures and moral development of the young hero Pip as he rises from humble
beginnings in a village blacksmith’s. Eventually, via good connections and a secret benefactor, he becomes a gentleman in
fashionable London – but loses his way morally in the process
and disowns his family. Fortunately he is surrounded by good
and loyal friends who help him to redeem himself. Plenty of drama
is provided by a spectacular fire, a strange quasi-sexual attack,
and the chase of an escaped convict on the river Thames. There
are a number of strange psycho-sexual features to the characters
and events, and the novel has two subtly different endings – both
adding ambiguity to the love interest between Pip and the beautiful Stella.
INÉS COCA y PAULA FERNÁNDEZ
Alumnas de 1º Bachillerato

1812

1870

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