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Question: What does this other passage from A Tale of Two Cities mean!?
France, less favoured on the whole as to matters
spiritual than her sister of the shield and trident, rolled
with exceeding smoothness down hill, making paper
money and spending it!. Under the guidance of her
Christian pastors, she entertained herself, besides, with
such humane achievements as sentencing a youth to have
his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his
body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in
the rain to do honour to a dirty procession of monks
which passed within his view, at a distance of some fifty or sixty yards!. It is likely enough that, rooted in the woods of
France and Norway, there were growing trees, when that
sufferer was put to death, already marked by the
Woodman, Fate, to come down and be sawn into boards,
to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a
knife in it, terrible in history!. It is likely enough that in the
rough outhouses of some tillers of the heavy lands adjacent
to Paris, there were sheltered from the weather that very
day, rude carts, bespattered with rustic mire, snuffed about
by pigs, and roosted in by poultry, which the Farmer,
Death, had already set apart to be his tumbrils of the
Revolution!. But that Woodman and that Farmer, though
they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard
them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather,
forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were
awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
It's explaining pre-revolution France at the beginning of the passage!.
It discusses how they suffered inflation by printing too much paper money and how they would cruelly, unusually, and unnecessarily punish peasants who didn't pay homage to monks as they passed on the road!.
The latter portion of the passage is a discussion of Death and Fate, personifying them and giving them the names of the Farmer and the Woodsman, respectively!. There is some discussion of a young boy who was punished terribly for not bowing to the monks as they passed on the street and was eventually killed, and the thought that Fate had determined this as the boy's time to die is briefly entertained!.
In even further discussion, the author suggests that Death and Fate are unnoticed and slick in their work, impossible to stop or foresee!. They are constantly at work; that is, everything that happens is fated and nobody is ever safe from death!. Death is also noted to have stored some tumbrils, or carts used for carrying those who are ready to be executed to the guillotine, for the revolution!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
That the seeds of Revolution had long been planted, had grown, and were soon to bloom!. That Death had already appointed certain farmers' carts that would carry members of the ruling class and the clergy to meet their death upon the guillotine which Fate had already selected the trees with which to build it!. That resentment of clerical privilege and hatred of the ruling monarchy was seething in the background -- but quietly, so as not to arouse suspicion -- as the so-called atheistic traitors, the Revolutionists, became poorer, hungrier, and more determined to overthrow the source of their misery!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
It is foretelling what is going to happen in the future history of France (we are in the brink of the French Revolution: 1789, and the Terror)
The passage you asked about in an earlier post said that it was 1775!. It even hinted that there was unrest and conflict going on between England and the colonies (the future U!.S!.A!.) -which, we know it'll be the Independence process that started in 1776!.
So, it is 1775!. Dickens writes about France!. Check what was happening in France at that time!. The king had absolute power!. Power that (it was said) came from God!. At that time it was unthinkable to question that power!.
Check, at least in the wikipedia, what was happening in France in that period (1770s to 1800s)!.
There was economical trouble but aristocracy didn't mind:(making paper money and spending it)!.
Check this:
she (France) entertained herself, besides, with
such humane (is it humane to cut someone's hands!? This is irony) achievements as sentencing a youth to have
his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his
body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in
the rain to do honour to a dirty procession of monks (a stupid, arbitrary or too harsh reason to do all this, so there is injustice)
there were growing trees (!.!.!.) already marked by (!.!.!.) Fate, to come down (the trees) and be sawn into boards,
to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a
knife in it, terrible in history
(this framework is the guillotine: to behead)
Woodman= Fate = guillotine!?
Farmer= Death
But FATE and DEATH (which is what is going to happen in the future), (!.!.!.) work silently, and no one heard
them as they went about with muffled tread:
in 1775 this was still 'festering': it was not a conflict yet, but the seeds of the conflict that would explode with the French Revolution in 1789 were planted!.
to entertain any suspicion that they (fate and death = french revolution) were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous!.
(again, this idea that it still was unthinkable to question the power of the king, the church and the aristocracy)
Dickens is very descriptive (TOO descriptive, sometimes), and ironic!. In this passage he is saying that there was a conflict in France which would erupt in the Revolution!.
Read some background information on the book, on the time and on the two countries at that time (some historical context), if not, many metaphors will be lost to you)!.
Good luck with the reading!Www@QuestionHome@Com