A Tale of Two Cities Literary Devices

Definition of Satire

Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of satire, but satirists can take... read full definition

Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians, are often the subject of... read full definition

Satire is the use of humor, irony, sarcasm, or ridicule to criticize something or someone. Public figures, such as politicians... read full definition

Explanation and Analysis—Resistance to Reform:

Dickens satirizes the tendency of powerful men—both those in France and those in London—to uphold the status quo. Describing the partners of Tellson’s Bank, he writes:

[…] the partners in the House were proud of its smallness, proud of its darkness, proud of its ugliness, proud of its incommodiousness […] and were fired by an express conviction that, if it were less objectionable, it would be less respectable […] Any one of these partners would have disinherited his son on the question of rebuilding Tellson’s. In this respect, the house was much on a par with the Country; which did very often disinherit its sons for suggesting improvements in laws and customs that had long been highly objectionable, but were only the more respectable.

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Explanation and Analysis—Jingle and Jangle:

Dickens uses satire to criticize the British justice system. At the beginning of the novel, Charles Darnay is tried for treason on scanty evidence. Dickens makes light of the judge’s lofty language:

Silence in the court! Charles Darnay had yesterday pleaded Not Guilty to an indictment denouncing him (with infinite jingle and jangle) for that he was a false traitor to our serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, prince, our Lord the King, by reason of his having, on divers occasions, and by divers means and ways, assisted Lewis, the French King, in his wars against our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth [...]

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A Tale of Two Cities: Satire 2 key examples

Definition of Satire