A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is the first of two historical novels. Published in 1859, the book addresses themes of resurrection, destiny and concealment. Dickens' novel both demonstrates his view of society and contains historical facts surrounding the French Revolution. Throughout the novel, two views on the theme of death are evident: a negative perspective and a positive perspective of death. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens uses three very different perspectives on death: the bloodthirsty need for massacre expressed by the revolutionary Madame Defarge, the physiological death resulting from the imprisonment of Doctor Manette and the noble sacrifice of Sydney Carton, to demonstrate his view of death as a form not only of physical and emotional punishment, but also of liberation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Dickens negatively portrays death as a horrible act through Madame Defarge. She states that “for other crimes as tyrants and oppressors, I have long had this race on my record, doomed to destruction and extermination” (Dickens 264). Madame Defarge is obsessed with destroying the aristocrats, believing that their cruelty demands death. Additionally, Dickens describes her sadistic tendencies: “She derived horrible pleasure from the deadly nature of her anger,” thus proving her vicious nature (Dickens 265). Madame Defarge not only takes pleasure in seeing the condemned die, but she also draws up a secret register of individuals whom the revolutionaries wish to execute. Stout writes: “Madame Defarge’s knitted register of the condemned shows how thin an operational characterization could be” (Stout 37). This register further implies the certainty of their death; since Madame Defarge writes it, it seems inevitable, demonstrating the authority of the revolutionaries and the inexorable justice they demand. Through Madame Defarge, Dickens pessimistically depicts death as obligatory corporal punishment. Dickens not only depicts death as corporal punishment through the character of Doctor Manette, but he also expresses his view of death as emotional imprisonment. Doctor Manette's eighteen years of imprisonment constitute a negative parallel with physical death. Dickens says: “The weakness of the voice was pitiful and dreadful. It was not a matter of discomfort due to physical weakness, although confinement and hardship undoubtedly played their part” (Dickens 29). Doctor Manette's incarceration leaves him physically weak and emotionally damaged. Although Dickens does not describe precisely how he suffered, his numerous relapses into the shaking sessions of his former self remain evidence of the depth of his misery. As Doctor Manette progresses from an emotionally troubled man to a free man in society, he suffers multiple relapses. During one of his reversions, Doctor Manette returned to his bench where he endured the life of a shoemaker during his incarceration. Dickens describes Doctor Manette's compulsions: "He worked and worked and worked, in silence, and the words fell on him as they would have fallen on an echoless wall...he sometimes looked up furtively...in this it seemed as if he was trying to allay certain doubts in his mind” (Dickens 150). Because he spent so many years isolated making shoes, when an event awakens Doctor Manette's old self and he reverts to his old ways and excludes everyone. He says: "my old pain gave me a power that made us.