Poverty causes a gap of hostility between the rich and the poor, in both France and England. In Charles Dickens' nineteenth century novel, A Tale of Two Cities, this gap results in madness in the poor and difficulties in the rich.

Conflict first appears in the first chapter of book one. In England, people lose body parts, or even their lives to the guillotine as, "sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, because he had not kneeled down to a dirty procession of monks which passed within his view, at a distance of some fifty or sixty yards."

Leaking wine onto the street from a broken wine bottle, causes people to rush in order to get a taste of the sweet drink. This illustrates how desperate the people have become.

Dashing madly through the town, Marquis St. Evremonde runs over...