Summary:
The motif of blood and wine are one of the few motifs in A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, that help create a big feeling of anticipation and suspense in the novel. The purpose of this motif is to create the lingering ideas of foreshadow, mystery, and horror.
The dark, evil, scary color of blood resembles much that of wine. Both substances look incredibly similar so, why are they both very important in this novel. The motif of blood and wine are one of the few motifs in A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, that help create a big feeling of anticipation and suspense in the novel. The purpose of this motif is to create the lingering ideas of foreshadow, mystery, and horror.
Foreshadowing an event in a book is what keeps the reader guessing about is really going to happen in the story. The imagery of blood and wine always gives the reader a sense that something bad is going to happen. "In the days when all these things are to be answered for, I summon you and yours, to the last of your bad race, to answer for them. I mark this cross of blood upon you, as that I do it." (III, 337). The "cross of blood" that the young man gave to the Marquis was a malicious mark that meant for the Marquis and his family to die. In this particular point of the story, it foretells that some important character in the novel is to die. This quote not only foreshadows the future but also reveals that a desperate plea of revenge will be granted, even if it takes eighteen years or so years. "The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of St. Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It has stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet and many wooden shoes." (I, 33). The red wine in this quote can be connected to blood and foreshow the future bloodshed that will flood and stain the innocent suburb of St. Antoine and its people. The word "stained" in the paragraph represents a remorseful scar that will never go away. Blood and wine in this story foreshadows many incidents in the book and keeps the story in its haunting atmosphere.
The mystery of blood and wine always keeps the reader wanting to learn more about how a sinister incident solves itself. The purpose of blood and wine is to give the reader a well-made picture with many things unexplained, allowing him/her to think about the possibilities. "They were in number as the weeks of the year. Fifty-two were to roll that afternoon on the life-tide of the city to the boundless everlasting sea... their blood ran into the blood spilled yesterday, the blood that was to mingle with theirs to-morrow was to set apart." (III, 357). The mystery of this quote is the number of people that are to die each day by execution. The reader would always ask him/herself a question, "why is the number fifty-two significant"" until the answer is found. Fifty-two so happens to the number of weeks in one year, which is significant because the aristocracy had been tormenting the lower class for many years. "Headlong, mad, and dangerous footsteps to force their way into anybody's life, footsteps not easily made clean if once stained red..." (II, 220). To be stained red is to be branded guilty of a murderous sin. The main mystery if this passage is the "headlong, mad and dangerous footsteps." The reader could use the words "stained red" to guess that the footsteps belong to the revolutionist. However, the footsteps could have also belonged to aristocracy because both parties are guilty of cruel felonies. Pondering ideas of different solutions to a mystery involving blood and wine is a sure way to keep a reader hooked to a story and want to learn more.
Many horror movies are scary because of the way they use blood and show them to the audience in sinister ways. In horror, blood and wine's purpose is to scare the reader into an anxious mood and feel the story as if they were truly there. "False eyebrows and false moustaches were stuck upon [these ruffians], and their hideous countenances were bloody and sweaty, and all awry howling, and all staring and glaring with beastly excitement and want of sleep." (III, 271). The imagery of the "ruffians" in this segment allows the reader to "see" them as all bloody and sweating, in way that cannot be human. The dreadfulness of this scene can make a reader sit on the edge of his/her seat until it is over. "Six tumbrels carry the day's wine to La Guillotine. All the devouring and insatiate Monsters imagined since imagination could record itself, are fused in one realization, La Guillotine." (III, 381). The wine in this piece is actually used in the place of actual people. The shed of their blood is the wine that will quench the thirst of the guillotine and the murderous crowd. The reader of this passage could feel the presence the roaring crowd and the crying victims by the two words of devouring and insatiate. Every once in a while, a person needs a scare; otherwise they will be living a life without a different view of reality. Blood and wine are excellent motifs that can quickly and easily create a fearful environment.
The purposes of blood and wine are to keep the reader full of ideas and imaginations so when the truth is revealed, it would have a bigger impact on the reader. A story without motifs is like a sandwich without bread. The motif of blood and wine is what make the novel of A Tale of Two Cities different from the other novels written during his time.
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