Abstract

Charles Dickens is a typical critical realist writer in the 19th century. Humanitarianism is an invariable topic in Dickens’ works and his works reflect it profoundly. This paper aims to elaborate Dickens’ political attitudes, depiction of characters of different categories, and the religious themes contained in the novel these three aspects in order to analyze Dickens’ humanitarianism presented in A Tale of Two Cities. However, owing to his bourgeois status, Dickens’ humanitarianism carries its limits. Nevertheless, his bourgeois constraints haven’t weakened the active influence that has exerted upon his time, and also this humanitarianism can still be used as aspiring reference in present world. 

Keywords: Charles Dickens; A Tale of Two Cites; humanitarianism

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review2

3.Humanitarianism Embodied in Dickens’ Political Attitude3

3.1 Dickens’ ambivalence about the Revolution and the revolutionaries4

3.2 Social reformation5

4.Humanitarianism Embodied in Characterization.5

4.1 Negative characters6

4.2 Contradictory characters6

4.3 Ideally positive characters9

5. Humanitarianism Embodied in the Means of Religious Salvation9

5.1 Human love10

5.2 Spiritual resurrection11

6. Conclusion12

Works Cited...14