The Guillotine

“Tale of Two Cities”, this is a book most people know by the famous author, Charles Dickens. While reading this book I did some close reading and tried to discover what Dickens was telling his audience while reading the book. I decided to take a part of the book that talks about the guillotine. This is how most people were killed during the French Revolution. In this book Dickens explains how he feels about the Guillotine.

                “It was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked though the little window and sneezed into the sack. It superseded the Cross. Models worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was denied.

                It sheared off heads so many, that it, and the ground it most polluted, were a rotten red. It was taken to pieces, like a toy-puzzle for a young Devil, and was put together again when the occasion wanted it. It hushed the eloquent, struck down the powerful, abolished the beautiful and good.  Twenty-two friends of high public mark, twenty-one living and one dead, it had lopped the heads off, in one morning, in as many minutes. The name of the strong man of Old Scripture had descended to the chief functionary who worked it; but, so armed, he was stronger than his namesake, and blinder, and tore away the gates of God’s own Temple every day.” (Dickens)

This part of the book I did a close read on. I found that Dickens talks about the guillotine in a sarcastic matter. In the first paragraph he mentions how it is the best cure for headache, which shows that he is almost making fun how much they used the guillotine during the French Revolution.  He describes it by turning hair grey, meaning making a person older, in other words death.  He talks about the complexion it makes to one person, which also describes leading to one’s death.

 When getting into the next paragraph he talks about how he feels about the guillotine. He explains that it is like a toy for the Devil, which shows how people come and gather to watch people die. This is like a toy because so many people come to watch one another die and cheer them on instead of looking at the reality of what is happening. As the paragraph continues it shows how Dickens didn’t like the idea of the guillotine. In this case dickens uses irony to show how he is feeling towards the guillotine and how he didn’t agree.