The French Revolution was a bloody disaster
Mobs ruled, cities burned, and guillotines roared — how could anyone fight back against such horrors?
Charles Dickens had the answer, and wrote a book all about it:
Here’s his advice on how to stop a Reign of Terror… 🧵
Charles Dickens writes on France’s Reign of Terror in his novel A Tale of Two Cities (spoilers)
Paris was wrought with revolutionary violence:
One false accusation could label you an “enemy of the revolution,” and send you to the guillotine
But what drove this hysteria?
The Reign of Terror was driven by wrath:
The “oppressed” were “eating the rich”
This spirit of wrath led to a perpetual cycle of violence:
Victims become oppressors, violence begets violence, bloodshed multiplies, heads begin to roll...
It would be easy to feel powerless in such a dystopia:
How can I resist a mass-murdering government?
The answer is not what you think
It doesn’t entail violence, politics, or even leadership
Instead, simply follow the example of the story’s hero - a drunken lawyer…
Sydney Carton is the ultimate cynic
He’s an alcoholic attorney who believes himself a failure and waste of life
Only a kind-hearted woman - Lucie Manette - brings him joy
His love for her awakens a long dormant heroism inside him
As the novel progresses, Sydney’s love for Lucie flourishes, and so does his humanity
He expresses a growing desire for redemption:
To commit himself to a noble ideal to make his “wasted” life meaningful…
His heroic moment comes at the novel’s conclusion
Lucie’s husband, Charles, is unjustly arrested in Paris - sentenced to death
Sydney, seeing a chance for redemption, plots the unthinkable:
Break into prison, free Charles, and take his place under the guillotine
It’s a heartbreaking sacrifice, but Sydney affirms it’s necessary:
"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done"
But why is such a sacrifice necessary? How does it help Sydney, or stop a Reign of Terror?
Beyond saving Charles, this act redeems Sydney’s life:
His entire existence becomes one of beauty
But Sydney’s sacrifice isn’t just an act of personal redemption:
It’s an act of grace that counteracts the wrath of the French Reign of Terror
Sydney’s sacrifice didn’t literally stop the Reign of Terror, but it points to a crucial truth:
Tyranny is built on wrath
You don’t defeat violence with violence for “whoever slayeth man, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold”
Wrath begets wrath until society dies
Instead, you resist wrath with grace
Sydney - by laying down his life - resisted the cycle of violence that fueled the revolution…
His sacrifice reminds us that the martyr is the ultimate hero, because the martyr’s grace restores sanity to a fallen world
It’s the same truth as Christ on the cross
It’s why Solzhenitsyn said you fight tyranny by “resisting the lie,” even if you die for it
The answer to a reign of terror is an act of mercy:
You find your life by losing your life in love for The Good
Hence Sydney didn’t find his life until he was under the guillotine
His sacrifice openly defied one of the greatest tyrannies known to man
We face the same challenge - not necessarily to be martyrs - but to grow the same courage as Sydney:
To bring grace to a world of evil...
Though we don't live in Revolutionary France, lies run rampant today more than ever:
Anyone can be captured by wrath, yet the most radical resistance is a charitable act of grace
More than saving your soul, your small acts of mercy may help in setting the whole world right
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