Question

What are two examples of litotes from “A Tale of Two Cities”?

Answer 1

Hint: Litotes is a figure of speech and a form of verbal irony in which the use of understatement to highlight a point by stating a negative to further reinforce a positive, often with double negatives for impact. Litotes is a type of understatement, specifically meiosis, that is often done on purpose to emphasise something.

Complete answer:
Litotes is a figure of speech that emphasises an argument by stating a negative to further reinforce a positive, often with double negatives for effect. For example, saying "It's not the best weather today" during a hurricane is an example of litotes, suggesting that the weather is indeed terrible by an ironic understatement.

The story "A Tale of Two Cities" takes place during the French Revolution in the late 18th century. Although Dickens' sprawling tale of London and revolutionary Paris is based on Thomas Carlyle's biography The French Revolution, the novel is more suspenseful than historically accurate.

The main themes of duality, revolt, and resurrection are explored in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. As economic and political instability led to the American and French Revolutions, it was the best of times and the worst of times in London and Paris. Doctor Alexandre Manette, Charles Darnay, and Sydney Carton, the main characters in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, are all brought back to life, or reborn, in different forms as chaos erupts.

Two examples of litotes are:
- "A day wasted on others is not wasted on one's self.”
- "It was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack. It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race."

Note: A Tale of Two Cities is a Charles Dickens historical novel set in London and Paris before and after the French Revolution, published in 1859. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, who was imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille in Paris before being released and moving to London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met. The plot takes place during the years leading up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.