The Wine-Shop and Foreshadowing

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
"The Wine-shop"

          If you've read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, you will most likely recognize the scene illustrated above as "The Wine-shop" (Chapter 5).  My illustration of this famous scene is from the perspective of a citizen who is passing through the center of action.  The language, vocabulary, and detail used to depict the scene foreshadow what is to happen in later chapters of the book. "The Wine-shop" contains a great deal of foreshadowing about the French Revolution and the blood and violence that it entails.  Dickens states,"Some men kneeled down, made scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped...others made small mud embankments, to stem the wine as it ran"(Dickens 21), meaning some people drank and enjoyed the wine, while others made efforts to stop its flowing. This foreshadows that people will act in a similar manner during the Revolution. Some people will fight and support the violence, while others will attempt to cease it. In addition, Dickens writes,"Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth"(Dickens 21).  This quote foreshadows how citizens will be affected by the Revolution, based on their actions.  He who acts gluttonous with violence will be the one who tarnishes his reputation and leaves a permanent scar on his name.  Finally, Dickens says,"The time was to come, when that wine [blood] would too be spilled on the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon the many there"(Dickens 22), foreshadowing how violence will soon break out in France.  The wine represents the blood and violence that will occur on this very street.  The ones with the "stains" of the blood will be those causing and encouraging the brutality.  Foreshadowing plays a strong role in this chapter.