Abstract

Charles Dickens is an English writer and social critic. He is one of the most famous writers in England after Shakespeare and his works enjoy a great popularity all around the world. The novel A Tale of Two Cities is one of his representative works in the spirit of humanitarianism. Dickens reveals the brutal regime of feudal aristocracy through the novel, with French Revolution and the England society of  the 19th century as the background. At the same time, it expresses his humane thought and deep consideration. What is more, it reveals the evil of the capitalist society and the evil of human nature. It lets us know more about the social darkness and contradiction. The novel advocates the spirit of humanitarianism through the comparison between the cruelty of aristocracy and the leniency of ordinary people. This thesis will illustrate the spirit of humanitarianism in the novel in four parts. The first part of this thesis introduces Charles Dickens and his novel A Tale of Two Cities. The second part of this thesis describes the meaning of humanitarianism, and narrates the childhood experience of Dickens to explain why he is a humanitarian. The third part of this thesis analyzes the humanitarianism in the novel. The fouth part of this thesis is the conclusion. The author hopes that this thesis will help readers have a better understanding of Dickens’s humanitarianism.

Key Words: humanitarianism  aristocracy  French Revolution  contradiction

摘 要

查尔斯•狄更斯是一个英国的著名的作家和社会评论家。他是继莎士比亚之后英国最著名的作家之一，并且他的作品在全世界享誉盛名。小说《双城记》是能体现他人道主义精神的代表作之一。小说将法国大革命和英国社会环境作为大背景，狄更斯通过小说向世人展示了封建贵族的残暴统治。同时从文中也表现了作者的人道主义思想以及对此更深刻的考虑。另外，小说也揭露了资本主义世界的罪恶和人类天性中的罪恶。这使我们知道了社会的黑暗和存在的矛盾。小说在对贵族阶级的残酷和普通百姓的仁慈比较中，体现出作者所提倡的人道主义精神。这篇论文将从四个部分来阐述小说中的人道主义精神。第一部分是对查尔斯•狄更斯以及《双城记》这部作品进行了一个简要介绍。第二部分主要介绍了人道主义精神的意义，同是也描述了狄更斯的童年生活经历。第三部分是整篇论文的主要部分，在这一部分中论文作者将对文中内容进行具体的分析，以此来阐释狄更斯一直主张的人道主义精神。作者希望通过这篇论文来帮助读者对人道主义精神有一个深入的了解。

关键词：人道主义 贵族 法国大革命 冲突

1 Introduction
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel written by Charles Dickens, and it uses the French Revolution as the background. A Tale of Two Cities, a classic novel, stands the test of time. It is a good work, and gives great insight into human memories and reactions. When the novel was first published, there were many comments. For example, Forster praised the novel “this private history is associated with the most vivid expression of the spirit of the days of the great French Revolution ”