A Sociology of Literature Study : Social Condition of French Society in Charles Dickens's " A Tale of Two Cities" = A Sociology of Literature Study : Social Condition of French Society in Charles Dickens's " A Tale of Two Cities"

This study concerns the social conditions of French society before and during the French Revolution and the similarity of social conditions and events that occurred in French society by comparing the contents of the novel and the real history of France. The aims of this research are to describe the social condition of the French society before and during French revolution and the similarities between social condition during French revolution and Charles Dickens’s which set in France in Saint-Antoine. By means of the social condition in society, the researcher elaborates their role in term of social conditions before and during revolution and similarities between social condition French revolution and Charles Dickens’s novel portrayed in A Tale of Two Cities novel written by Dickens. This research uses descriptive qualitative and genetic structuralism theory by Lucian Goldmann. Dickens described how the social conditions of in the era before revolution and the social condition during the French revolution, because at that period, the society lived under pressure of feudalism and republic, and the similarities of social conditions between the French revolution and during French revolution in Charles Dickens’s novel. The results of this research s that the social condition of French society pre-revolution is very concerning for the people who are under the great pressure from the noble and clergy and social condition during revolution where the people of Saint-Antoine rise and causing chaos under the hate of the poor people toward the upper-class by the author through the novel. There are three sides which portrayed by Dickens in his work, such as: (1) the social condition pre-revolution : poverty, famine, monarchy, social class, violence (2) the social condition during revolution: abolishment of monarchy, birth of republic, homicide/mass murder, unjust law, dechristianization and (3) similarities between French revolution and Charles Dickens’s novel where there several relevance are found by the researcher such as: attack on bastille prison, abolishment of feudalism, and dechristianization.

Keywords: Sociology of Literature, Social Condition, Revolution, Charles Dickens