A character sketch of tellson’s bank in a tale of two cities essay sample

In A Tale of Two Cities Dickens describes Tellson’s Bank using the humor and satire. The Tellson’s Bank, a type, which actually existed in 1780, is described by Dickens as “ an old fashioned, boastful, small, dark and ugly place with musty odour”(p. 51). His derogation with this bank is obvious through the whole description even when he relates staff as “ the oldest men carried on bussines gravely” and when he directly says that young men taken to the tellson’s bank were “ kept unseen like a cheese until they had the full Tellson’s flavour and blue-mould upon them”(p. 53), he clearly shows his negative opinion toward this convective institution. His disagreement with circumstances in the bank is reinforced by strong Satire, which makes the Bank with the staff appear ridiculous in order to show how foolish, wicked and incompetent they are.

He uses ironical even the satirical accounts as for example ” Tellson’s wanted no elbow room, Tellson’s wanted no light, Tellson’s wanted no embellishment. Noakes and Co’s might, or Snook Brother’s might; but Tellson’s, thank Heaven.” (p. 51) or when he says ” Thus it had come to pass, that Tellson’s was the triumphant perfection of inconvenience.” (p. 51) to support his critical ideas against the ignorance of a progress. Using satire Dicken’s relieved otherwise hard and very serious story by propagation of new ‘ revolutionary’ thinking. He actually calls people to the acceptation of progress by humor and sarcastic criticism of convective principles of synchronic society.