Unveiling Subtle Characterization: A Corpus-Stylistic Study of Minor Figures in Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities

Abstract

This study presents a detailed corpus-stylistic analysis of Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities, with a focus on how ostensibly minor characters are linguistically foregrounded through stylistic choices. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics as our guiding framework, we use corpus methods (via the CLiC platform) to compare the target text against reference corpora (other Dickens novels and 19th-century literature)[1]. Keywords and concordance analysis reveal that names like Jarvis Lorry, Miss Pross, and Dr. Manette occur as statistically salient despite their supporting roles[2]. We then conduct a qualitative interpretation of selected concordance lines to uncover how Dickens’s lexico-grammatical patterns (lexical bundles, metaphors, tone) characterize these figures. Our findings show that Dickens strategically uses diction and figurative language (e.g. biblical allusions, politeness strategies) to signal these characters’ thematic importance. For example, Lorry’s speech is often formal and reassuring, highlighting rationality and loyalty, while Madame Defarge’s language is terse and symbolic of revolutionary fervor. The study integrates insights from cognitive stylistics and narrative analysis to interpret these patterns. This combined quantitative–qualitative approach demonstrates that corpus stylistics can uncover novel interpretive insights: traits of marginal characters that traditional literary analysis might overlook. The results suggest that Dickens embeds hidden threads (e.g. faith, duty, sacrifice) in the style of minor figures, thus enriching the novel’s texture. By linking linguistic evidence to literary function, this paper advances stylistic methodology and expands our understanding of characterization in Dickensian prose.