“The One and Indivisible Republic of Freedom, Equality, Fraternity or Death!” This is the motto of the French revolutionaries of the 18th century. A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens describes the beginnings of the French Revolution, mixing it with the story of Doctor Manette, his daughter Lucie and her husband Charles Darnay. In the city of Paris lived the vintner Monsieur Defarge, who with his wife was secretly waiting for the right moment to start a revolution and overthrow the aristocrats. In 1792 the fighting began, when Defarge and the people killed the governor and installed the guillotine. The massacre continued for many years. Meanwhile the revolutionaries shouted that it was for “The One and Indivisible Republic of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death!” However, this refrain was not performed. The French revolutionaries believed in a republic of liberty, equality and fraternity. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a republic is “a government in which the supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officials and representatives responsible to them and who govern according to law.” However, during the revolution, the people did not establish a republic. The guillotine became the supreme power of the so-called French republic. The citizens recognized this. Sydney Carton asked a wood sawyer, involved with the Defarges, "How's the Republic?" The man replied, “Oh, you mean the guillotine. Not sick. Sixty-three today" (page 242). The guillotine dominated the French Revolution and took the place of the republic for which the revolutionaries claimed to be fighting. Freedom, defined as “the quality or state of being free, as… medium of paper…. ..a meeting point. But it turned out to be a meeting point only for death and destruction. None of the three requirements of the republic were met. The people had no freedom. Hundreds were imprisoned, many were held within the city due to exams, and all were held captive by hatred and passion. Equality did not exist. Although the revolutionaries “wanted” to bring freedom and equality to the poor, they actually massacred many poor, innocent people they were supposed to help. Due to the nature of the revolution, there could be no brotherhood. There were groups such as the Defarge, the "Vendetta" and the lumber sawyers, but there was no great unity of the people. Anyone could easily be attacked by one of their kind. Ultimately, the revolution resulted in a bloodbath. It brought no freedom, equality or brotherhood, only death.