A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Analysis

Critical Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities Analysis (Formalistic Approach)

1. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Canillas, Kareen Jane L. Francisco, Janice Ilaygan , Mariel Jephonneh Mullaneda , Vanissa Orilla, Neiljohn Peñaloga , Charein Grace Senso , Lornielyn BSE IV-ENGLISH

2. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, on February 7, 1812, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. He was the second of eight children. His mother had been in service to Lord Crew, and his father worked as a clerk for the Naval Pay office. John Dickens was imprisoned for debt when Charles was young. Charles Dickens went to work at a blacking warehouse, managed by a relative of his mother, when he was twelve, and his brush with hard times and poverty affected him deeply. He later recounted these experiences in the semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield. Similarly, the concern for social justice and reform which surfaced later in his writings grew out of the harsh conditions he experienced in the warehouse. Author’s Background

3. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens As a young boy, Charles Dickens was exposed to many artistic and literary works that allowed his imagination to grow and develop considerably. He was greatly influenced by the stories his nursemaid used to tell him and by his many visits to the theater. Additionally, Dickens loved to read. Among his favorite works were Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, and Arabian Nights, all of which were picaresque novels composed of a series of loosely linked adventures. This format no doubt played a part in Dickens' idea to serialize his future works. Author’s Background

4. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Dickens was able to leave the blacking factory after his father's release from prison, and he continued his education at the Wellington House Academy. Although he had little formal schooling, Dickens was able to teach himself shorthand and launch a career as a journalist. At the age of sixteen, Dickens got himself a job as a court reporter, and shortly thereafter he joined the staff of A Mirror of Parliament, a newspaper that reported on the decisions of Parliament. During this time Charles continued to read voraciously at the British Library, and he experimented with acting and stage-managing amateur theatricals. His experience acting would affect his work throughout his life--he was known to act out characters he was writing in the mirror and then describe himself as the character in prose in his novels. Author’s Background

5. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Fast becoming disillusioned with politics, Dickens developed an interest in social reform and began contributing to the True Sun, a radical newspaper. Although his main avenue of work would consist of writing novels, Dickens continued his journalistic work until the end of his life, editing The Daily News, Household Words, and All the Year Round. His connections to various magazines and newspapers as a political journalist gave him the opportunity to begin publishing his own fiction at the beginning of his career. He would go on to write fifteen novels. (A final one, The Mystery of Edwin Drood , was left unfinished upon his death.) Author’s Background

6. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens While he published several sketches in magazines, it was not until he serialized The Pickwick Papers over 1836-37 that he experienced true success. A publishing phenomenon, The Pickwick Papers was published in monthly installments and sold over forty thousand copies of each issue. Dickens was the first person to make this serialization of novels profitable and was able to expand his audience to include those who could not normally afford such literary works. Author’s Background

7. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Within a few years, he was regarded as one of the most successful authors of his time, with approximately one out of every ten people in Victorian England avidly reading and following his writings. In 1836 Dickens also married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of a fellow co-worker at his newspaper. The couple had ten children before their separation in 1858. Author’s Background

8. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby followed in monthly installments, and both reflected Dickens' understanding of the lower classes as well as his comic genius. In 1843, Dickens published one of his most famous works, A Christmas Carol. His disenchantment with the world's economic drives is clear in this work; he blames much of society's ills on people's obsession with earning money and acquiring status based on money. Author’s Background

9. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens His travels abroad in the 1840s, first to America and then through Europe, marked the beginning of a new stage in Dickens' life. His writings became longer and more serious. InDavid Copperfield (1849-50), readers find the same flawed world that Dickens discovered as a young boy. Dickens published some of his best-known novels including A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations in his own weekly periodicals. Author’s Background

10. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens The inspiration to write a novel set during the French Revolution came from Dickens' faithful annual habit of reading Thomas Carlyle's book The French Revolution, first published in 1839. When Dickens acted in Wilkie Collins' play The Frozen Deep in 1857, he was inspired by his own role as a self-sacrificing lover. He eventually decided to place his own sacrificing lover in the revolutionary period, a period of great social upheaval. Author’s Background

11. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens A year later, Dickens went through his own form of social change as he was writing A Tale of Two Cities: he separated from his wife, and he revitalized his career by making plans for a new weekly literary journal called All the Year Round. In 1859, A Tale of Two Cities premiered in parts in this journal. Its popularity was based not only on the fame of its author, but also on its short length and radical (for Dickens' time) subject matter. Author’s Background

12. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Dickens' health began to deteriorate in the 1860s. In 1858, in response to his increasing fame, he had begun public readings of his works. These exacted a great physical toll on him. An immensely profitable but physically shattering series of readings in America in 1867-68 sped his decline, and he collapsed during a "farewell" series in England. Author’s Background

13. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens On June 9, 1870, Charles Dickens died. He was buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. Though he left The Mystery of Edwin Drood unfinished, he had already written fifteen substantial novels and countless shorter pieces. His legacy is clear. In a whimsical and unique fashion, Dickens pointed out society's flaws in terms of its blinding greed for money and its neglect of the lower classes of society. Through his books, we come to understand the virtues of a loving heart and the pleasures of home in a flawed, cruelly indifferent world. Among English writers, in terms of his fame and of the public's recognition of his characters and stories, he is second only to William Shakespeare. Author’s Background

14. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Dickens published his twelfth novel, A Tale of Two Cities, in his own literary journal called All the Year Round in weekly installments from April to November of 1859. He got the germ of the idea for the novel from a play by Wilkie Collins called The Frozen Deep, in which he played the self-sacrificing hero. Dickens decided to transplant the emotive issue of self-sacrifice onto the time period of the French Revolution, and he modeled Sydney Carton after Collins's hero. To ensure that his novel would be as historically accurate as possible, Dickens pored over his friend Thomas Carlyle's classic history of the French Revolution. About Tale of Two Cities

15. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities is in part a historical novel, which sets it apart from Dickens's other work. Although Barnaby Rudge deals with the Gordon Riots in England, it discusses them only peripherally. In A Tale of Two Cities Dickens narrates aspects of a major historical event, the French Revolution. Because Dickens focuses on the effect of political upheaval more than on character development and wit, A Tale of Two Cities feels atypical among readers who know his other novels, and critics continue to debate its relative place in the English literary canon. About Tale of Two Cities

16. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens The French Revolution, which raged from 1789 to 1793, involved an overthrow of the aristocratic ruling order by the lower classes and was followed by a period of terror. The guillotine was used as a great equalizer, in that everyone from Queen Marie Antoinette to lowly peasants were beheaded by it. The Revolution at first garnered some support among radicals in England, creating a backlash among Conservatives, most notable in Edmund Burke's scathing Reflections on the Revolution in France. As the bloodshed became prolonged, support for the revolution waned in England, and a comparable social movement never started there. About Tale of Two Cities

17. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens When Dickens was writing A Tale of Two Cities, the French Revolution was still the most dramatic issue in the public's recent memory. The revolution involved contentious issues for Dickens, a political radical who believed in poor law reform and who campaigned for a more equal society. He vividly portrays the hunger of the French people and the brutality of the French aristocracy, embodied in the novel by the Evrémonde family, and he seems to justify the lower class's desire for a revolution. Yet, he just as dramatically illustrates the barbarity of the revolutionaries when they do rise to power. About Tale of Two Cities

18. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens This ambivalence is exemplified in his depiction of Madame Defarge , perhaps the most interesting of the main characters. She is ruthless in her desire for retribution against the wrongs that have been done to those of her class. Dickens indicates that Madame Defarge has good reason for her anger, but her death in a scuffle with Miss Pross at the end of the novel implies that Dickens cannot sympathize with the extent of her (or the revolutionaries') ceaseless bloodthirstiness. About Tale of Two Cities

19. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Dickens's novel is built around a great and stable love story, although as he wrote, his own marriage was failing spectacularly. Dickens was unhappily married to Catherine Hogarth, and he met and fell in love with a young actress named Ellen Ternan while he was acting in Wilkie Collins's play. This situation proved to be the final disaster in his marriage, and he separated from Catherine Hogarth in 1859. This unusual split, along with some well-publicized affairs that came afterward, increased the author's' notoriety but decreased his popularity somewhat towards the end of his life. About Tale of Two Cities

20. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Character Web Employs Reunites the Doctor With Lucie Former servant of Married to Unknowingly Denounces Marries Dies for Protects

21. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Charles Darnay - a French aristocrat. - He renounces his family name of St. Evremonde and moves to England because he cannot bear to be associated with the cruel injustices of the French social system. - He is put on trial during the Revolution for the Crimes of his family. After being acquitted of charges that he acted as a spy, he works in England as a tutor and eventually marries Lucie Manette . Characterization

22. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Sydney Carton - a London lawyer who looks like Charles Darnay and had great potential but has fallen into a life of alcoholism and vice. - He was a man who has no real prospects in life and doesn’t seem to be in pursuit of any. - His love for Lucie Manette motivate him to sacrifice his own life to save the life of Darnay , her husband. Characterization

23. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Doctor Manette - a doctor from Beauvais, France, who was secretly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille. - He does nothing but make shoes, a hobby that he adopted to distract himself from the tortures of prison. - He is a loving father of Lucie Manette . - He is nursed by his daughter, Lucie back to health in England. - During the Revolution, he tries to save his son-in-law, Charles Darnay , from the guillotine. Characterization

24. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Lucie Manette - Doctor Manette’s daughter, who was born in France and grew up in England. Her financial affairs are managed by Tellson’s Bank. - She is recognized for her kindness and compassion. In addition, she cares for her father and remains devoted to him. - She marries Charles Darnay . Characterization

25. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Monsieur Ernest Defarge -He is the owner of wine-shop. - He is a former servant of Dr. Manette . -He is the husband of Madame Defarge . - He is a leader of the Jacquerie during the French Revolution. Also, he helps Mr. Lorry and - Lucie to remove Dr. Manette from Paris. Characterization

26. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Madame Defarge - Monsieur Defarge’s ruthless wife and the ringleader of the Saint Antoine female revolutionaries. - She knits a register of those who deserve to die at the hands of the revolution. Characterization

27. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Jarvis Lorry - An elderly gentleman who is the clerk at Tellson’s Bank. - He accompany Lucie to her journey to France. - He is old friend of Dr. Manette . - He is a loyal and trustworthy and he value Dr. Manette and Lucie as his personal friend. Characterization

28. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Jerry Cruncher - a messenger for Tellson’s Bank and the body guard of Jarvis Lorry. - An odd-job man for Tellson's Bank whose side job is to act as a "resurrection man," which involves digging up dead bodies and selling their parts to scientists. Characterization

29. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Miss Pross -She is a lively and protective servant of Lucie. - Because she personifies order and loyalty, she provides the perfect foil to Madame Defarge , who epitomizes the violent chaos of the revolution. Characterization

30. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Marquis Evermonde - He is Charles Darnay’s uncle. - A proud and brutal French aristocrat who shows no regard for human life especially in the lower classes. Characterization

31. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Mr. Stryver - Ambitious London lawyer with a large ego. - He is old friend of Sydney Carton. - He is Darnay’s defense attorney in England. - He aspires to marry Lucie. Characterization

32. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens John Barsad - Like Roger Cly , he is a British spy who swears that his only motive is patriotism. Roger Cly - Like John Barsad , he is a British spy who swears that his only motive is patriotism. Gaspard - a resident of Saint Antoine who is executed for the murder of Monseigneur. Mrs. Cruncher -Jerry Cruncher’s wife. -She is a religious woman. Characterization

33. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Mrs. Cruncher -Jerry Cruncher’s wife. -She is a religious woman. Characterization

34. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 1 ( The Period)  The year is 1775, England and France were ruled by monarchs.  It pays attention to the concept of Spirituality and Justice in each country. Plot

35. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 2 ( The Mail )  Mr. Jarvis Lorry, slogs its way toward Dover in a mail-coach.  The foreboding atmosphere of nights and mist makes everyone uneasy- the passengers, the coachman, the guards.  Jerry Cruncher asks Mr. Lorry to wait at Dover for Mam’selle . Jerry was confused and troubled over Mr. Lorry’s mysterious response,” Recalled to Life.” Plot

36. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 3 ( The Nights Shadows )  All human are mysterious to one another – Mr. Lorry as he rides on in the mail couch with two strangers.  Mr. Lorry dozes off and begins to dream in the coach about a man who has been buried alive for eighteen years. Plot

37. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 4 ( The Preparation )  Mr. Lorry arrives at the Royal George Hotel in Dover in the late morning. His conversation with a waiter establishes that Tellson’s Bank operates both in London and Paris.  Lucie Manette was informed that Mr. Lorry would accompany her on a journey to France.  Lucie was shock knowing that her father who she believed to be dead is alive and they are going to Paris to identify him and restore him to life. Plot

38. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 5 ( The Wine-Shop )  A street in the Parisian suburb of Saint Antoine is the scene of chaos as a crowd gathers in front of a wine-shop to scoop up pools of wine spilled from a broken cask.  Mr. Lorry and Lucie entered the shop. Mr. Lorry approaches and begs a word from Monsieur Defarge . Then, Monsieur accompanied Mr. Lorry and Lucie inside the darkened room, and reveal a white-haired man sitting on a bench making shoes. Plot

39. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 6 ( The Shoemaker )  Dr. Manette , a man making shoes at his bench, hardly responds to the arrival of Mr. Lorry and Lucie.  When asked about his name, he responds, “One Hundred and Five, North Tower.” When Lucie approaches him, she seems familiar to him, especially after he compares her hair to two golden hair that he kept tied in a cloth around his neck.  Plot

40. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book I ( RECALLED TO LIFE ) Chapter 6 ( The Shoemaker )  Dr. Manette begins remembering Lucie’s mother and is confused and troubled when he hears Lucie’s embraces her father, comforting him as he begins to weep.  Lucie urges that arrangements be made for her father immediate departure for England. Later, Monsieur helps Mr. Lorry and Lucie to remove Dr. Manette from the city. Plot

41. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 1 ( Five Years Later)  Five years have passed since Tellson’s bank sent Mr. Manette back to England. It is now 1780. It opens with the description of the venerable Tellson’s Bank.  Jerry Cruncher becomes frustrated with his wife, Mrs. Cruncher for praying against his prosperity. Plot

42. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 2 ( A sight )  An old clerk at Tellson’s bank instructs Jerry Cruncher to deliver a message to Mr. Lorry at Old Bailey, where Charles Darnay is being trialed and to stay there until Mr. Lorry needs him.  The court is hearing a treason case, punishable by grisly sentence of being drawn and quartered. The accused Charles Darnay , stand quietly and calmly before the crowd until he catches sight for Lucie and Dr. Manette , who witnesses against him. Plot

43. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 3 ( A Disappointment )  The trial begins with the Attorney- General’s prosecute the case, requiring that the jury find Darnay guilty with shuttling back and forth between England and France in order to spy. The case is thrown into uproar and made fruitless.  Sydney Carton alerts Stryver to the remarkable physical resemblance between Carton and Darnay . Darnay's defense counsel, Mr. Stryver , then concludes the case with witnesses and a summation that paint Barsad as he spy and traitor and Cly as his accomplice. As a result, the jury returnswith the verdict that Charles Darnay is innocent. Plot

44. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 4 ( Congratulatory )  Dr. Manette , Lucie, Mr. Lorry, and Mr. Stryver congratulate Darnay on the verdict.  Carton approaches and invites Darnay to a nearby tavern for dinner. Darnay thank Carton for his assistance in the trial but Carton shrugs off the thanks and informs him that he doesn’t particularly like him.  Plot

45. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 4 ( Congratulatory )  Carton confesses that he is drinking heavily because he was a disappointed drudge and he care for no one. Also, he reflect that the differences between him and Darnay is great. In addition, he muses that if he had been like Darnay , he might have the opportunity of being cared about by Lucie.  Plot

46. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 5 ( The Jackal )  In the apartment, Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver discuss their school days together and differences in their fortunes. Even though Carton is more intelligent than Stryver but because Carton lacks ambition, he remains the researcher and assistant to Stryver’s lion, a prominent lawyer.  When Stryver admires the beauty of Miss Manette , Sydney Carton denies it, claiming she is nothing but a golden haired doll.  Plot

47. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 6 ( Hundreds of People ) Four months later, Mr. Lorry, Charles Darnay and Sydney become regular visitors at the Manette’s home in Soho .  Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross discuss the numerous suitors for Lucie's hand and the progress of Doctor Manette’s recovery.  Dr. Manette reacts badly to Darnay’s story about a prisoner in the Tower of London.  Lucie and Carton hear the echoes of people's footsteps from other streets.  Plot

48. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 7 ( Monseigneur in Town)  Monseigneur, a powerful lord of France, holds reception in Paris displays the excesses and superficiality of the French aristocracy  Marquis St. Evremonde angrily leaves the reception. On his way to Paris, they accidentally run over a child. The Marquis tosses a few coins to the boy’s father, Gaspard. Defarge emerges from the crowd to comfort Gaspard, and the Marquis throws him a coin as well. Plot

49. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 8 ( Monseigneur in the Country )  Marquis travels from Paris to the Evrémonde country estate to which he serves as lord.  The marquis testifies and shows that the irresponsible habits of the ruling class starve the land as much as they starve the common people. Plot

50. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 9 (The Gorgon’s Head )  Charles Darnay renounces the title and property that he stands to inherit when the Marquis dies.  The Marquis is found dead with a knife through his heart by a member of the Jacquerie . Plot

51. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 10 ( Two Promises )  Charles Darnay works in England as a tutor and admits his love for Lucie Manette .  Charles Darnay tells the Doctor that he loves Lucie and wishes to marry her. Plot

52. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 11 ( A Companion Picture )  The same night that Darnay makes his declaration to Dr. Manette to marry his daughter, Stryver tells Carton that he has decided to marry Lucie. Plot

53. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 12 ( The Fellow of delicacy )  Because he decided to wed Lucie, Stryver heads to Soho to let her know of her good fortune but before that, he drops in at Tellson’s Bank, where he informs Mr. Lorry of his intentions.  Mr. Lorry tells Stryver to drop his suit. However Stryver has already changed his mind and acts as if the incident was all a misunderstanding caused by Lucie. Plot

54. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 13 ( The Fellow of No Delicacy )  On August afternoon, Sydney Carton reveal his feelings to Lucie.  Carton ends his confession with a pledge that he would do anything for Lucie, including give his life. Plot

55. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 14 ( The Honest Tradesman )  As Jerry Cruncher sits outside Tellson's Bank, he notices a funeral procession.  The crowd is preparing to bury Roger Cly , a convicted spy and one of the men who testified against Darnay in his court case.  Jerry Cruncher goes to dig up Cly’s body in order to sell it to scientists. Plot

56. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 15 ( Knitting )  The mender of roads who spotted the man under the Marquis St. Evrémonde's carriage accompanies Defarge to the wine-shop.  In the garret where Doctor Alexandre Manette stayed, Defarge and Jacques One, Two, and Three listen to the road-mender describe what happened to Gaspard, the man who killed the Marquis. Gaspard, who murdered the Marquis for running down his child, went into hiding for nearly a year after the killing. Plot

57. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 16 ( Still Knitting )  The road-mender departs for home and the Defarges return to Saint Antoine.  A policeman informs Defarge to be alert for a new spy in the area who is John Barsad .  John Barsad visits the wine-shop and questions the Defarges about the unrest in Saint Antoine caused by Gaspard's execution. Plot

58. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 17 ( One Night )  The night before Lucie's wedding, Lucie and his father discuss about her upcoming marriage. Plot

59. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 18 ( Nine Days )  Doctor Alexandre Manette and Darnay engage in a private discussion.  Lucie and Darnay are married and depart on a two-week honeymoon.  A change comes over Manette ; he now looks scared and lost. Plot

60. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 19 ( An Opinion )  On the tenth morning, Doctor Alexandre Manette awakens fully recovered and unaware that anything unusual has transpired.  Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross bury the tools and burn the shoemaking bench after the Doctor leaves to join Lucie and Darnay on their trip. Plot

61. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 20 ( A Plea )  Soon after Lucie and Darnay return from their honeymoon, Carton visits them.  Carton asks for Darnay's friendship and apologizes for his rudeness after the trial and asks permission to visit the family occasionally and Darnay grants it. Plot

62. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 21 ( Echoing Footsteps )  The year is now 1789 .Lucie gives birth to a daughter, little Lucie, and a son, who dies young.  Problems in France begin to encroach upon the lives of those in England when Mr. Lorry appears at the Manette-Darnay home one night, tired and irritable after a long day at Tellson's .  In France, the residents of Saint Antoine arm themselves with every type of weapon imaginable and begin to mass in the streets, and the Defarges lead the crowd in an attack on the Bastille. Plot

63. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 22 ( The Sea Still Rises )  After the fall of the Bastille, Defarge arrives bearing news of the capture of Foulon , a hated official who they thought was dead, is alive. Plot

64. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 23 ( Fire Rises )  The French countryside lies ruined and desolate.  One July day, a stranger approaches the road-mender and asks for directions to the Evrémonde chateau. Plot

65. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 2 ( The Second-the Golden Thread) Chapter 24 (Drawn to the Loadstone Rock)  Three years pass. Tellson’s Bank in London becomes a “great gathering-place of Monseigneur.”  The French Revolution has succeeded in removing the royalty and aristocracy from power. France is still unsettled.  Darnay read the letter from Gabelle that contains his plea and begs the new Marquis to return to France and save him. As a result, Darnay went to France. Plot

66. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 1 ( In Secret)  Charles Darnay travels throughFrance to Paris.  In Paris, the revolutionaries confine Darnay to a prison called La Force.  Darnay asks Defarge for help but he refuses.  At La Force, Darnay feels he has entered the world of the dead. A fellow prisoner welcomes him to the prison and says that he hopes that Darnay will not be kept “in secret”. Plot

67. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 2 ( The Grindstone)  Lucie and Dr. Manette inform Mr. Lorry that Darnay sits imprisoned in La Force.  Dr. Manette tries to save his son-in-law, Charles Darnay , from the guillotine. Plot

68. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 3 ( The Shadow )  Mr. Lorry recognizes as a businessman that keeping the family of a La Force prisoner at Tellson's could endanger the bank.  Monsieur Defarge delivers a message to Mr. Lorry from the Doctor, which states that Darnay is safe for the moment and that Defarge has a note from Darnay to Lucie. Plot

69. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 4 ( Calm in Storm )  Doctor Alexandre Manette finally returns from the prison. Chapter 5 ( The Wood-sawyer )  While the family waits for Darnay’s trial, Lucie goes to the prison for two hours each day hoping that her husband will be able to see her.  Manette then tells Lucie that Darnay will stand trial on the following day and assures her that her husband will fare well in it. Plot

70. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 6 ( Triumph )  At the trial, Darnay offers an articulate and well-planned defense of himself.  The jury votes to free Darnay . Chapter 7 ( A Knock at the Door )  Four soldiers enter their apartment and re-arrest Darnay .  Darnay is a prisoner again, based on accusations from three people: Monsieur and Madame Defarge and someone else whom they refuse to name. Plot

71. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 8 ( A Hand at Cards )  As Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher enter a wine-shop, Miss Pross screams at the sight of a man about to leave whom she recognizes as her brother, Solomon Pross .  Carton informs Mr. Lorry that Darnay has been arrested again.  Carton plans to help Darnay . He threatens to expose Barsad as an enemy of the Republic. Barsad finally gives in and agrees to help Carton with his secret plan. Plot

72. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 9 ( The Game Made )  With Carton and Barsad in the other room, Mr. Lorry expresses his outrage at Jerry's grave robbing activities and tells Jerry that he will be fired from Tellson's .  Carton tells Mr. Lorry that the best he can do is to secure access to Darnay in his cell.  The public prosecutor opens the trial by stating that Darnay's three accusers are the Defarges and Doctor Alexandre Manette . Plot

73. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 10 ( The substance of the Shadow)  In December 1757, two noblemen sought out Doctor Alexandre Manette and requested his medical expertise.  Dr. Manette's document, written in his cell in the Bastille and hidden in its chimney in 1767, explains why he was imprisoned.  The older twin's wife visited Dr. Manette revealing that the brothers' family name was Evrémonde .  Plot

74. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 10 ( The substance of the Shadow)  Doctor Manette then personally delivered the letter and that night was kidnapped and secretly jailed by the Evrémonde brothers, who had seen his letter.  Doctor denounced the Evrémonde family. As a result, Darnay is put on trial during the Revolution for the crimes of his family. Plot

75. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 11 ( Dusk )  The jury sentences Darnay to death.  Doctor Manette goes out to try to use his influence to save Darnay Plot

76. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 12 ( Darkness )  Carton goes to the Defarge wine-shop.  The Defarges , the vengeneance and Jacques three discuss whether or not they should denounce, Lucie, her daughter and Dr. Manette .  Carton tells Mr. Lorry of the danger to Lucie and her family. He instructs Mr. Lorry to have a carriage and everyone's passport ready at two o'clock the following afternoon. Plot

77. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 13 ( Fifty-Two )  On the eve of his execution, Darnay comes to terms with his imminent death.  At one o'clock, Carton enters the cell and exchanges clothes with Darnay .  At two o'clock, guards take Carton from the cell to a larger room in which the fifty-two prisoners that the court has scheduled for execution are assembling.  Dr. Manette , Lucie, young Lucie, Mr Lorry and Darnay escape France. Plot

78. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Book 3 ( The Track of a Storm ) Chapter 15 ( The Footsteps Die Forever )  As the carts carrying the fifty-two prisoners roll through the Paris streets, people crowd to see Evrémonde go to his death.  Carton has a vision of the future in which many of the revolutionaries go to the guillotine and the evil of the Revolution gives way to goodness and true freedom before he dies. Also, he envisions the happy life of Mr. Lorry, Dr. Manette and the Darnay family. Plot

79. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Physical  London, England and Paris, France  Manette’s house in Soho  infamous Tellson’s Bank  Defarge’s wine shop Setting

80. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens The Broken Wine Cask  With his depiction of a broken wine cask outside Defarge’s wine shop, and with his portrayal of the passing peasants’ scrambles to lap up the spilling wine, Dickens creates a symbol for the desperate quality of the people’s hunger. This hunger is both the literal hunger for food—the French peasants were starving in their poverty—and the metaphorical hunger for political freedoms. On the surface, the scene shows the peasants in their desperation to satiate the first of these hungers. Symbols

81. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens The Broken Wine Cask  But it also evokes the violent measures that the peasants take in striving to satisfy their more metaphorical cravings. For instance, the narrative directly associates the wine with blood, noting that some of the peasants have acquired “a tigerish smear about the mouth” and portraying a drunken figure scrawling the word “blood” on the wall with a wine-dipped finger. Indeed, the blood of aristocrats later spills at the hands of a mob in these same streets. Symbols

82. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens The Broken Wine Cask  Throughout the novel, Dickens sharply criticizes this mob mentality, which he condemns for perpetrating the very cruelty and oppression from which the revolutionaries hope to free themselves. The scene surrounding the wine cask is the novel’s first tableau of the mob in action. The mindless frenzy with which these peasants scoop up the fallen liquid prefigures the scene at the grindstone, where the revolutionaries sharpen their weapons (Book the Third, Chapter 2), as well as the dancing of the macabre Carmagnole (Book the Third, Chapter 5). Symbols

83. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Madame Defarge’s Knitting  Even on a literal level, Madame Defarge’s knitting constitutes a whole network of symbols. Into her needlework she stitches a registry, or list of names, of all those condemned to die in the name of a new republic. But on a metaphoric level, the knitting constitutes a symbol in itself, representing the stealthy, cold-blooded vengefulness of the revolutionaries. As Madame Defarge sits quietly knitting, she appears harmless and quaint. In fact, however, she sentences her victims to death. Similarly, the French peasants may appear simple and humble figures, but they eventually rise up to massacre their oppressors. Symbols

84. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens The Marquis  The Marquis Evrémonde is less a believable character than an archetype of an evil and corrupt social order. He is completely indifferent to the lives of the peasants whom he exploits, as evidenced by his lack of sympathy for the father of the child whom his carriage tramples to death. As such, the Marquis stands as a symbol of the ruthless aristocratic cruelty that the French Revolution seeks to overcome. Symbols

85. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Wine/Blood  Using the wine that spills into the streets early in the novel as a metaphor for the blood spilled in the revolution serves a practical purpose: the Defarges run a wine shop. The Defarges are the hub of revolutionary activity. It all fits together neatly. More important, however, allowing wine to stand in for blood allows Dickens to hint at the fatal flaws in the revolutionaries’ plans: too much wine makes people drunk and often more than a little crazy. A few glasses too many, and suddenly you’re not thinking nearly as well as you probably should be. Symbols

86. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Wine/Blood  Similarly, spilling a little blood makes people hunger for more. Suddenly, it’s not enough to kill the people who’ve wronged the poor. It’s also pretty fun to kill their wives, their sons, their daughters, and that guy that people once saw standing next to them. La Guillotine becomes a glutton, demanding more and more wine to satiate her ever-growing thirst. Revolution may be a great idea theoretically. According to Dickens, however, it just gets you too drunk too fast. Violence, is not the answer. Symbols

87. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Golden thread  A golden thread almost sounds like some sort of magical power; in fact, the Manettes lead a "charmed" life in Soho . Lucie may not be the character that gets the most screen time in this novel, but Dickens makes sure that we all know she’s its heart. Lucie unites Carton to Darnay , Dr. Manette to Darnay , and Mr. Lorry to the family in general. Lucie becomes the reason that Charles escapes the grasp of the Republic’s "justice." Symbols

88. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Golden thread  In one terrifying moment of the novel, Jacques Three speculates about how wonderful it would be to see her golden hair on the chopping block of La Guillotine. The charm of Lucie’s influence, however, makes this an impossibility. Mr. Lorry and Sydney are determined to save her at any cost. Guess being a blonde has some good points, after all. Symbols

89. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Monseigneur  Monseigneur is a character. He’s also an allegory. Dickens describes Monseigneur as a member of the aristocracy. It becomes pretty clear, however, that "Monseigneur" also becomes a shorthand way for Dickens to refer to the aristocracy as a class. Charles Darnay is a Monseigneur, if we get right down to it. But maybe the allegory becomes as important for the ways that it doesn’t fit as for the ways that it does. We’re ready to hate all aristocrats. Symbols

90. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Third Person Omniscient Point of View The narrator speaks in the third person, deftly switching his focus between cities and among several characters. The narrator is also omniscient—not only revealing the thoughts, emotions, and motives of the characters, but also supplying historical context to the events that occur, commenting confidently upon them. Point of View

91. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Man vs. Man Man vs. Society Man vs. himself Conflict

92. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens She was the golden thread that united him to a Past beyond his misery, and to a Present beyond his misery: and the sound of her voice, the light of her face, the touch of her hand, had a strong beneficial influence with him almost always. Quotable Statements

93. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens There ought to have been a tranquil bark in such an anchorage, and there was. The Doctor occupied two floors of a large stiff house, where several callings purported to be pursued by day, but whereof little was audible any day, and which was shunned by all of them at night. Quotable Statements

94. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled for ever. Quotable Statements

95. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of ever. Quotable Statements

96. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” Quotable Statements

97. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” “There is prodigious strength in sorrow and despair.” Quotable Statements

98. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away.” Quotable Statements

99. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ Before I go," he said, and paused -- "I may kiss her ?" It was remembered afterwards that when he bent down and touched her face with his lips, he murmured some words. The child, who was nearest to him, told them afterwards, and told her grandchildren when she was a handsome old lady, that she heard him say, "A life you love.” Quotable Statements

100. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.” Quotable Statements

101. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.” Quotable Statements

102. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul...Since I knew you, I have been troubled by a remorse that I thought would never reproach me again, and have heard whispers from old voices impelling me upward, that I thought were silent for ever. I have had unformed ideas of striving afresh, beginning anew, shaking off sloth and sensuality, and fighting out the abandoned fight. A dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, but I wish you to know that you inspired it.” Quotable Statements

103. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ I love your daughter fondly, dearly, disninterestedly , devotedly. If ever there were love in the world, I love her .” “ A multitude of people and yet solitude.” Quotable Statements

104. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” Quotable Statements

105. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ Vengeance and retribution require a long time; it is the rule .” “All through it, I have known myself to be quite undeserving. And yet I have had the weakness, and have still the weakness, to wish you to know with what a sudden mastery you kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire- a fire, however, inseparable in its nature from myself, quickening nothing, lighting nothing, doing no service, idly burning away.” Quotable Statements

106. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; - the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine !” “There is a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you .” “Crush humanity out of shape once more, under similar hammers, and it will twist itself into the same tortured forms. Sow the same seeds of rapacious licence and oppression over again, and it will surely yield the same fruit according to its kind.” Quotable Statements

107. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ Mr Lorry asks the witness questions: Ever been kicked? Might have been. Frequently? No. Ever kicked down stairs? Decidedly not; once received a kick at the top of a staircase, and fell down stairs of his own accord.” Quotable Statements

108. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “ And a beautiful world we live in, when it is possible, and when many other such things are possible, and not only possible, but done-- done, see you!-- under that sky there, every day.” Quotable Statements

109. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens “A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness, even of Death itself, is referable to this. No more can I turn the leaves of this dear book Quotable Statements

110. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens that I loved, and vainly hope in time to read it all. No more can I look into the depths of this unfathomable water, wherein, as momentary lights glanced into it, I have had glimpses of buried treasure and other things submerged. It was appointed that the book should shut with a a spring, for ever and for ever, when I had read but a page. It was appointed that the water should be locked in an eternal frost, when the light was playing on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My friend is dead, my neighbour is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead; it is the inexorable Quotable Statements

111. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens consolidation and perpetuation of the secret that was always in that individuality, and which I shall carry in mine to my life's end. In any of the burial-places of this city through which I pass, is there a sleeper more inscrutable than its busy inhabitants are, in their innermost personality, to me, or than I am to them?” Quotable Statements

112. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Historical Allusion French Revolution The Storming of the Bastille Author’s Style

113. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Cultural Implication Every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. Monarchy is ruled by a king and a queen. Parent consent before marriage. Wine-drinking. Kissing the hand of a lady. Sending messages through mail. Knitting by the woman. Author’s Style

114. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Cultural Implication Calling of Monsieur and Monseigneur as a sign of respect. Class struggle. Trial court. Sacrificing your own life for the one you love. Author’s Style

115. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Themes  Oppression leads to revolution.  Love is sacrifice.  To achieve happiness you should sacrifice everything.  Time carries out fate.  Only great men can achieve power.  Truth shall prevail. Author’s Style

116. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Act I Dickens makes this easy for us. He divides the novel into three sections. The first is "Recalled to Life." In it, Dr. Manette is…recalled to life. He’s released from prison and is cared for by his daughter. Act II Act II is otherwise known as "The Golden Thread." Its title refers to Lucie, who holds the entire family together. She marries Charles Darnay , a French aristocrat. Meanwhile, revolutionary activities are building in France. Three-Act Plot Analysis

117. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Act III "The Track of a Storm." Charles is captured in France. The family rushes to save him, but in the anarchy of the new Republic any attempts to seek justice fail. Doctor Manette briefly rises to importance in the new regime; his power, however, isn’t enough to save Charles. Finally, Sydney Carton switches places with Charles on the morning of his execution. Three-Act Plot Analysis

118. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities is about the "two cities," But which two cities? . Dickens gives us a few clues in the first chapter, though: they’re the big cities in England and France. Implication of the Title

119. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens When Dickens wrote his novel in 1859, the violence of the French Revolution had officially ended. It ended almost sixty years before the novel was written, in fact. But that doesn’t mean that it was completely out of the English cultural memory. Dickens had a pretty tricky line to walk, then. He wanted to explore the ways that England was similar to France, but he had to be careful to point out the ways that England wasn’t ever like France at all. He wouldn’t, you see, want to incite mass hysteria by implying that a revolution could have easily broken out in England, as well. Implication of the Title

120. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens What we get, then, is an exploration of London and Paris as a weird comparative case study. It’s sort of like a lab experiment. London is the control case (the one that’s the basis for all comparison). Paris is the variable case (the one where all the interesting stuff happens). What we get is A Tale of Two Cities. Implication of the Title

121. A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens Thank you for LISTENING! Implication of the Title