A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens; it is moreover a moral novel strongly concerned with themes of guilt, shame and retribution. Dickens' primary source for this historical novel is Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution. The narrative is extraordinarily dependent upon correspondence as a medium for ensuring the flow of events, and while not an epistolary novel in the way that Pierre Choderlos de la Clos' Les Liaisons Dangereuses is, nevertheless, it is immediately apparent that the flow of letters forms a driving center to much of the narrative development in this novel. The novel covers a period in history between 1775 and 1793, from the American Revolution until the middle period of the French Revolution.

Plot synopsis

The plot centers around the years leading up to French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. It tells the story of two men, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look very alike but are entirely different in character. Darnay is a romantic descended from French aristocrats, while Carton is a cynical English barrister. The two are in love with the same woman, Lucie Manette: one of them will give up his life for her, and the other will marry her.

Related Topics:
French Revolution - Jacobin - Reign of Terror - Aristocrat - Barrister

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Other major characters in the book include Dr Alexandre Manette (Lucie's father) who was unjustly imprisoned for many years prior to the commencement of the novel under a lettre de cachet and Madame Defarge, a female revolutionary with a grudge against Darnay's family.

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The twists and turns in the novel are sinuous. Originally written as a serial novel for publication in newspapers, the chapters open and close with great drama and mystery. The coincidences at the end are painful constructions but Dickens' take on the French Revolution is balanced even while describing the horrors and atrocities committed on both sides.

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The two cities of the title are London and Paris. The opening passage, beginning with the line, "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times," is one of the most famous in all literature. The final line, the thoughts of Sydney Carton, "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," is equally famous.

Related Topics:
London - Paris

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First Book

The book starts off with the banker, Jarvis Lorry's, journey from London to Dover by coach. As the coach reaches the top of the hill, the travelers hear a horse approaching at a gallop. The rider, Jerry, is a messenger from Tellson?s Bank in London, and he has a message for one of the passengers, Mr. Jarvis Lorry, an employee of the bank. Mr. Lorry reads the message, which states, ?Wait at Dover for Mam?selle.? Mr. Lorry tells Jerry to return the answer, ?Recalled to Life,? and the coach continues on its way. As Jerry gallops back to London, he muses over Mr. Lorry?s mysterious response. As the coach rattles its way toward Dover, Mr. Lorry dozes restlessly, reflecting upon his mission, ?to dig some one out of a grave? who has been ?buried alive for eighteen years.? He envisions what the face of the man must look like and contemplates how severely the years may have affected him. Haunted by visions of the man?s face, Mr. Lorry imagines a dialogue in which he repeatedly asks the man, ?I hope you care to live?? and the man always responds, ?I can?t say.? Mr. Lorry arrives at the Royal George Hotel in Dover in the late morning. After freshening up, he spends the day relaxing and meditating on his mission while he waits for the young woman, Lucie Manette, to arrive. When Lucie arrives, Mr. Lorry introduces himself and proceeds to divulge the nature of her involvement in his current business in Paris. Apparently Lucie?s father, Doctor Manette, whom she believed to be dead, is alive, and has been secretly imprisoned in Paris for the past eighteen years. The French authorities have recently released Doctor Manette, and Tellson?s Bank is sending Mr. Lorry to identify the Doctor(who was one of Tellson?s clients) and bring him to the safety of England. As the Doctor?s daughter, Lucie will be responsible for caring for him and nursing him back to health. The story shocks Lucie; when Mr. Lorry tries to comfort her, she simply stares at him, gripping his arm. Concerned by her numbed state, Mr. Lorry calls for help. A large, red-haired woman runs into the room, shoves Mr. Lorry away from Lucie and into a wall, and begins yelling at the inn?s servants to bring smelling salts and cold water.Mr. Lorry and Lucie have entered a wine shop wher they have a brief discussion with a Monsieur Defarge, they follow him upstairs to the fifth floor chamber, where the three men are peering inside through holes in the wall. Monsieur Defarge unlocks the door, and he, Mr. Lorry, and Lucie enter the room. Inside the darkened room, they see a white-haired man sitting on a bench making shoes.Doctor Manette is the whited- haired and does not even know that he has been released from prison. When asked his name, he responds, ?One Hundred and Five, North Tower. Later, Monsieur Defarge helps Mr. Lorry and Lucie to remove Doctor Manette from the city.

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Second and Third Books

In London, Dr Manette recovers somewhat under the care and attention of his daughter. Charles Darnay an emigre is tried at the Old Bailey for spying but is released on account of the fact that the people implicating him are unable to discern the difference between him and his lawyer's henchman, Sydney Carton. Carton is depicted unflatteringly as a drunkard; conversely Darnay is set out as a handsome and gallant victim of the unfair attentions of a deficient British legal process.

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In Paris, the Marquis St. Evrémonde, a relative of Charles Darnay, returning from an audience in the home of an aristocratic clergyman (Monseigneur) in his coach runs over the child of the peasant Gaspard and kills him; he throws money to Gaspard; in the assembled crowd is the implacable face of the tricoteuse, Madame Defarge. Monseur Defarge throws the money back, enraging the Marquis and leading him to exclaim that he would willingly kill any of the peasants of France.

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Charles Darnay returns to France to meet his uncle, the Marquis. Darnay and the Marquis' political positions are diametrically opposed: Darnay is a democrat and the Marquis is an adherent of the ancien regime. Dickens paints the Marquis black, as for example in this excerpt from their conversation:

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:"There is not," pursued the nephew, in his former tone, "a face I can look at, in all this country round about us, which looks at me with any deference on it but the dark deference of fear and slavery."

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:"A compliment," said the Marquis, "to the grandeur of the family, merited by the manner in which the family has sustained its grandeur. Hah!" And he took another gentle little pinch of snuff, and lightly crossed his legs.

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:But, when his nephew, leaning an elbow on the table, covered his eyes thoughtfully and dejectedly with his hand, the fine mask looked at him sideways with a stronger concentration of keenness, closeness, and dislike, than was comportable with its wearer's assumption of indifference.

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:"Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis, "will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof," looking up to it, "shuts out the sky."

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That night Gaspard had his revenge upon the Marquis and murdered him in his sleep. He leaves a note upon the dagger he drove through the Marquis' heart, saying "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques."

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Returning to England, Darnay asks Dr Manette for his consent in wedding Lucie. Against Darnay's suit, Dickens complicates the matter by injecting that of Stryver, Carton's patron, by way of comic interlude, and more seriously that of Carton himself.

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Carton is the only one of the three suitors to reveal his feelings directly to Lucie--Stryver is convinced of the futility of his matrimonial pursuit by Mr. Lorry, and Darnay proposes the marriage to Dr. Manette who acts as an intermediary.

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Carton confesses his love to Lucie but tells her that he will not act on it because he knows he is incapable of making her happy. He tells her that she has inspired him to lead a better life, but he has no energy to act. He promises her that he will "embrace any sacrifice" for her or one that she loves.

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In Paris, Monsieur and Madame Defarge foment Jacobin sympathies; in her knitting, Madame Defarge enciphers the lists of those who are to be killed when the revolution occurs. They learn, from an informant within the police that a spy is to be quartered in Saint Antoine, John Barsad, one of those gave false testimony against Charles Darnay in his treason trial. Madame Defarge takes the long view as opposed to her husband who is desperate for immediacy in bringing on the revolution. The following morning Barsad entered the Defarge's wine shop; Madame Defarge recognised him instantly from the description which she had been given. Barsad is acting as an agent provocateur and strives to lure Madame Defarge into controversial conversation, trying to get her to discuss the impending execution of the unfortunate Gaspard who had been taken prisoner. During the course of his conversation, he mentions that Darnay is to be married to Lucie Manette.

Related Topics:
Jacobin - Agent provocateur

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On the morning of Darnay's marriage to Lucie Manette, Darnay, at Dr Manette's request, reveals who his family is, a detail which Dr Manette had asked him to withhold until such time. Unfortunately this unhinges Dr Manette who again reverts to his obsessional shoemaking. After some time, Jarvis Lorry is able to bring him around and he is restored to his right mind before Lucie returns from her honeymoon.

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Later in time in the narrative, in mid-July 1789, Jarvis Lorry visits Lucie and Charles at home and tells them of the curious and inexplicable uneasiness in Paris. Dickens then promptly cuts to the Saint Antoine fauborg to enlighten the reader: they are storming the Bastille, Monsieur and Madame Defarge leading their cohorts into action. With the Bastille in their hands, Monsieur Defarge heads for the cell which contained Dr Manette. He finds his initials inscribed in the wall and digs down beneath them and uncovers a manuscript which Dr Manette had written in his confinement, condemning the Evremondes, pere et fils, for the wrongful imprisonment he had endured and the destruction of his family. Dickens' depiction of the seizure of the Bastille is nothing if not balanced; he portrays the joy of the prisoners at their release and does not shirk from detailing the cost which is exacted upon their jailers.

Related Topics:
1789 - Storming the Bastille

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A letter arrives in the summer of 1792 at Tellson's bank, addressed to the heir of the Marquis of Evremonde, who is unknown to the bank, the secret of Darnay's true identity reposing between himself and Dr Manette. The letter is addressed from the Prison of the Abbaye, Paris, and recounts the tale of the imprisonment of one of the Marquis' retainers, Gabelle, and beseeches the new Marquis to come to his aid. By chance the letter falls into Darnay's possession. Like a true Dickensian patsy, he makes plans to travel to a revolutionary Paris in which the Terror runs bloody riot, blithely indifferent to the consequences of his actions. Darnay is naive in thinking that he can make any change for the better, when the origins and politics of the revolution are far larger than he is. Jarvis Lorry is sent on ahead with a (cryptic) message to the imprisoned Gabelle that he is on his way.

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In Beauvais, erstwhile home of Dr Manette, Darnay is denounced by the revolutionaries as an emigre, an aristo, and a traitor, however his military escort brings him safely to Paris where he is brought before a revolutionary tribunal where he is confronted by Defarge, who identifies Darnay as the Marquis d'Evremonde. He is consigned to prison, La Force.

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While in the prison, he is visited by Sydney Carton, who because they look similar takes his place and prison and sacrifices his life for Darnay.

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Madame Defarge is killed by Pross, Lucy Darnay's companion.

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