A Tale of Two Cities (1859) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

show spoilers

Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

show spoilers

• Sydney Carton: A young, highly intelligent lawyer who faces his own personal demons of alcoholism and unrequited love. He is Stryver's clerk who does all the work - his jackal - while Stryver - the lion - reaps the rewards.
• Charles Darnay: A French aristocrat. Darnay denounces his family name of St. Evermonde and moves to England, where he works as a tutor. In England he was put on trial for spying for France. Lorry and the Manettes are witnesses for the case. Barsad and Cly testify against him.
• Lucie Manette: A beautiful young woman recognized for her kindness and compassion. After being reunited with her father, Alexandre Manette, she cares for him and remains devoted to him.
• Dr. Alexandre Manette: A doctor from Beauvais, France, who was secretly imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years and suffers some mental trauma from the experience. After he is released, he is nursed back to health by his daughter, Lucie, in England. While in the Bastille he learns how to make shoes as a way of coping with his imprisonment. He may be suffering from PTSD or OCD.
• Mr. Jarvis Lorry: An English banker for Tellson's in London. He accompanies Lucie to Paris to bring Dr. Manette to Lindon. Befriends the Manette family. Even though he is a man of business, he softens his heart for the situation with Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay.
• Monsieur Ernest Defarge: Owner of a wine-shop in a Paris suburb. He housed Doctor Manette after his release from the Bastille. He was a servant of Dr. Manette before his imprisonment. He leads the siege of the Bastille.
• Madame Therese Defarge: A hard, vengeful woman who is married to Ernest Defarge. Her sister was raped by the Marquis St Evremonde. Her brother was killed by the Marquis defending his sister. She beheaded the Governor of the Bastille.
• The Jacquerie: Also known as "Jacques". They are also revolutionaries. Jacques 3 is especially bloodthirsty.
• Jerry Cruncher: Person who runs errands for the bank. His night occupation is digging up graves and selling the bodies to surgeons. He calls himself an honest tradesman. He has spiked hair. He has a very violent temper (to match his last name) and beats his wife with heavy kitchen utensils whenever he wants to. His excuse is that his wife's "flopping" (praying) and meditating is praying against his honest trade of robbing graves. He also beats his son. He accompanies Mr. Lorry to France to help do odd jobs for Tellson, after the Revolution starts. He's also instrumental in getting the Manette entourage out of France at the end of the novel.
• Mrs. Cruncher: Wife of Mr. Cruncher. She is very smart, kind and also religious. Mr. Cruncher beats her whenever she prays. She does not like his grave robbing.
• Jerry Cruncher Junior: Jerry's aspiring son. He aspires to be like his father.
• Charles Evremonde: Son of French aristocrat, who leaves France for England. Also known as Charles Darnay.
• Miss Pross: Caretaker of Lucie Manette. A very protective woman. Sister of John Barsad.
• Mr. C.J. Stryver: A boorish lawyer who employs Sydney Carton. Stryver is Darnay's defense lawyer in England and aspires briefly to marry Lucie. He also aspires to be Chief Justice hence the initials.
• Marquis St. Evremonde: Evil French aristocrat and Charles Darnay's uncle. He unremorsefully runs over a small boy. He only gives the father, Gaspard, a gold coin and leaves. He also throws a gold coin at Mr. Defarge who throws it back.
• Roger Cly: English spy for the bailey, and England. He was employed as Darnay's servant. His funeral is faked by Barsad in England.
• John Barsad: An English spy, who doubles as Miss Pross's brother, Solomon Pross. He also spies for the French republicans.
• Gaspard: Tall man who's bent on killing St. Evremonde because he ran over his son. Due to this, he joins the French Revolution.
• Monsieur Gabelle: The Postmaster. Caretaker of the Evremond estate. He is named after the hated salt tax (the gabelle) which was a great burden on the French lower classes.
• The Vengeance: Friend of Madame Defarge. Very bloodthirsty.
• C.J. Stryver: An over-pompous lawyer who takes all of the credit for Sydney Carton's brilliant work as a lawyer.
• Little Lucie Manette: Daughter of Lucie Manette and Charles Darnay, born in 1783.
• The Mender of Roads: A workman who first appears in the village below the chateau of the Marquis, and informs the Marquis about the hitchhiker under his carriage, right before the Marquis is assassinated. Later on, he turns up in the Defarge wine shop, goes to a rally where he cheers the King and Queen (Defarge doesn't actually mind because he thinks this will trick the nobility into thinking they will rule forever), and later on, cheers the revolutionaries on during the Reign of Terror. He is Jacques 5. After the revolution starts, he appears as a wood sawyer, who helps make guillotines, and he spies on Lucie and her daughter as they wave to Darnay in La Force prison.
• The son of Lucie and Darnay: He lives and dies in one paragraph (Book II, Chapter 21 - Echoing Footsteps). "Dear papa and mamma, I am very sorry to leave you both, and to leave my pretty sister; but I am called and I must go!" He is never named.
• Samson: Chief executioner of the guillotine.
• The Wood Sawyer: He was the Mender of Roads but changes occupation during the Reign of Terror.

Quotes edit see section history

• “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.”

  Sydney Carton at the guillotine. Last line of the book.

• “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

  Narrator at beginning of novel describing England and France in the year 1775

• “All the people within reach had suspended their business, or their idleness, to run to the spot and drink the wine. The rough, irregular stones of the street, pointing very way, and designed, one might have thought, expressly to lame all living creatures that approached them, had dammed it into little pools; these were surrounded, each by its own jostling group or crowd, according to its size. Some men kneeled down, make scoops of their two hands joined, and sipped, or tried to help women, who bent over their shoulders, to sip, before the wine had all run out between their fingers. Others, men and women, dipped in the puddles with little mugs of mutilated earthenware, or even with handkerchiefs from a women's heads, which were squeezed dry into infants' mouths; others made small mud embankments, to stem the wine as it ran; others, directed by lookers-on up at high windows, darted here and there, to cut off little streams of wine that started away in new directions; . . .”

  Narrator (Dickens) describing how the hungry and thirsty inhabitants of the St Antoine quarter drink the wine from the garbage and sewage laden streets. Book II, Chapter 5 (The Wine-shop)

• “...Nor should I have been able to raise my thoughts to Him who was put to death, that we might have hope and comfort here to-day. I think you were sent to me by Heaven.”

  The Seamstress addressing Sydney Carton before she is beheaded.

• “They said of him, about the city that night, that it was the peacefullest man's face ever beheld there. Many added that he looked sublime and prophetic.”

  Narrator describing Sydney Carton as he is driven to the guillotine.

• “If my career were of that better kind that there was any opportunity or capacity of sacrifice in it, I would embrace any sacrifice for you and for those dear to you.”

  Sydney Carton to Lucie

• “The preceding relative positions of himself and Lucie were reversed, yet only as the liveliest gratitude and affection could reverse them, for he could have had no pride but in rendering some service to her who had rendered so much to him.”

  Narrator describing Dr Manette's feelings when he is able to free Darnay temporarily in Paris.

• “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!”

• “Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques."”

  Jacques (note driven into the Marquis heart when he stabs the Marquis in his bed).

Setting & Locations edit see section history

show spoilers

• The Bastille
• Paris
• London
• La Force prison: Paris prison where Charles Darnay and the condemned aristocrats are held before being guillotined.
• Old Bailey: Setting for Darnay's London trial.
• Dover
• l'Abbaye Prison: Prison in Paris where Mr. Gabelle is incarcerated when he sends a note to Darnay, asking him for help in his release. The note causes Darnay to return to France.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Tumbril: A wooden farm cart used to transport condemned prisoners to the guillotine.
• Resurrection man: A grave robber. Jerry Cruncher's night job.
• St Antoine: A poor area in Paris where the Defarge wine shop is located. Symbol of the downtrodden workers.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Blood and wine: The Defarges run a wine shop and spill a lot of blood. First wine then blood is spilled on the streets of Paris.
• Fate: Symbolized by the Woodman (Book I, Chapter 1), Lucie Manette's hair (described as the "golden thread"), and Madame Defarge's knitting, which echoes the Fates, who weave on the loom of destiny.
• American Revolution: Book begins in 1775 when American Revolution started. Darnay's London trial is based on evidence that he passed papers about British troop movements in the colonies to the French monarchy. He said that George Washington would be more famous than George III and nearly was quartered for saying it.Very possibly, Darnay was guilty of passing secrets about the British army to the French. The French monarchy's help to the colonies (why are there so many streets called Lafayette Street?) was critical to the success of the American Revolution, notwithstanding that the American Revolution undercut the monarchy's assertion of the Divine Right of Kings.
• Capital punishment: Dickens believes the death penalty does not work, either in England or France. When describing the scene at Darnay's London trial, he recounts all the trivial crimes for which the death penalty was imposed (including theft of a small amount of money). He doesn't believe the punishment fit the crime.
• Resurrection: Dr. Manette is recalled to life by his daughter Lucie. Darnay's life is resurrected twice by Sydney Carton. Jerry Cruncher is a resurrection man. The theme has clear religious overtones, as the inscription on Darnay's father's tomb was from the Book of Matthew..."I am the resurrection and the life". Darnay recalls the inscription as, ironically, he is dying on the guillotine, his particular cross.
• Sacrifice: Describe this theme.
• Integrity: Having the reputation of being attached to certain morals or ethics, integrity is shown throughout the novel in both s good and bad way
• Lucie's golden hair: Book 2 is called The Golden Thread which refers to her hair. It could also refer to Fate.
• Class struggle: The oppressed workers and peasants are driven to overthrow their oppressors. Later when they have power they turn into a mob and into oppressors.
• Lion and jackal: Sydney Carton is Mr. Stryver's law clerk. Carton does all the work, while Stryver takes all the credit. Dickens compares Stryver to a lion (who eats the "prey", aka a law case), while Carton is Stryver's jackal (who prepares the prey for the lion).
• The Gorgon's Head: In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a beast whose stare turned people into stone. When the Marquis is murdered by Jacques, Dickens uses the Gorgon motif as a way of telling us that another stone face was added to the statues of Gorgons around the chateau. "The Gorgon had surveyed the building again in the night, and had added the one stone face wanting; the stone face for which it had waited through about two hundred years". This is a reference to the murder of the Marquis St. Evremonde, who of course was not 200 years old. It is a more general reference, to the coming murders of the French aristocrats during the French Revolution. The murder is the subject of Book 2, Chapter 9 (The Gorgon's Head), in which the word "stone" is mentioned 8 times in the first paragraph and about 20 times more in the chapter. The title "The Gorgon's Head" anticipates the beheading of the aristocrats during the Reign of Terror.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Charles Dickens (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• BBC's Big Read (April 2003, #63)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR4571 .M8
• Dewey: 823.8

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( D ) › Dickens, Charles
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Classics
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Librivox: A Tale of Two Cities audio book read by Paul Adams (Total running time: 15:29:14)
• Project Gutenberg: A Tale of Two Cities full text
• Book and Film Review: Do I really need to write anything other than the first and last lines? It is on the very short list of novels that have amazing and utterly memorable first lines and last lines (the only other books that really make that list are Lolita, The Princess Bride and The Catcher in the Rye). That first line completely sets the scene (although it continues with the next paragraphs, giving an indelible impression of place and time — Dickens may have done his research in Carlyle, but his writing provides a better impression of the actual time and place). The last line gives a poetic send-off to one of literature’s best characters. This is, of course, Sydney Carton, the best of all Dickens characters. He has a hard cynical edge, betrayed by the boredom of life. He saves the life of Charles Darnay early in the novel almost as a lark. He falls in love with Lucie Manette but allows her to marry Darnay because he knows what a waste he has made of his life. But all this while, the shadow of history in France is close at hand: “Not only would the echoes die away, as though the steps had gone; but, echoes of other steps that never come would be heard in their stead, and would die away for good when they seemed close at hand.”
• Wikipedia Article: A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature.
• The Dickens Fellowship: A worldwide association of people who share an interest in the life and works of Charles Dickens. The President is the great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens.
• Discovering Dickens (Stanford University): An archive of the complete novel, including each issue (the novel was issued in 15 installments). Included are allusions, maps, illustrations, and a detailed glossary of terms used in the book.
• Lit 2 Go (University of South Florida): Audio book and accompanying text of A Tale Of Two Cities

Movie Connections edit see section history

• A Tale of Two Cities (1935) (IMDb)
• A Tale of Two Cities (1958) (IMDb): Staring Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, and Christopher Lee
• A Tale of Two Cities (1980) (TV) (IMDb): Staring Chris Sarandon, Alice Krige, and Peter Cushing
• A Tale of Two Cities (1980) (TV Mini-Series) (IMDb): Starring Paul Shelley, Judy Parfitt and Sally Osborne.
• A Tale of Two Cities (1989) (TV Mini-Series) (IMDb): Starring James Wilby, John Mills and Serena Gordon.

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history