book review of a tale of two cities

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A tale of two cities.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 2 Reviews
Kids Say 13 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Immortal romance is set against violent French Revolution.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

In an early scene in the book, in the Parisian suburb of Saint Antoine, a wine b

Most of the violence in A Tale of Two Cities is portrayed quite lyrically, but t

A letter written by Dr. Manette relates the story of his being called to treat a

Any Positive Content?

Each of the central characters in A Tale of Two Cities -- the Manette/Darnay fam

Personal love and devotion are the greatest virtues in A Tale of Two Cities, des

Dickens' 1859 masterpiece sets a sweet romance against the backdrop of the F

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

In an early scene in the book, in the Parisian suburb of Saint Antoine, a wine barrel has fallen off of a truck and broken, and villagers partake of the spillage. The Defarges own a wine shop there, where wine and brandy are consumed. In England, men drink ale and spirits, and one important character is an alcoholic who considers himself beyond help.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Most of the violence in A Tale of Two Cities is portrayed quite lyrically, but there is quite a bit of it. Numerous people are beheaded on the guillotine. A woman is shot and killed. Dr. Manette is called to treat a brother who has been fatally wounded, and whose sister has been impregnated and driven mad by rape and abuse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A letter written by Dr. Manette relates the story of his being called to treat a young woman who has been raped and impregnated by an abusive aristocrat. Other than that, married couples occasionally kiss and embrace.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Role Models

Each of the central characters in A Tale of Two Cities -- the Manette/Darnay family and their friends -- is more pure and examplary than the last. Dr. Manette is a loving father and caring physician. Lucie Manette is a devoted daughter, wife, and mother. Mr. Lorry and Miss Pross are reliable protectors. Charles Darnay gives up wealth and station out of his own sense of fairness. And Sydney Carton is the soul of loving sacrifice.

Positive Messages

Personal love and devotion are the greatest virtues in A Tale of Two Cities , despite the tidal power of the political revolution. The love between father and daughter, between husband and wife, and the selfless devotion of friends become increasingly precious as they are threatened by blind vengeance. Also, though Christianity is misused by aristocrats to support their superior status, true faith is the greatest comfort in one character's darkest hour.

Educational Value

Dickens' 1859 masterpiece sets a sweet romance against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Readers will learn about the class inequality, perpetuated by aristocrats, that kept many French people in fear and abject poverty, and incited the citizens to condemn the monarchy. The novel also depicts machinations of the English legal system in the late 18th century, and shows the ways of household life, travel, and business on each side of the English Channel.

Parents need to know that Charles Dickens' masterpiece, A Tale of Two Cities , sets a riveting story of romantic and familial love against the violent drama of the French Revolution. The personal and the political are deeply connected, and complicated, and additional historical background regarding the French monarchy, feudal system, and French Revolution will help young readers appreciate the novel. It's also worth noting that though this is one of Dickens' best-loved works, it is atypical of the author in some ways. A Tale of Two Cities has fewer humorous, colorful characters than others of his most-read books (other than the Crunchers), and the plot is more grand and far-reaching.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

Parents say (2)
Kids say (13)

Based on 2 parent reviews

A tale of 2 cities

What's the story.

At the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities , Dr. Alexandre Manette has been released after many years of wrongful imprisonment in France. He is reunited with his beautiful, pure-hearted daughter, Lucie, who tenderly cares for him and takes him with her to England to live. During the journey across the channel, Lucie meets Charles Darnay, a French instructor who becomes part of the Manettes' family circle. A secret about Charles' background eventually causes him, the Manettes, and some of their friends to return to France, where mob rule now drives the revolution and threatens to destroy them all.

Is It Any Good?

A TALE OF TWO CITIES masterfully interweaves political and personal events. It reveals much about the injustice that incited the French Revolution, the gray areas between the populist ideals and blind vengeance, and the toll the rebellion took on individuals. This is one of Charles Dickens' best-loved novels, with good reason. The plot is suspenseful, the scope is far-reaching, and the characters are as rich and affecting as can be. No love was ever sweeter than Lucie and Charles', no father and daughter were ever more deeply attached than the Manettes, and no character in English literature ever had a greater purpose, or better lines, than Sydney Carton.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what Dickens intends for readers to feel and understand about the French Revolution. What is right and wrong?

Why does Sydney Carton do what he does?

What does Dickens seem to be suggesting is similar and/or different about his two cities?

Think about the Defarges' cohorts, Vengeance and the three Jacques. What do these characters represent?

A Tale of Two Cities is considered a classic and is often required reading in school. Why do you think that is?

Book Details

Author : Charles Dickens
Genre : Literary Fiction
Topics : Friendship , History
Book type : Fiction
Publisher : Barnes & Noble
Publication date : April 20, 1894
Number of pages : 448
Last updated : June 9, 2015

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A Tale of Two Cities: Book Review, Summary, & Analysis

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Book: A Tale of Two Cities

Author: Charles Dickens
Publishing Year: 2015-8
Pages: 432
Binding: Paperback
Series: World Literature Famous

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

About the Author: Charles Dickens

Excerpts from the original text:.

That is the best time, that is the worst time; that is the year of wisdom, that is the year of ignorance; that is the time of faith, that is the time of doubt; that is the season of light, that is the season of darkness; It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of disappointment; we all went straight to heaven, we all went straight in the opposite direction. —— Quoted from page 8

Book Summary

Book review & analysis.

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A tale of two cities by charles dickens [a review].

A Tale of Two Cities is one of the most widely read novels in history, yet it has a number of qualities at odds with that. It is picaresque and disjointed; it is a ‘tale’ but a long one; it is historical fiction but avoids a lot of the history and, given its source material, runs several risks of unoriginality. But, in the hands of a master, it becomes a classic.

Cover image of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

After 18 years imprisoned in the Bastille, the infamous Paris fortress converted to a prison, Alexandre Manette, a former physician, has been released. The news is shocking to his adult daughter, Lucie, who had long thought him dead. When she is taken to him, she finds him much changed. He is being cared for by a former servant, Defarge, who now owns a wine shop in Paris. The long imprisonment has taken a heavy toll on Manette and the sudden change is especially frightening to him. Confused and afraid, he recognises none of the friendly faces around him and finds comfort only in obsessively pursuing his prison occupation of making shoes.

We next see the Manettes five years later, in London, where they are witnesses in the trial of Charles Darnay, a Frenchman who is accused of providing intelligence of British troops to the French during the recent American Revolution. The Manettes happened to be travelling with Darnay on one of his frequent trips between England and France and can therefore verify some of his movements. Darnay, however, is acquitted because a key witness admits he can’t tell Darnay apart from another man in court – Sydney Carton – whose resemblance is strikingly alike to Darnay’s and who happens to be one Darnay’s counsellors in his defence.

After the trial Darnay and his lawyers, Carton and Mr Stryver, all stay close to the Manettes, in no small part due to the three men all being drawn to Lucie’s beauty. Carton, a heavy drinker and idler, self-pitying and lacking ambition, knows he has no prospects with Lucie, but nevertheless vows to serve her. It is Darnay who wins Lucie’s hand but, before he marries her, he confesses to her father that ‘Darnay’ is not his real name – it is St Evrémonde. Darnay changed his name to renounce his aristocratic heritage. The revelation causes Dr Manette considerable anxiety – the Evrémonde’s were responsible for Manette’s long imprisonment. Further, anti-aristocratic feeling is swelling in France and Darnay’s despised uncle, the Marquis St Evrémonde, has just been murdered.

‘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.’

While events in France become more troubling, the family and their friends settle into a comfortable life in London. Until Darnay receives a plea from a friend in France, imprisoned by revolutionaries, begging for help. Despite the considerable risk to himself, Darnay is unwilling to avoid doing what he can. He and his family will leave the security of London and dare the blood-stained streets of Paris.

A Tale of Two Cities begins with one of the most famous openings in all of literature:

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.

This was not my first time reading A Tale of Two Cities . It is a book that, while not one of my favourites, is one that I flagged as deserving another read to see if I liked it better second time around.

Among the strengths to recommend it, there is no denying that Dickens knows how to write a great scene. In a general sense, he creates a tone for the reader to feel in the world he is creating for them, such as when he describes the poverty and hunger in France, with the tools and weapons lying sharp and ready.

The mill which had worked them down, was the mill that grinds young people old; the children had ancient faces and grave voices; and upon them, and upon the grown faces, and ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sign, Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. Hunger was pushed out of the tall houses, in the wretched clothing that hung upon poles and lines; Hunger was patched into them with straw and rag and wood and paper; Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood that the man sawed off; hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and stared up from the filthy street that had no offal, among its refuse, of anything to eat. Hunger was the inscription on the baker’s shelves, written in every small loaf of his scanty stock of bad bread; at the sausage-shop, in every dead-dog preparation that was offered for sale. Hunger rattled its dry bones among the roasted chestnuts in the turned cylinder; Hunger was shred into atomies of every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant oil.

Dickens always has a way of arming his words with drama and tension. He then deliberately concentrates his ability to give certain chapters and moments in the story great power. The chapter where Lucy is reunited with her father shortly after his emancipation from the Bastille (The Shoemaker, Book 1 Chapter 6), is one of the most memorable scenes in all of my reading. The only other passage I can compare it to is from another Dickens novel – when we first meet Miss Havisham early in Great Expectations .

Reading A Tale of Two Cities again made me feel that it is a novel of two halves. We often think of the French Revolution as being a sudden explosion of violence and terror but five years span the Storming of the Bastille to the end of the Reign of Terror and A Tale of Two Cities begins 14 years before the Bastille. The first half of the novel, set mostly in London, therefore, covers a large block of time, it is somewhat disjointed and jumps ahead several years at a time. The second half, set mostly in France during the Terror, flows continuously and has all the momentum and urgency you would expect. Does the drama and tension of the second half make up for the slow build up of the first? Maybe it does just enough.

All this, though, is what Dickens intended. He wanted A Tale of Two Cities to be picaresque. Hence, the jumpy timeline; the effort put in to make key scenes powerful; the vignettes outside the main story and even a certain vagueness in the text to avoid being caught by historical specifics.

A Tale of Two Cities also feels like a story that stakes a lot on the ending. One senses Dickens came up with the ending first and then crafted a story to make it plausible and meaningful. Reading it again, I could not help but wonder how a modern writer would do it differently – perhaps beginning closer to the end and breaking up the narrative with passages of backstory; to allow better pacing, dissolve the leaps in time and spread the tension throughout? I say Dickens ‘came up with’ the ending but the fact is that the ending, even in a French Revolution setting, is not original to A Tale of Two Cities – it had been done before. To write A Tale of Two Cities long after the events also required Dickens to do a large amount of research. He certainly set himself a difficult project in pulling this story off.

Did he succeed? Again, I think he does just enough. The research Dickens undertook, not just into the French Revolution but for much else besides, such as prisoner psychopathy, was extensive and the novel benefits from it. It is true that some historical errors are present in the novel but that does not take much away from the story. The psychology of the characters can also seem a little cliché but I think this is due to the passage of time whereby most readers today are used to more psychological complexity in fictional characters. It is an aspect of fiction that has evolved a lot since Dickens’ time.

‘You see,’ said Doctor Manette, turning to him after an uneasy pause, ‘it is very hard to explain, consistently, the innermost workings of this poor man’s mind. He once yearned so frightfully for that occupation, and it was so welcome when it came, no doubt it relieved his pain so much by substituting the perplexity of the fingers for the perplexity of the brain, and by substituting, as he became more practised, the ingenuity of the hands for the ingenuity of the mental torture; that he has never been able to bear the thought of putting it quite out of his reach. Even now, when, I believe, he is more hopeful of himself than he has ever been, and even speaks of himself with a kind of confidence, the idea that he might need that old employment, and not find it, gives him a sudden sense of terror, like that which one may fancy strikes to the heart of a lost child.’

The character of Sydney Carton exemplifies these threads. In the first half of the novel, once the reader is introduced to him, Dickens seems to put in a lot of heavy lifting for him. A lot of effort is made to make him psychologically known to us and it feels somewhat forced, especially if you already know the story. In the second half of the novel, he’s a far more likable, respectable and understandable; the writing begins to feel more clever than contrived and you wonder if all the early effort was really necessary.

Waste forces within him, and a desert all around, this man stood still on his way across a silent terrace, and saw for a moment, lying in the wilderness before him, a mirage of honourable ambition, self-denial, and perseverance. In the fair city of this vision, there were airy galleries from which the loves and graces looked upon him, gardens in which the fruits of life hung ripening, waters of Hope that sparkled in his sight. A moment, and it was gone. Climbing to a high chamber in a well of houses, he threw himself down in his clothes on a neglected bed, and its pillow was wet with wasted tears.

A Tale of Two Cities has possibly sold more copies than any other novel in history. It has therefore been read and reread, analysed and dissected more than most. When it comes to the themes in the novel, I probably have little to add to the already existing plethora. A significant theme of the novel is of resurrection/rebirth and second chances – from Manette’s release from prison, Carton finding purpose in his life, amongst other examples. But I would like to examine another theme that struck me particularly on this second reading.

The novel, obviously, contrasts extremes and showcases extremists. I say ‘obviously’ because it is emblematic in the title. Though, I think London and Paris of the era are not directly compared as often or as comprehensively as the title might imply. The comparison is mostly indirect and symbolic, such as the application of the rule of law despite prejudices in Darnay’s London acquittal in contrast with the excesses of the Terror. Elsewhere, we see the contrast between the characters of Darnay and Carton who look alike but don’t have much else in common or between characters for whom violence and hate come easily and those who can not bear to conceive of it. But we also see that, in an era where extremist views hold power and wield the threat of violence, those who do not view the world in black and white terms, but appreciate its complexity and nuances, find themselves in a difficult position.

Dr Manette has every reason to hate Darnay for having his life ruined by Darnay’s family. But Manette’s feelings are complicated by his affection for his daughter, his want for her happiness and by recognising Darnay as an individual distinct from his family – a truth that contradicts the revolutionary feeling in France where people are guilty by association; being judged and killed not for their deeds but for their relations. Similarly, Manette’s former servant, Defarge, is torn between his loyalty for his former master and his revolutionary feelings which urge him to destroy Manette’s new family.

‘I entreat you to observe that I have come here voluntarily, in response to that written appeal of a fellow-citizen which lies before you. I have come here to clear him and to clear myself. I demand no more than the opportunity to do so without delay. Is it not my right?’ ‘Emigrants have no rights, Evrémonde,’ was the stolid reply. […] ‘My name is Defarge, and I keep a wine-shop in the Quarter Saint Antoine. Possibly you have heard of me.’ ‘My wife came to your house to reclaim her father? Yes!’ The word ‘wife’ seemed to serve as a gloomy remined to Citizen Defarge, to say with sudden impatience, ‘In the name of that sharp female newly born and called La Guillotine, why did you come to France?’ ‘You heard me say why, a minute ago. Do you not believe it is the truth?’ ‘A bad truth for you,’ said Defarge, speaking with knitted brows, and looking straight before him.

The edition of A Tale of Two Cities I read was a Penguin Classics edition that includes an Introduction and Notes by Richard Maxwell, then of Yale University. The Introduction contains several interesting ideas about the novel including Dickens’ interest in the French Revolution and the question of oppression justifying or causing violent uprising; the Bastille legend and its influence on Gothic and historical romance novels; an interpretation of the novel around Manette, Darnay and Carton’s different relationships to Lucie and the novel’s influence, for example on Hugo’s Les Misérables which was published a few years after A Tale of Two Cities .

Another advantage of this Penguin Classics edition is an appendix which covers Dickens’ source material for the French Revolution, life in Paris of the time, Bastille lore and real-life events and people which were inspirations for characters and events in the novel. One annoyance was that the explanatory notes contained spoilers which, in my opinion, ought to be avoided. I can understand spoilers in Introductions, which is why I avoid reading them until after I’ve read the novel, but they should not be in the notes which are there to aid uninitiated readers.

When I posted my 2020 Reading List I said that I was unsure if I would reread A Tale of Two Cities . The purpose of my rereading books is to experience some of my favourites again and to give non-favourites a second chance. I was unsure whether A Tale of Two Cities deserved a second chance. But I actually underwent an appraisal of the books I have read and which made it clear that it did – I did enjoy and admire it the first time around, it was worth seeing if I would like it more a second time as I have for some others. It didn’t quite achieve that – I still enjoy and admire it and would recommend it, I just wouldn’t call it a ‘favourite’. I don’t regret making the time to reread it either. It is, after all, a story about second chances.

An Epic Tale of Love, Sacrifice, and Revolution: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

06 Apr An Epic Tale of Love, Sacrifice, and Revolution: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

An epic book deserves an epic review, introduction.

As the owner of Scattered Books and an ardent lover of literature, I find myself constantly drawn to the timeless works that have withstood the test of time. Charles Dickens’ masterpiece, “A Tale of Two Cities,” is a novel that has captivated readers for generations, and it is with great enthusiasm that I delve into its depths once again.

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this sweeping saga follows the intertwined lives of characters caught in the tumultuous upheaval of a nation. Dickens weaves a tapestry of love, sacrifice, and redemption, exploring the duality of human nature and the resilience of the human spirit. “A Tale of Two Cities” has been widely acclaimed as one of the greatest novels ever written, earning its place among the literary canon’s most revered works.

Plot Summary

The story unfolds in the late 18th century, alternating between the contrasting cities of London and Paris. Dr. Manette, a former Bastille prisoner, is reunited with his daughter Lucie after years of imprisonment. Their lives become entangled with those of the French emigrant Charles Darnay, the dissolute Sydney Carton, and the vengeful Madame Defarge, a key figure in the revolutionary turmoil.

As the tides of revolution sweep across France, Darnay finds himself caught in the crosshairs of the merciless revolutionaries, facing the threat of the guillotine. Sydney Carton, a man haunted by his wasted potential, emerges as an unlikely hero, willing to sacrifice everything for the woman he loves. The narrative builds towards a climactic finale, where the lines between love, honor, and redemption blur in the face of unimaginable violence and upheaval.

Character Descriptions

Dickens’ masterful characterization is a hallmark of “A Tale of Two Cities.” The novel is populated by a rich tapestry of characters, each meticulously crafted and imbued with depth and complexity.

Sydney Carton : The tragic hero of the story, Carton is a brilliant but dissolute lawyer who finds redemption through his selfless love for Lucie Manette. His journey from a wasted life to a noble sacrifice is a poignant exploration of the human capacity for transformation.
Lucie Manette : The embodiment of grace and compassion, Lucie is the moral compass of the novel. Her unwavering love and loyalty serve as a beacon of hope amidst the chaos of the revolution.
Charles Darnay : A French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the revolutionary fervor, Darnay’s plight represents the injustices of the ancien régime and the brutal excesses of the revolution.
Madame Defarge : The vengeful and ruthless leader of the revolutionary knitters, Madame Defarge personifies the unbridled rage and thirst for retribution that fueled the violence of the French Revolution.

Dickens’ ability to breathe life into these characters and capture the complexities of human nature is a testament to his literary genius.

“A Tale of Two Cities” is a masterwork that transcends its historical setting to explore universal themes of love, sacrifice, and the duality of human nature. Dickens’ vivid depictions of the contrasting cities of London and Paris, and the juxtaposition of the aristocratic opulence and the squalor of the masses, serve as a powerful commentary on the social injustices that ignited the French Revolution.

The novel’s strength lies in its ability to humanize the revolutionary fervor, portraying both the nobility of its ideals and the brutal excesses that followed. Dickens’ use of parallel narratives and symbolic motifs, such as the recurring image of the broken wine cask, add layers of depth and meaning to the story.

Perhaps most poignant is the exploration of the duality of human nature, embodied in the contrasting characters of Sydney Carton and Madame Defarge. Carton’s journey from a wasted life to a noble sacrifice serves as a powerful testament to the human capacity for redemption, while Madame Defarge’s descent into vengeful madness represents the darker aspects of the human psyche.

Themes and Motifs

At its core, “A Tale of Two Cities” is a profound meditation on the themes of revolution, justice, and the enduring power of love and sacrifice.

Revolution and Social Injustice : Dickens offers a nuanced portrayal of the French Revolution, exploring both the ideals that fueled the uprising and the brutal excesses that followed. The novel serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of unchecked violence and the importance of upholding justice and human rights.
Resurrection and Redemption : The motif of resurrection is woven throughout the narrative, from Dr. Manette’s release from the Bastille to Sydney Carton’s ultimate sacrifice. The novel explores the human capacity for transformation and the possibility of redemption, even in the darkest of circumstances.
Love and Sacrifice : At the heart of the story is the enduring power of love, embodied in the selfless acts of characters like Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette. Dickens celebrates the ability of love to transcend even the most dire circumstances and inspire acts of profound sacrifice.

Through these themes and motifs, Dickens invites readers to contemplate the complexities of human nature and the enduring values that can guide us through even the most turbulent of times.

Writing Style and Tone

Dickens’ writing style in “A Tale of Two Cities” is a masterclass in literary craftsmanship. His prose is rich and evocative, painting vivid scenes that transport readers to the heart of the French Revolution. The novel’s opening lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” have become iconic, setting the stage for the contrasts and dualities that permeate the narrative.

Dickens’ use of parallel narratives and symbolic imagery adds depth and resonance to the story. The recurring motif of the broken wine cask, for example, serves as a powerful metaphor for the spilled blood and wasted potential of the revolution.

Here is a passage that exemplifies Dickens’ masterful prose:

“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.”

Through his evocative language and skillful storytelling, Dickens invites readers to fully immerse themselves in the tumultuous world of the French Revolution, experiencing the triumphs and tragedies of his unforgettable characters.

Evaluation and Conclusion

“A Tale of Two Cities” is a literary masterpiece that has rightfully earned its place among the greatest novels of all time. Dickens’ ability to weave a compelling narrative while exploring profound themes of love, sacrifice, and the duality of human nature is unparalleled.

The novel’s enduring popularity and relevance are a testament to its universal appeal and the timeless truths it conveys. Whether you are a seasoned reader or embarking on your literary journey, “A Tale of Two Cities” is a must-read that will leave an indelible mark on your soul.

For those seeking a gripping tale of love and sacrifice set against the backdrop of one of history’s most tumultuous periods, this novel is an absolute treasure. Dickens’ masterful storytelling and unforgettable characters will captivate you from the first page to the last, leaving you forever changed by the power of his words.

Favorite Quotes

“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.” This iconic opening line sets the stage for the contrasts and dualities that permeate the narrative, capturing the essence of the French Revolution and the complexities of human nature.
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other.” This quote speaks to the depth and complexity of the human experience, reminding us that each individual is a profound mystery, even to those closest to them.
“I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.” This biblical quote, referenced in the novel, encapsulates the theme of resurrection and redemption that runs throughout the narrative, offering hope in the face of darkness and despair.

FAQ Section

What is the central conflict in “A Tale of Two Cities”? The central conflict revolves around the French Revolution and the contrasting ideologies of the revolutionaries and the aristocracy. The novel explores the social injustices that fueled the uprising, as well as the brutal excesses that followed in the pursuit of justice.
Who are the main characters in the novel? The main characters include Sydney Carton, a dissolute lawyer who finds redemption through sacrifice; Lucie Manette, the embodiment of grace and compassion; Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat caught in the revolutionary turmoil; and Madame Defarge, the vengeful leader of the revolutionary knitters.
What are the central themes explored in “A Tale of Two Cities”? The novel explores themes of revolution and social injustice, resurrection and redemption, love and sacrifice, and the duality of human nature. Dickens offers a nuanced portrayal of the French Revolution, celebrating the ideals that fueled the uprising while cautioning against the dangers of unchecked violence.
How does the novel’s setting contribute to its themes and narrative? The contrasting settings of London and Paris serve as a powerful metaphor for the duality of human nature and the contrasting ideologies of the revolution. The juxtaposition of the aristocratic opulence and the squalor of the masses highlights the social injustices that ignited the revolutionary fervor.
What is the significance of Sydney Carton’s sacrifice at the end of the novel? Sydney Carton’s ultimate sacrifice, taking Charles Darnay’s place at the guillotine, represents the pinnacle of his redemption arc. His selfless act of love and courage serves as a powerful testament to the human capacity for transformation and the enduring power of love to inspire acts of profound sacrifice.

Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” is a literary masterpiece that has rightfully earned its place among the greatest novels of all time. Through his masterful storytelling and unforgettable characters, Dickens invites readers to embark on a journey that explores the depths of human nature, the complexities of revolution, and the enduring power of love and sacrifice.

Whether you are a seasoned reader or embarking on your literary journey, this novel is an absolute must-read that will leave an indelible mark on your soul. Prepare to be captivated by Dickens’ vivid prose, moved by the triumphs and tragedies of his characters, and forever changed by the profound truths he conveys.

For those seeking a gripping tale of love, sacrifice, and the resilience of the human spirit, “A Tale of Two Cities” is a treasure that will resonate long after the final page is turned.

Spoilers/How Does It End

In the climactic finale of “A Tale of Two Cities,” Sydney Carton, the once-dissolute lawyer, embraces his redemption and selflessly takes Charles Darnay’s place at the guillotine. Carton’s ultimate sacrifice is driven by his unwavering love for Lucie Manette, Darnay’s wife, and his desire to save an innocent life.

As Carton ascends the steps to the guillotine, he experiences a profound transformation, finding peace and purpose in his final moments. His last words, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done…”, resonate with the novel’s themes of resurrection and redemption, as he embraces a noble end to a life once wasted.

Carton’s sacrifice not only saves Darnay’s life but also ensures the future happiness of Lucie and her family. His act of selflessness serves as a powerful testament to the enduring power of love and the human capacity for transformation, even in the darkest of circumstances.

While the novel ends on a somber note, with Carton’s execution, it also offers a glimmer of hope and renewal. The characters who survive are forever changed by Carton’s sacrifice, carrying the lessons of love, courage, and the enduring human spirit into an uncertain future.

About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was a prolific English novelist and social critic whose works have left an indelible mark on literature and popular culture. Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens experienced poverty and hardship in his youth, which profoundly influenced his writing and his advocacy for social reform.

Throughout his illustrious career, Dickens penned numerous beloved novels, including “Oliver Twist,” “David Copperfield,” “Great Expectations,” and “A Christmas Carol.” His works were known for their vivid characters, intricate plots, and incisive commentary on the social injustices of Victorian England.

“A Tale of Two Cities,” published in 1859, is widely regarded as one of Dickens’ greatest achievements. The novel’s exploration of the French Revolution and its themes of love, sacrifice, and redemption have resonated with readers across generations and cemented Dickens’ legacy as one of the most influential authors of all time.

Publication History and Reception

“A Tale of Two Cities” was first published in weekly installments in Dickens’ literary periodical “All the Year Round” from April to November 1859. It was later published as a complete novel in three volumes in 1859 by Chapman & Hall in London.

Upon its initial release, the novel received widespread critical acclaim and commercial success. Readers were captivated by Dickens’ vivid depiction of the French Revolution and his exploration of timeless themes of love, sacrifice, and the duality of human nature.

Over the years, “A Tale of Two Cities” has been adapted numerous times for film, television, and stage productions, further solidifying its status as a literary classic. The novel has been translated into numerous languages and continues to be widely read and studied in schools and universities around the world.

In recognition of its enduring impact and literary merit, “A Tale of Two Cities” has been included in various lists of the greatest novels of all.

Bibliographic Details

Author(s): Charles Dickens
Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Applicable Genres: Historical Fiction, Classic Literature
Bisac Categories: FICTION / Classics, FICTION / Historical / General
Publisher: Chapman & Hall (original publisher)
Place of publication: London, England
Year of publication: 1859
ISBN: 978-0141439600
Page count: 489 pages
Format: Hardcover, Paperback, E-book
Language: English
Subject/Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classic Literature
Library of Congress Classification (LCC): PR4571 .A6 1994
Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC): 823/.8

Where to Buy

You can purchase “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens on Bookshop.org

Other Reviews

Goodreads – Average rating: 3.8/5 stars from over 1 million ratings
Amazon – Average rating: 4.5/5 stars from over 5,000 reviews
Penguin Random House – “A novel of supreme artistry, unforgettable characters, and a timeless exploration of the duality of human nature.”

We hope this EPIC review is as epic as your experience when reading “A Tale of Two Cities!”

Nonfiction Books » Economics Books » Fiction Recommended by Economists

A tale of two cities, by charles dickens.

Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities is about poverty in London and Paris and the book with perhaps the most famous opening and closing lines in English literature: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…’ and, at closing, ‘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.’

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“Every decision I make, I try to evaluate if it will help improve the quality of life of every Angeleno. But Dickens really dissects both the aristocrats and the revolutionaries, to show that change is never easy. As progressives, we value government’s role and power to improve our cities and communities, but at the same time we must never forget that the ends never justify the means. And that the majority cannot deprive the minority of their inalienable rights that come with a democracy.” Read more...

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Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Angela N. Blount

“Death may beget life, but oppression can beget nothing other than itself.”

Slow to start, but intricately woven and stunning in its conclusion.

So far my favorite work by Dickens — on par with my love for A Christmas Carol (although they are hardly comparable works, aside from having the same author.) I would assert their similar appeal — at least to this reader — lies in their under-girding of moral inquisition and enduring value. While the story really takes its time picking up any steam, Dickens seems to pull the narrative together a lot faster and with more impact than he did in works like Oliver Twist or Great Expectations.

(It may also be the difference between a social protest novel and a historical novel attempting to give human conveyance to the documented insanity of a rebellion gone awry.)

Set in both London and Paris prior to and then in the midst of the French Revolution, it follows the primary thread of a French doctor named Manette as he is released from a lengthy, unjust prison sentence and reunited with Lucie, the daughter he was never able to raise. The good doctor’s memory is spotty and his psyche fragile — which ultimately conceals a good deal of the plot points that eventually unfold after five years in England, when his angelic daughter is pursued by two very different men — Charles Darnay, a conscience-laden French emigrant, and Sydney Carton, a boozing British lawyer. The two happen to share both a similar physical appearance and a deep, abiding love for Lucie. And even when she chooses Darnay over Carton, they all remain close — Carton resigned to being a steadfast come-and-go family friend.

Carton’s loyalty is then tested when Darnay is detained in France with his neck literally at stake. After all, Darnay’s execution would then leave Lucie available…

The subject matter is fascinating on many levels — historical, sociological, psychological, and interpersonal. In a broad sense, it is a chilling commentary on how human nature tends to swing like a pendulum — over-correcting as it goes from one awful extreme to another.

The Revolution is a character unto itself, providing the ominous backdrop for this complexly nuanced story. Dickens makes you feel the plight of the French commoners under the horrendous abuses of those with noble blood. Then, as the power structure shifts, the downtrodden become the tyrants. And under the long fall of the guillotine, we see the unquenchable thirst for blood and vengeance by the once oppressed peasantry. Men, women, children… even those only vaguely related to the nobility — who never enjoyed any of the benefits. The revolutionaries sought to mercilessly purge them all from France.

It was the perfect setting in which to extend and viciously settle old grudges. And that is exactly what forms the backbone of the conflict in A Tale Of Two Cities .

Revolutionary figurehead, Madame Defarge, has a literal ax to grind (or perhaps guillotine…? *cough*) — not with Charles Darnay himself, but with the man’s vile-yet-inconveniently-dead father and his estranged uncle. (Darnay himself so despised his father and uncle’s lasciviousness and brutality, he voluntarily renounced his family name and any inheritance he may have been entitled to — leaving instead to start his life over in England.)

“Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop,” returned madame; “but don’t tell me.”

Madame Defarge may be the most singularly terrifying villainess I have ever encountered in literature. In part because the loss and horror she went through as a child at the hands of a “nobleman” made her sympathetic to start out. But she takes the cry for justice and twists it into a vicious thing that rivals, and perhaps exceeds, the evilness of what was done to her family. To her, it’s not enough to see dead and financially redistributed the men who destroyed her family. She desires the slaughter of all of their descendants as well, no matter how unconnected to the original crime — no matter how young and innocent the descendant.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, Defarge is cooking with liquid nitrogen.

It may be hard to believe, given this is such a well-known classic, but I honestly didn’t see the end coming. It built up to the last chapter with such an overwhelming magnificence and redemptive majesty, and then culminated with proof of pure and unselfish love… from an alcoholic melancholic anti-hero, who most wouldn’t have thought to expect anything from.

Confession: I cried. Like…boo-hoo, cried.

I didn’t realize how invested I was in the story until that surprising point. (I should preface this by saying it is rare for me to cry over a book, aside from the occasional non-fiction biography or memoir, when the harshness of the reality expressed tends to get to me.) This marks the first classic to make me cry. Combine that with the abundance of lyrical quotes and haunting impressions that lingered for weeks, and it deserves every star I’m allowed to give it.

Bravo, Mr. Dickens.

Side Note: For a more upbeat and faster-paced classic read involving the French Revolution, I STRONGLY recommend The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Favorite Quotes:

*“Perhaps second-hand cares, like second-hand clothes, come easily off and on.”

*“‎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.”

*“Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.”

*“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.”

*“Nothing that we do, is done in vain. I believe, with all my soul, that we shall see triumph.”

Written by Angela N. Blount

Award-winning author of the Once Upon a Road Trip duology ✒ avid reader, book reviewer, coffee shop loiterer, purveyor of all things geek. www.angelanblount.com

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gallifreyan ramblings

Thoughts on the world, onscreen and offscreen..

Review: A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

Although I have seen screen adaptations of Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol before, A Tale of Two Cities was the first of Charles Dickens’ novels I’ve read. I picked the book up after reading the gushing praise, via tweet, directed at it from the historian Tom Holland as he also read it for the first time. Tom Holland, one of my favourite historians and, no less, one of my favourite people to follow on Twitter, never misses the mark in his reading recommendations, so with intent I sought out a copy of Dickens’ most popular book according to Goodreads.

I was not disappointed. A Tale of Two Cities is a beautiful story of two lovers and their circle of loyal friends and family in the time of the French Revolution. There is a diverse cast of characters from varying classes, ages, professions and ideologies across two nations. Although the maiden Lucie, her father Dr Manette, and her husband Charles Darnay, are the central characters of the plot, the narrative sweeps back and forth between Paris and London, from character to character, giving you an intimate feel for the diversity of people’s experiences and lives in the world of the 1760s to 1790s.

The most extraordinary and captivating character’s story is of course the story of Dr Manette, who was imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille and close to lost his mind in the process. His character’s arc, from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs (and, briefly, rapidly down again), is the most satisfyingly plotted in the novel. Other characters won my heart in their several ways, most of all the heroic Sydney Carton (who, in his early appearances in the story, reminded me uncomfortably of myself, so I am glad he was redeemed), but also the wonderful pantomime villain, the terrifying Madame Defarge. Some characters, though, could have done with being given more attention and development, such as Barsad and Cly (I never did work out who they actually were).

The book also evokes its setting in the time of the French Revolution quite expressively. It exposes the injustices and outrages of the ancien régime , and then lays bare the horrors of the French Revolution and its bloody, fevered Reign of Terror. A roguish Revolutionary Tribunal condemns scores of the denounced to the Guillotine daily. Drunken, liberated Citizens dance the frenzied Carmagnole through the streets of Republican Paris. The cream of the overthrown nobility—gentle men, women and children—are corralled in La Force Prison like cattle awaiting slaughter.

It’s a simplistic, picture book representation of the pre- and post-Revolutionary conditions in France, but it’s what the story calls for— A Tale of Two Cities is, after all, basically a Victorian YA novel penned by a consummate writer and storyteller, not a serious work of literature (which is not a bad thing). It’s also very much the picture of the times an (English) writer from 1859, informed both by 19th Century Romanticism and Victorian English chauvinism, would paint. Dickens’ historiography is also picture-book (and reflects his own political predilections): he makes clear his view that the horrors of the Revolution followed the injustices of the ancien régime as inevitably as night follows day, and would reappear anywhere else the conditions of the pre-Revolutionary society reproduced themselves:

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.

My only criticisms of the book would be that the dialogue of some of the characters is somewhat contrived and unrealistic, although this is forgivable in pre-modern, Victorian literature. The Second Book (of three) also drags a bit, but the Third Book (which includes the storming of the Bastille and Darnay’s imprisonment and trial) more than makes up for it.

I was not ready for it, I was not expecting it, but the final line of the book is one of the most powerful and moving I’ve read in any book: “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.” Those who’ve read the book know. As the climax of the events leading up to that line, and as the climax of the arc of the character who spoke it, it just hits the right spot. Since I finished the book yesterday I’ve been reciting it over and over in my head, so perfect it was. The perfect, if tragic, ending to a wonderful story.

Rating: 8/10.

Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of the most popular books of all time, with over 200 million copies sold to date. The novel is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution and depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period. The main characters are Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a British barrister who endeavors to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

A Tale of Two Cities

One of Charles Dickens's most famous novels, A Tale of Two Cities is also one of his shorter (and better) ones. It begins with an unflattering portrait of an England overrun by highwaymen and courts which are almost as rapacious, and soon shows us a France where things are even worse. Nowhere does Dickens demonstrate his marvelous ability to capture moods and sentiments better than in his depiction of a seething, oppressed populace on the verge of boiling into violence.

And now that the cloud settled on Saint Antoine, which a momentary gleam had driven from his sacred countenance, the darkness of it was heavy—cold, dirt, sickness, ignorance, and want, were the lords in waiting on the saintly presence—nobles of great power all of them; but, most especially the last. Samples of a people that had undergone a terrible grinding and regrinding in the mill, and certainly not in the fabulous mill which ground old people young, shivered at every corner, passed in and out at every doorway, looked from every window, fluttered in every vestige of a garment that the wind shook. The mill which had worked them down, was the mill that grinds young people old; the children had ancient faces and grave voices; and upon them, and upon the grown faces, and ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sigh, Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. Hunger was pushed out of the tall houses, in the wretched clothing that hung upon poles and lines; Hunger was patched into them with straw and rag and wood and paper; Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood that the man sawed off; Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had no offal, among its refuse, of anything to eat. Hunger was the inscription on the baker's shelves, written in every small loaf of his scanty stock of bad bread; at the sausage-shop, in every dead-dog preparation that was offered for sale. Hunger rattled its dry bones among the roasting chestnuts in the turned cylinder; Hunger was shred into atomics in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.

After spending eighteen years in the Bastille, a French country physician is released and allowed to emigrate to England, where he is reunited with the daughter he has never met. Lucie Manette, typical of Dickens women, is a pure-hearted angel who is instantly devoted to him despite never having known him. Through various plot twists, Lucie marries Charles Darnay, who turns out to be the expatriate nephew of the Marquis who had Doctor Manette imprisoned, in a backstory eventually revealed to us with an even more improbable plot twist.

Once the Revolution begins, Charles Darnay is lured back to Paris to save the life of one of his former servants. Naturally, he is promptly imprisoned and put on trial. His family, including Lucie and their daughter, as well as pretty much the entire cast of the novel thus far, follows him, and are all put in peril of meeting Lady Guillotine. It was the popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from turning grey, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the sack. It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race. It superseded the Cross. Models of it were worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and believed in where the Cross was denied.

Dickens's stories are full of improbable plot twists. Characters who met once will always meet again. The coincidences in A Tale of Two Cities almost defy the reader's suspension of disbelief -- but it's Dickens, and Dickens can be forgiven a lot. He shows the pitiless brutality of the French aristocracy and the suffering of the people until your sympathies are entirely with them, and when the tumbrils begin rolling through the streets you can't but think that the aristos had it coming and then some. But then the Terror is unleashed -- and personified in the form of Madame Defarge -- and the oppressed turn just as brutal and pitiless. This is the only way Dickens could have brought our sympathies back to the main characters, who after all, have lived pretty safe and privileged existences even if they weren't the evil "Monseigneur" who ran children beneath the wheels of his carriage. And let's face it, Charles Darnay really picks up the Idiot Ball when he goes back to Paris.

I doubt there are many people who don't know how the novel ends, but while it's a story of redemption and self-sacrifice, I was not nearly as touched by Sydney Carton's heroism as I was by the Madame Defarge vs. Miss Pross smackdown, which I think is one of Dickens's best climaxes ever, and which none of the film adaptations (below) did justice:

"You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer," said Miss Pross, in her breathing. "Nevertheless, you shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman."

Madame Defarge looked at her scornfully, but still with something of Miss Pross's own perception that they two were at bay. She saw a tight, hard, wiry woman before her, as Mr. Lorry had seen in the same figure a woman with a strong hand, in the years gone by. She knew full well that Miss Pross was the family's devoted friend; Miss Pross knew full well that Madame Defarge was the family's malevolent enemy.

"On my way yonder," said Madame Defarge, with a slight movement of her hand towards the fatal spot, "where they reserve my chair and my knitting for me, I am come to make my compliments to her in passing. I wish to see her."

"I know that your intentions are evil," said Miss Pross, "and you may depend upon it, I'll hold my own against them."

Each spoke in her own language; neither understood the other's words; both were very watchful, and intent to deduce from look and manner, what the unintelligible words meant.

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Book Review

A tale of two cities.

Charles Dickens

Readability Age Range

London: Chapman & Hall; the version reviewed was published by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Reader's Group

Year Published

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens has been reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine .

Plot Summary

During the French Revolution, Dr. Alexandre Manette is released after two decades of imprisonment in the Bastille. Shocked to learn he’s alive, his daughter, Lucie, retrieves him. Years later, Lucie and Dr. Manette take part in the trial of Charles Darnay, who is found innocent (in part because he so closely resembles his counsel, Sydney Carton), and Darnay seeks Lucie’s hand in marriage. When revolutionaries learn that Darnay is related to an evil aristocrat, they imprison him the next time he is in France. Sydney Carton determines he can bring value to his life by rescuing Darnay.

Christian Beliefs

A key theme is resurrection; several characters who have been imprisoned (literally, or in figurative prisons by virtue of their choices and behaviors) are “recalled to life.” Dickens further emphasizes this theme in the book’s final climactic moments, when Sydney Carton repeats to himself the John 11:25 passage, “I am the resurrection and the life” for comfort and talks about going to “a better land.” Dickens alludes to the de-Christianization of the period by demonstrating the growing love of violence. He shows the excess, greed and godlessness of the aristocracy and talks of the guillotine having replaced the Cross in the French culture. Dickens also pairs several sets of characters as opposites (Lucie with Madame Defarge, Darnay with Carton) to contrast good and evil, peace and violence, love and hate.

Other Belief Systems

In a time of revolution, vengeance and violence become a religion for many of the French.

Authority Roles

Several noteworthy aristocrats belong to the family Evremonde (ironic, because it means “every man” — they certainly don’t see themselves that way). Their disregard for human life, demonstrated in their brutal raping and thoughtless killing, exemplifies the ruling class of the time. Madame Defarge, a leader in the revolution, also acts with excessive violence, driven by her desire for revenge against the Evremondes and their kind.

Profanity & Violence

The word d–ned appears a few times. Violence and blood fill the pages, but the depictions are fairly tame compared to what 21st-century audiences are accustomed to.

Sexual Content

Several innocent, nonromantic kisses pass between friends and family. Carton kisses a seamstress solemnly before he is killed.

Discussion Topics

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at FocusOnTheFamily.com/discuss-books .

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The life and work of charles dickens.

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A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities was the twelfth novel of Charles Dickens. The first chapters of the book appeared in print in April of 1859. The last chapter was printed in November of that same year.

The novel was illustrated by Phiz, better known as Hablot Knight Browne.

It’s interesting to note that Dickens wrote two historical novels, A Tale of Two Cities and Barnaby Rudge .

Table of Contents

A Tale of Two Cities – Dickens’s Life At The Time

The French Revolution and A Tale of Two Cities

Famous First Lines

The frozen deep, theme of a tale of two cities, quote collection from a tale of two cities, a tale of two cities characters, a tale of two cities quiz.

Charles Dickens in 1858

In January of 1857 the first performances of The Frozen Deep were given. (Dickens played the role of Richard Wardour.) The play gave Dickens the idea for A Tale of Two Cities .

Later that year Dickens met Ellen Ternan, an actress hired to act in benefit performances of The Frozen Deep . Ellen later became his mistress.

Dickens separated from his wife, Catherine, in 1858.

In March of 1859 Dickens began writing A Tale of Two Cities .

The French Revolution and A Tale of Two Cities

Drawing of the Third Estate carrying the First Estate (clergy) and the Second Estate (nobility) on its back

A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel that takes place during the French Revolution.

The French people were tired of the social and economic inequalities enforced by the ruling monarchy. The aristocracy and clergy lived a life of luxury while people in the Third Estate (peasants, artisans, merchants and professional men) paid most of the taxes and didn’t have as many rights.

Marie Antoinette by Louis Marie Sicard

Legend has it that when the queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was told that the poor people didn’t have any bread to eat she responded, “Let them eat cake.”

The French Revolution began in 1789. That year saw the storming of the Bastille prison.

In September of 1792, France was declared a republic and the monarchy was abolished.

In an effort to preserve the newly-founded republic many people were put on trial for crimes against the state. Thousands of people were sentenced to death in unfair trials and many more people were imprisoned.

The darkest days of the revolution are known as The Reign of Terror. It began in September of 1793 when Maximilien de Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety declared:

It is time that equality bore its scythe above all heads. It is time to horrify all the conspirators. So legislators, place Terror on the order of the day! Let us be in revolution, because everywhere counter-revolution is being woven by our enemies. The blade of the law should hover over all the guilty.

During the Reign of Terror 17,000 people were officially executed. It’s estimated that an additional 10,000 people died in prison or without a trial.

In 1794 the Reign of Terror ended when Robespierre and his associates were arrested and executed.

The first line of A Tale of Two Cities is often quoted.

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. – A Tale of Two Cities

Ellen Ternan

The Frozen Deep, a play written by Wilkie Collins, was the inspiration for A Tale of Two Cities . In 1857 Dickens acted in the play and portrayed the character of Richard Wardour.

In the play, Wardour is in love with Clara Burnham. Wardour decides that he’s going to kill Frank Aldersley because Frank stole Clara. However, Wardour ends up saving Aldersley’s life at the cost of his own. Wardour dies in Clara’s arms and earns her eternal gratitude for saving the life of the man that she loves.

In addition to giving Dickens the idea for A Tale of Two Cities , the play brought about lasting changes to Dickens’s life.

In 1857 Dickens was not happy in his marriage. The once-happy couple had grown apart.

Professional actresses were hired to act in a benefit production of The Frozen Deep. One of them was Ellen Ternan. She became Dickens’s mistress. Their affair lasted until Dickens’s death in 1870.

Dr. Manette in the Bastille Prison by Phiz

In A Tale of Two Cities Doctor Manette is imprisoned for many years. He is kept in solitary confinement for years. His only activity is making shoes and when asked his name he gives the name of his prison cell, “One Hundred and Five, North Tower.”

So harsh are his circumstances that it as if he were buried alive.

Sydney Carton is another character who is buried alive. However, in Sydney’s case, the burial is of his own choosing.

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 him-self to let it eat him away.

Carton is skilled at his profession, but he dislikes himself and sees nothing of value in life. However, when Carton meets Lucie Manette his views change.

“I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul. In my degradation I have not been so degraded but that the sight of you with your father, and of this home made such a home by you, has stirred old shadows that I thought had died out of me. 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.”

More About A Tale of Two Cities

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A Tale of Two Cities

A review of Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, by Charles Murray

Books Reviewed

Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010

A review of coming apart: the state of white america, 1960-2010 , by charles murray.

Charles Murray knows how to draw attention. Soon after Coming Apart appeared, nearly everyone who follows public affairs knew of the yawning gap separating the declining, demoralized "Fishtown"—Murray's name for the 30% of the white population in households lacking a college graduate—and the prosperous, remoralized "Belmont"—his term for the 20% of the population in well-paying professional and managerial positions. He convincingly demonstrates that our conventional stereotypes of the religious, family-oriented, white working class and the secular, individualistic, educated elite are incorrect. In fact, what was once the white working class is now beset not only by falling wages, but by a precipitous decline in two-parent families, religious engagement, work ethic, law-abidingness, and social capital. Just the opposite is true in the affluent suburbs, whose residents have both benefited from increasing economic returns on education and rediscovered what Murray calls the "Founding Virtues": industriousness, religiosity, honesty, and marriage.

If Coming Apart had ended with Murray's alarming analysis of the contrasting cultures of Fishtown and Belmont, it would have added a crucial element to the current debate over the causes of growing income inequality. Unfortunately, he does not stop there, but wraps his Fishtown-Belmont story into a speculative and ultimately unconvincing populist tale about how a culturally and geographically isolated "new upper class"—a small slice of Belmont composed of "Overeducated Elitist Snobs (OES)"—bears responsibility for the disappearance of the Founding Virtues from Fishtown and ultimately for the impending end of the "American project." Many reviewers have politely ignored these grandiose assertions. But since Murray claims that Coming Apart is the product of a half-century of his thinking on the future of the "American project," his entire argument deserves to be rehearsed and evaluated. To do justice to the book as a whole I will identify the eight propositions that form its spine, starting with the most convincing and working my way down. I end on an optimistic note, showing that what is "coming apart" is not our exceptional nation, but the various strands of Murray's argument.

1. There is a real Fishtown, a Philadelphia neighborhood that until recently was blue-collar, but not poor. Murray's fictional "Fishtown" represents all those white families in the country in which "nobody has more than a high school diploma," and the chief breadwinner has "a blue-collar job, mid- or low-level service job, or a low-level white-collar job." Not only has the average income of Fishtown residents declined significantly since the 1970s, but many of the poorly educated men have disappeared from the labor force. The percentage of Fishtown males ages 30-49 not in the labor force has more than tripled since 1970, and many of the rest are working less than full time. The percentage of Fishtown residents who either profess no religion or attend church no more than once a year now approaches 60%. Only 10% are regular churchgoers, the group that builds social capital by maintaining religious communities. In this anomic environment a third of Fishtown residents are socially isolated, "disconnected from the matrix of community life." Most alarmingly, the rate of out-of-wedlock childbirth, divorce, and separation has increased so dramatically that only a third of Fishtown children are now living with both biological parents, a rate "so low that it calls into question the viability of white working-class communities as a place for socializing the next generation." All these problems reinforce each other, making it hard to see how Fishtown can pull out of its social nosedive.

Murray does us an important service by showing that these serious problems are not limited to racial minorities. His focus on white America makes it possible to talk about the work habits and family structure of those riding this "downbound train" (to use the title of a Bruce Springsteen song capturing this group's resignation and despair) without getting bogged down in endless debates over race. Murray shows that the plight of educationally deficient whites is not much different from that of their black and Hispanic counterparts, demonstrating that our most serious divisions involve class, not race or ethnicity.

2. Murray's "Belmont"—not to be confused with the real Boston suburb that is home to Mitt Romney and many Harvard professors—reflects the 20% of the population in which at least one parent has "a bachelor's or graduate degree and works in the high-prestige professions or management." Belmont is thriving, not just economically, but socially. Not only have Belmonters benefited from the increasing economic returns on education—a well-known and well-documented fact—but their divorce rates are down and in the early years of the 21st century their participation in organized religions edged up. Crime, unemployment, and single-parent families remain rare. Educated baby-boomers' flirtation with drugs, sexual promiscuity, religious skepticism, and sloth has flickered out, producing the industrious, family-oriented "Bobos," David Brooks's bourgeois bohemians. (Rock-and-roll, in contrast, is here to stay, even if now sung by geriatric patients forever in blue jeans.) Murray does a masterly job contrasting the remoralization of Belmont with the demoralization of Fishtown.

3. Since the 1960s we have created a meritocracy fuelled by SAT scores, highly selective admission practices at the most prestigious colleges, and an economy that rewards brains—enormously at the very top—but not brawn. What former Labor secretary Robert Reich has called "symbolic analysts," urban studies theorist Richard Florida "the creative class," and David Brooks the more endearing "Bobos," Murray terms "the cognitive elite." This lucky group includes many more women, minorities, and recent immigrants than the stuffy old WASP establishment it has so thoroughly replaced. Unfortunately, the resources needed to compete in this new meritocratic system—good genes, good parenting, good schools, and well-connected friends—are available only to a limited number of people. Demands for equal educational opportunity opened the doors of elite schools to smart, ambitious women. Through "associative mating" they became increasingly likely to marry smart, ambitious men. These high-earning, two-income couples then sent their children to high-quality schools and taught them self-discipline—"We studied hard, and see how well we did." Stripping away so much artificial privilege has created a new elite, possessed of more ethnic, racial, religious, and gender diversity than before, but with new and even sturdier mechanisms for self-perpetuation. We have increased educational and economic opportunity while decreasing social mobility, a paradox deserving more attention than Murray gives it.

4. After claiming that he will not examine the question of why America is "coming apart at the seams," Murray forcefully rejects the argument that the decline of manufacturing jobs caused Fishtown's downward spiral. Jobs are available there, he argues, but the men just aren't taking them. To be sure, these jobs don't pay as well as the old ones at General Motors or U.S. Steel, but they do pay enough to support a family.

Liberals, of course, reject the idea that the loss of manufacturing jobs is a sideshow. But not just liberals. David Frum has provided a critique of Murray's argument so extensive and persuasive I won't reprise it here. Suffice it to say there is no reason we must choose between arguments based on the decline of good jobs and the decline of beneficial social norms. Murray is describing one part of a vicious cycle. The exodus of industrial jobs led to the exodus from Fishtown of the most industrious men, leaving behind fewer role models, fewer eligible marriage partners, more crime, and more powerful peer pressure from those inhabiting "the street." Even though the decline of manufacturing jobs initiated this chain of events, simply increasing job opportunities cannot reverse it. Adequately addressing this deeply troubling vicious cycle requires us to move beyond the incomplete stories partisans insist on repeating.

5. One might assume that the class divide that so alarms Murray is the one between Belmont and Fishtown. Wrong. It is the divide between what he calls "the new upper class"—a small subset of Belmont—and everybody else. His most sweeping, most inflammatory, and least persuasive argument is that this new upper class is: a) more insulated from the rest of society than any previous American elite; and b) somehow responsible for the demoralization of Fishtown.

Pinning down the foundations of this argument is hard, since Murray changes his definition of the nefarious elite so often that it's difficult to be sure where his scorn is directed. He starts by describing a "narrow elite" that numbers in the tens of thousands, implying that these are the people who really run the country. But he focuses much more of his attention on a larger group; his "new upper class" comprises the 2.4 million people in families headed by "the most successful 5 percent of adults ages 25 and older who are working in managerial positions, in the professions…and in content-production jobs in the media." He then goes to great lengths to convince us that most of these people live either in "SuperZips"—zip codes with lots of really wealthy people—or "SuperZip clusters"—which include contiguous zip codes with lots of relatively affluent people.

As one reads his increasingly convoluted argument, it's important to keep in mind that people not in his new upper class constitute the overwhelming majority residing in these clusters. Murray wants to show that his new elite is, to an unprecedented extent, isolated geographically as well as culturally. But all he shows is that the rich live near the nearly rich, who live near the somewhat less affluent, and so on. This is not exactly news.

Then, to make his argument more telling, he suddenly shifts to an attack on the "Big Four" SuperZip clusters, those surrounding New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Here we find the Wizard of Oz of the conservative imagination, the all-powerful "liberal elite" sabotaging "the American project." Murray has no interest in the "SuperZip clusters" surrounding Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, San Diego, or even (surprisingly) Boston. He is like the skilled magician who creates so many diversions that few in the audience can see how he is pulling a rabbit out of his hat.

What are we to make of Murray's claims that the gap between this new upper class and the rest of society is different, in kind and degree, "from anything the nation has ever known"? Or his assertion that the new upper class culture "has been accompanied by growing ignorance about the country over which they have so much new power"? One cannot help wondering how those liberal media elites manage to create so many popular TV shows and movies that mesmerize and degrade a public about which they know so little. Murray makes the arresting claim that this new elite has become large enough and wealthy enough to create its own culture, but he offers no evidence to demonstrate that this is true now or wasn't before—during the Gilded Age, for example. Admitting that we have virtually no evidence on what this upper class knows about those outside its borders, Murray resorts to a cute quiz to convince the reader that he is right.

The quiz, to which he devotes an entire chapter, is designed to show how little his well-educated readers know about everyone outside their bubble—unlike Charles Murray, the erudite Harvard-educated scholar who still has his hand on the pulse of the real majority. This is a wonderful device for condescending to both the insulated elite and the vulgar mass. He can demonstrate his familiarity with the trash average people watch on TV, and simultaneously condemn the "Overeducated Elitist Snobs" who live in liberal SuperZips for being grievously out of touch with evangelical Christians and NASCAR fans. This is his first big step toward convincing us that this "hollow elite" is "as dysfunctional in its way as the new lower class is in its." Apparently Murray wants OESs to follow the example of that real resident of the real Belmont, Mitt Romney, and attend more NASCAR races. That should help bring us together.

In attempting to describe the culture of the new upper class Murray frequently refers to David Brooks's Bobos in Paradise (2000). The contrast between the two is instructive. Brooks describes a group of educated, accomplished people trying—often humorously, sometimes clumsily—to cope with the conflict between their wealth and their antipathy to everything bourgeois, between their distrust of authority and their recognition that they are now in positions of authority, between their insistence on being liberated and their search for attachment and community. Brooks helps us understand these people because he recognizes their foibles, but does not despise them. In fact, he acknowledges that he, too, is a Bobo. Murray, in contrast, is so intent upon heaping scorn on all those Overeducated Elitist Snobs that he creates stick figures that harden prejudices rather than promote enlightenment.

6. Murray's most obviously incorrect claim is that the new upper class leans heavily to the political left. Lest it appear that I am unfairly attributing this assertion to him, let me quote: "The new upper class tends to be liberal, right? There's no getting around it: Every way of answering that question produces a yes ." (Emphasis added.) I doubt he could find a single serious student of public opinion or voting behavior who would agree with that bald statement. Sure, some of the top 5% vote Democratic, but even more vote Republican. Murray himself shows that, outside the "Big Four," SuperZip clusters elect approximately equal numbers of liberal and conservative members of Congress. For Murray's statement to be true, we would need to redefine the "new upper class" to include only those who live in liberal enclaves. Then it would become perfectly true because completely tautological. Define "the elite" as you see fit, and you can attribute to it all the features of American politics you hate. This is partisan rhetoric gussied up in a few statistics.

7. In the book's final chapter, Murray puts our present discontents into world-historical perspective, drawing on Arnold Toynbee's argument that a civilization goes into decline when the "creative minority" who built it with "a strong, self-confident sense of style, virtue, and purpose" eventually loses its confidence "and no longer set[s] the example." Our new upper class has failed to instill the Founding Virtues in the residents of Fishtown. They have descended into an enervating "nonjudgmentalism." How they managed to instill these virtues so well in the citizens of "Belmont" remains something of a mystery. When Murray says that the new upper class lacks self-confidence, he seems to have in mind university professors who suffer from "status-income disequilibrium" (a phrase he takes from Brooks) rather than the "Masters of the Universe" (to invoke Tom Wolfe's apt term) whose arrogance brought the world economy to the brink of collapse.

This failing of the new upper class is compounded by its support for our slow slide into a European-style welfare state. From out of the blue come stunning assertions devoid of any support save the revealed truths of Murray's libertarian religion. This is particularly apparent in the section entitled "Watching the Intellectual Foundations of the Welfare State Implode." Unable to offer any social science evidence to support his claims about the new elite's culpability for the descent of the white working class, he offers wild speculation about what sociobiology and neuroscience will teach us in the future. "During the next ten or twenty years, I believe that all of these intellectual foundations of the modern welfare state will be discredited by a tidal change in our scientific understanding of human behavior that is already underway." This "new knowledge will make us rethink every domain in which the central government has imposed its judgment about how people ought to live their lives." "It will be found," Murray assures us, that "the institutions surrounding marriage, vocation, community, and faith" inevitably "deteriorate in the advanced welfare states for reasons that are intrinsic to the nature of the welfare state." It will be found, in other words, that Murray was right about everything all along. Here is one member of the new upper class who does not lack confidence. I promise to revisit this review in 20 years to see if this confidence is justified.

8. This brings us to one of the oddest arguments of the book: despite the severity of the crisis confronting the nation, there is nothing the government can do to address the problem. Our new crisis of the house divided is even greater than the one confronting Abraham Lincoln. We face the impending collapse of "the American project," the end of this "different way for people to live together, unique among the nations of the earth, and immeasurably precious." Anything government does, however, will only make matters worse. When government intervenes, the web of family and community inevitably "frays, and eventually disintegrates." Once bureaucracies are given the task of catering to human needs "the neighborhood becomes a sterile place to live at best and, at worst, becomes the Hobbesian all-against-all free-fire zone that we have seen in some of our major cities." Three decades ago Murray believed that we could attack the problems of joblessness and single-parent families by reforming welfare. He doesn't bother to mention that the 1996 Welfare Reform Act incorporated some of his recommendations (and also increased benefits to the working poor, something he did not advocate), or that these reforms seemed to make the situation somewhat better. Such incremental adjustment is now beneath him. What we need, he asserts, is not different policies, but another Great Awakening.

Here Murray takes a key conservative insight—government actions often constrain and displace the voluntary associations and informal networks so vital to a thriving community—and turns it into libertarian dogma—government destroys everything it touches. This dogmatism forces Murray to propose puny responses to the crisis of the West: employers should abolish unpaid internships and colleges should rely more on achievement tests like the ACT and less on aptitude tests like the SAT. Rather than send more and better teachers to Fishtown schools, he seems to want more Bobos to begin preaching about the Founding Virtues on its street corners. As a social scientist, I can confidently predict that the major consequence of that initiative would be to make criminal assaults more frequent in Fishtown.

How has a man of Charles Murray's intelligence managed to paint himself into this intellectual corner? Facing the same set of problems, the late James Q. Wilson, a man Murray credits with being among his most important teachers, recommended experimental programs in preschools and government efforts to improve the parenting skills of poor young mothers. Not Murray, who boldly asserts that his libertarianism is "grounded in premises about the nature of human life and human society that are beyond the reach of data."

Such dogmatism prevents Murray from entertaining Tocqueville's argument that the individualism that lies at the heart of democracy constantly threatens to undermine the institutions and character traits that sustain a decent liberal democracy. That, of course, is a paradox, and true believers seldom appreciate paradox. Mores may be stronger than the laws, Tocqueville argues, but good laws can help to sustain good mores. One cannot know how to write good laws or to run effective government programs without understanding why unalloyed individualism is so corrosive to our Founding Virtues. Murray claims that this book is the culmination of a half-century of thinking about the topic. Now that he has completed this task, perhaps he could rethink his premises.

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A Tale of Two Cities

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A Tale of Two Cities , novel by Charles Dickens , published both serially and in book form in 1859. The story is set in the late 18th century against the background of the French Revolution . Although Dickens borrowed from Thomas Carlyle ’s history, The French Revolution , for his sprawling tale of London and revolutionary Paris , the novel offers more drama than accuracy. The scenes of large-scale mob violence are especially vivid, if superficial in historical understanding.

The complex plot involves Sydney Carton ’s sacrifice of his own life on behalf of his friends Charles Darnay and Lucie Manette. While political events drive the story, Dickens takes a decidedly antipolitical tone, lambasting both aristocratic tyranny and revolutionary excess—the latter memorably caricatured in Madame Defarge , who knits beside the guillotine . The book is perhaps best known for its opening lines, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” and for Carton’s last speech, in which he says of his replacing Darnay in a prison cell, “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.”

A Tale of Two Cities

Background of the novel, historical context.

Though the French Revolution could not achieve its ultimate goal and turn into a chaotic bloodbath, it played an important role in influencing the modern nation by portraying the inherent power of will of the common people.

Literary Context

The novelists like Dickens, Scott, and Eliot used the genre of historical fiction to talk about the problems that were prevailing in their societies. They would use the events of the past to reveal the present to revolve around the crisis. The novels of these novelists discuss how individuals are created and shaped by political history and vice versa.

A Tale of Two Cities Summary

The wealthy aristocrats of France ignore the misery of poor people who are dying due to hunger and are staggering in luxury. The carriage of Marquis St. Evremonde, a wealthy aristocrat, irresponsibly runs over a child and kills him.

A Tale of Two Cities Characters Analysis

Sydney carton.

Though, in his conversation with Charles Darnay, who has been recently proved guiltless, comments about Lucie. However, his tone was sardonic and bitter and let down his growing interest and developing feelings for Lucie. Ultimately, he gathers courage and confesses his feelings for Lucie to her. Unknowing that Lucie and Darnay are soon going to marry, he proposes his love for Lucie and also claims that he is not worthy of her. This event changes the life of Sidney Carton and makes the basis for the sacrifice that Sidney makes for Lucie at the end of the novel.

Madame Defarge

The oppression of aristocrats has mage Madame Defarge, an oppressor; likewise, the victims of the oppression of Madame Defarge will turn out oppressors as well. Madame Defarge dies with the shot of her own gun. Through this, Dickens symbolizes that the revengeful attitude that Madame Defarge embodies turns out to be self-damning.

Charles Darnay (a.k.a. Charles Evrémonde)

Lucie manette.

She is the daughter of Dr. Alexandre Manette and wife of Charles’ Darnay. She resurrects or restores her father back to life after eighteen years of imprisonment. She has the qualities of devotion, innocence, and enduring love. In the novel, she is the main figure which symbolizes goodness and laces a “golden thread” that binds together an essential group of people against the cruel forces of politics and history. She also displays religious faith. She believes in Sydney Carton when no one else believes in him. It is her kindness that inspires Sidney for his utmost deed of sacrifice.

Dr. Alexandre Manette

Monsieur defarge, jarvis lorry.

With the development of the plot of the novel, the character of Jarvis Lorry changes from a purely pragmatic and minding-one’s-own-business to an intense and loyal person who devotes his life to protect the family of Dr. Manette and thus become a member of Manette’s family. When Mr. Lorry first meets with Lucie, he asserts that “I had no feelings and that all relationships I hold with my fellow-creatures are mere business relations.”

Jerry Cruncher

Marquis evrémonde, mr. stryver, john barsad or roger cly.

He is the servant of Evremondes and is charged with the allegation of keeping the estate of Evremondes after the death of Marquis Evremonde. The revolutionaries imprisoned him, and he wrote a letter to Charles Darnay for him. This letter makes Darnay visit France and save him.

Themes in A Tale of Two Cities

Resurrection and transformation, the inevitability of sacrifice, the propensity to fierceness and tyranny in revolutionaries, oppression and revolution, secrecy and surveillance, fate and history.

Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge identify with the Fates – the mythological goddesses who actually control the “threads.” Lucie is titled as the “golden thread,” whereas Madame Defarge is seen as constantly knitting in the novel. The novel A Tale of Two Cities is concerned with the theme of human destiny due to the presence of these two “Fate” characters. The novel deals with how history shapes the fate of the individual. In the novel, Dr. Manette and Charles Darnay try to change their destinies. Charles makes his way to England and tries to escape the cruel history of his family; however, circumstances made him go to France and face the consequences of his family’s past. Similarly, Dr. Manette uses his connection and influence to rescue Charles Darnay; however, he forgets his own letter that causes his execution. Dickens suggests that forces of history cannot be defeated by political influences but by self-sacrifice.

A Tale of Two Cities Analysis

The readers learn about the causes of Madame Defarge’s action at the end of the novel. However, they have been driving the plot and reflect that how history discloses. The chaotic Revolution does not start all of a sudden; it is the result of the decades’ old exploitation and injustices by power. Likewise, the crimes that were committed years before by the old generation haunted the new generation and held them accountable for it.

Abstract ideas and concepts in a literary text are represented by objects, characters, and figures. Following are the symbols in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The wine shop of Madame Defarge and Monsieur Defarge is the center where revolutionary planning is going on secretly. The wine in the novel symbolizes the strong power of the French Revolution. The revolutionaries, drunk on power, turned from the freedom fighters into the wild beasts on the streets murdering everyone. The deep red color of the wine shows the red color of the blood. When the wine drops from the container, the people rush towards it. It shows how these people are bloodthirsty. Just like the wine everywhere on the streets when the sailor could not transport it to the shop properly, after the Revolution, blood is everywhere.

Golden Thread and knitting

Footsteps and shoes.

Lucie hears the footsteps of all the people coming into the lives of Manette’s family. These footsteps symbolize fate. It shows how the fate of Lucie is connected with people coming into her life. Similarly, in his madness, Dr. Manette is always seen as making shoes. Shoes are the symbol of the inevitable past.

The Marquis

The character of the Marquis Evrémonde is an archetype of wicked and corrupt social institutions. He exploits the lives of peasants and is completely indifferent to their sufferings. Marquis is a symbol of the brutal aristocrat and cruelty that drives the peasants to revolt against them.

Dickens does not compare the two cities or characters by placing them opposite to each other, and he also creates the twins that make the plot of the novel melodramatic. The character of Darnay resembles Sidney Carton in looks. Carton saves the life of Sidney twice by taking advantage of his resemblance to Charles Darney.

Imprisonment

Setting of the novel, point of view.

The point of view of the novel A Tale of Two Cities has a third-person omniscient. The events of the plot are recounted by the all-knowing and all-seeing narrator. The narrator also provides an understanding of the feelings and thoughts of the characters. The point of view helps to provide a thorough perspective on the historical events that occur in different places. It also allows the panoramic view of all the events taking place in the two cities: London and Paris.

The plot of historical fiction is set before the time it is actually written. It provides a critical view of the events of the past and helps the readers to think more critically than the facts given by historians.

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A Tale of Two Cities (Signature Editions) Paperback – September 13, 2022

Reading age 7 - 10 years
Print length 424 pages
Language English
Dimensions 5 x 1.25 x 7.75 inches
Publisher Union Square & Co.
Publication date September 13, 2022
ISBN-10 1435171489
ISBN-13 978-1435171480
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About the author.

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was the second of eight children in a family beset by financial insecurity. A prolific and popular author, even in his day, Dickens is widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Union Square & Co. (September 13, 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 424 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1435171489
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1435171480
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 7 - 10 years
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1.25 x 7.75 inches
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Charles dickens.

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 near Portsmouth where his father was a clerk in the navy pay office. The family moved to London in 1823, but their fortunes were severely impaired. Dickens was sent to work in a blacking-warehouse when his father was imprisoned for debt. Both experiences deeply affected the future novelist. In 1833 he began contributing stories to newspapers and magazines, and in 1836 started the serial publication of Pickwick Papers. Thereafter, Dickens published his major novels over the course of the next twenty years, from Nicholas Nickleby to Little Dorrit. He also edited the journals Household Words and All the Year Round. Dickens died in June 1870.

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A Tale of Two Cities eBook por Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities Illustrated
Eclectic Indulgence... classic literature reviews: Review: A Tale of
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
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A Tale of Two Cities

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A Tale of Two Cities Book Review
Kids say ( 13 ): A TALE OF TWO CITIES masterfully interweaves political and personal events. It reveals much about the injustice that incited the French Revolution, the gray areas between the populist ideals and blind vengeance, and the toll the rebellion took on individuals. This is one of Charles Dickens' best-loved novels, with good reason.
A Tale of Two Cities: Book Review, Summary, & Analysis
Dickens (1812-1870), was a 19th-century British writer. "A Tale of Two Cities" can be called the pinnacle of his late years. During the French Revolution, the famous doctor Manette accidentally witnessed the atrocities committed by the feudal aristocrats, the Evremond brothers, who killed them in the grass camp.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens [A Review]
He wanted A Tale of Two Cities to be picaresque. Hence, the jumpy timeline; the effort put in to make key scenes powerful; the vignettes outside the main story and even a certain vagueness in the text to avoid being caught by historical specifics. A Tale of Two Cities also feels like a story that stakes a lot on the ending. One senses Dickens ...
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
August 17, 2021. (Book 883 from 1001 books) - A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris and his release ...
A Tale of Two Cities Book Review: Dickens' Masterpiece of Love and
Themes and Motifs. At its core, "A Tale of Two Cities" is a profound meditation on the themes of revolution, justice, and the enduring power of love and sacrifice. Revolution and Social Injustice: Dickens offers a nuanced portrayal of the French Revolution, exploring both the ideals that fueled the uprising and the brutal excesses that ...
Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities
Review. Profound human love and the most repugnant savagery, horror and redemption, a heroine and a grotesque revenger, two families with dark secrets, two cities, all in the backdrop of the bloodbath that was the French Revelation. In reading it, be prepared for the "Best of Times and the Worst of Times."
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution.The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the ...
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities is about poverty in London and Paris and the book with perhaps the most famous opening and closing lines in English literature: 'It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…' and, at closing, 'It is a far, far ...
Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Dickens makes you feel the plight of the French commoners under the horrendous abuses of those with noble blood. Then, as the power structure shifts, the downtrodden become the tyrants. And under ...
Review: A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
It's a simplistic, picture book representation of the pre- and post-Revolutionary conditions in France, but it's what the story calls for—A Tale of Two Cities is, after all, basically a Victorian YA novel penned by a consummate writer and storyteller, not a serious work of literature (which is not a bad thing). It's also very much the ...
A Tale of Two Cities / Great Expectations
His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism.
Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of the most popular books of all time, with over 200 million copies sold to date. The novel is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution and depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the French aristocracy, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same period.
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens has been reviewed by Focus on the Family's marriage and parenting magazine. ... Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children. The inclusion of a book's review does not ...
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities was the twelfth novel of Charles Dickens. The first chapters of the book appeared in print in April of 1859. The last chapter was printed in November of that same year. The novel was illustrated by Phiz, better known as Hablot Knight Browne. It's interesting to note that Dickens wrote two historical novels, A Tale of Two ...
A Tale of Two Cities, by R. Shep Melnick
A Tale of Two Cities. A review of Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, by Charles Murray. by R. Shep Melnick. ... To do justice to the book as a whole I will identify the eight propositions that form its spine, starting with the most convincing and working my way down. I end on an optimistic note, showing that what is "coming ...
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities, novel by Charles Dickens, published both serially and in book form in 1859.The story is set in the late 18th century against the background of the French Revolution.Although Dickens borrowed from Thomas Carlyle's history, The French Revolution, for his sprawling tale of London and revolutionary Paris, the novel offers more drama than accuracy.
A Tale of Two Cities Summary and Complete Analysis
A Tale of Two Cities Summary. The novel opens in the year 1775 with Mr. Jarvis Lorry traveling on a mission to Dover to meet Lucie Manette. Mr. Jarvis Lorry is the employer of Tellson's Bank in England. On his way to Dover, Mr. Lorry happens to meet a man who gives him a mysterious message, and Mr. Lorry replies with the message, "Recalled ...
A Tale of Two Cities by Marian Leighton
A Tale of Two Cities. Marian Leighton (Adapter), Charles Dickens, Brendan Lynch (Illustrator) 4.07. 1,152 ratings48 reviews. A reign of terror! The mobs in the street run wild, and danger is everywhere. Lucy Manette, half-English, half-French, lives quietly with her family in London.
A TALE OF TWO NOVELS: 'A Tale of Two Cities' and 'Great Expectations
Great Expectations in Dickens' Career 1. "I HOPE it is the best story I have written," wrote Dickens to a French. friend, on completing A Tale of Two Cities , adding, "The story is an. ordinary success here, and I think the end of it is certain to make a. greater sensation."2 Was Dickens, one wonders, mentally stressing the.
A Tale of Two Cities (Signature Editions)
Amazon.com: A Tale of Two Cities (Signature Editions): 9781435171480: Dickens, Charles: Books ... My review of a tale of two cities! Gracie Girl's Product Reviews . Next page. Upload your video. About the author. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities , by Charles Dickens
A story of the French Revolution. Published 1859, Approximately 136,000 words., Available for free at Project Gutenberg. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is one of the most popular books of all time, with over 200 million copies sold to date. The novel is set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution and depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralized by the ...

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An Epic Tale of Love, Sacrifice, and Revolution: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

06 Apr An Epic Tale of Love, Sacrifice, and Revolution: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

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