Key Facts aboutA Tale of Two Cities

Full Title:A Tale of Two Cities

When Written:1859
Where Written:Rochester and London
When Published:1859
Literary Period:Victorian era
Genre:Historical novel
Setting:London and Paris
Climax:Sydney Carton's rescue of Charles Darnay from
prison
Antagonist:French revolutionaries; Madame Defarge
Point of View:Third person omniscient

Historical Context ofA Tale of Two Cities

Like the American Revolution, the French Revolution was launched
in the spirit of rational thought and political liberty. But these ideals
of the 18th-century Enlightenment period were soon compromised
when the French Revolution devolved into the "Terror"a violent
period of beheadings by the very citizens who overthrew the
tyrannous French monarchy. The French Revolution cast a long
shadow into 19th-century Britain, as industrialization seemed to
divide the English population into the rich and poor. Many people
feared the oppressed working class would start an English
Revolution, but a series of political compromises and wake-up calls
like Dickens'sA Tale of Two Citieshelped to avert the potential
crisis.

The year is 1775. On a mission for his employer, Tellson's Bank, Mr. Jarvis Lorry travels
to Dover to meet Lucie Manette. On his way, Mr. Lorry receives a mysterious message
and replies with the words "Recalled to life." When they meet, Mr. Lorry reveals to
Lucie that her father, Dr. Alexandre Manette, who she thought was dead, is still alive.
Dr. Manette had been secretly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, but his former
servant Monsieur Defarge, who now owns a wine shop in Paris that is a center of
revolutionary activities, has smuggled Dr. Manette out of prison and hidden him in the
store's attic. Meanwhile, Defarge's wife, Madame Defarge, secretly encodes the names
of the Revolution's enemies into her knitting. Mr. Lorry and Lucie arrive in Paris to find
Manette compulsively making shoes in a dark cornerprison has left him insane. Lucie
lovingly restores him to himself and they return to London.

The year is 1780. In London, Charles Darnay stands trial for treason as a spy. Lucie and
Dr. Manette attend, having met Darnay during their return from France. The defense
lawyer is Mr. Stryver, but it is his bored-looking associate, Sydney Carton, who wins the
case. Carton points out how much he himself resembles Darnay in order to ruin the
main witness's credibility.

In France, the wealthy aristocracy wallows in luxury and ignores the suffering poor.
Marquis St. Evrmonde recklessly runs over and kills a child with his carriage. At his
castle, he meets his nephew Charles Evrmonde (a.k.a. Darnay) who has returned to
France to renounce his family. That night, the Marquis is murdered in his sleep.

Back in England, Charles, Stryver, and Sydney Carton all frequently visit Dr. Manette
and Lucie. Mr. Stryver plans to propose to Lucie, but Mr. Lorry warns him that his
proposal is unlikely to be accepted. Carton also admires Lucie; he tells her how she
makes him believe that, despite his ruined past, he still has a shred of goodness deep
within him. Charles obtains Dr. Manette's permission to marry Lucie, but Manette
refuses to learn Charles's real name until the wedding day. On the wedding day, Dr.
Manette relapses into his shoe-making madness after discovering that Charles is an

The year is 1789. Defarge leads the peasants in destroying the Bastille. He searches Dr.
Manette's old cell and finds a letter hidden in the chimney. The new Republic is
declared, but its citizens grow extremely violent, imprisoning and killing aristocrats.
Charles's former servant, Gabelle, writes a letter from prison asking for help. Charles
secretly leaves for Paris and is immediately taken prisoner. Mr. Lorry travels to Paris on
bank business and is soon joined by Lucie and Dr. Manette. Because of his
imprisonment, Dr. Manette is a local hero. He uses his influence to get Charles a trial,
but it takes over a year. Every day Lucie walks near the prison hoping Charles will see
her. Charles is finally freed after Dr. Manette testifies. But that very night, he is arrested
again on charges brought by Monsieur and Madame Defarge.

Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher have come to Paris to help. On the street, they run into
Miss Pross's brother, Solomon Pross, whom Jerry recognizes from Charles's English trial
as John Barsad. Sydney Carton also shows up and, threatening to reveal Barsad as a
spy, forces his cooperation to help Charles.

At Charles's second trial, Defarge produces Dr. Manette's letter from the Bastille, which
explains how the twin Evrmonde brothersCharles's father and unclebrutalized a
peasant girl and her brother, then imprisoned Manette to protect themselves. Charles is
sentenced to death and sent back to prison. Realizing his letter has doomed Charles,
Dr. Manette loses his mind. That night, Carton overhears Madame Defarge at her wine
shop plotting against Lucie and her daughter in order to exterminate the Evrmonde
line. It is revealed that Madame Defarge was the sister of the peasants the Evrmondes
killed.

Carton conspires with Mr. Lorry to get everyone in a carriage ready to flee for England.
With Barsad's help, Carton gets into Charles's prison cell, drugs him, and swaps clothes
with him. Barsad drags the disguised Charles back to Mr. Lorry's carriage, which bolts
for England. Madame Defarge shows up at Lucie's apartment, but Miss Pross blocks her

 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of

times" The year is 1775, a time that the
narrator describes through a set of
contradictions: wisdom and foolishness, belief
and disbelief, optimism and doubt, light and
darkness, hope and despair. The narrator
compares this historical era to his own present
moment in Victorian England.
The contradictions listed in the opening ofthe
novelportray 1775 as an age of profound
transition, full of promise and threat. The
comparison to Dickens's Victorian times
establishes the novel's use of the past to
comment on the present.

 In France, the government spends

wildly and hands out harsh sentences
to anyone connected with a crime, no
matter how minor. In England,
burglars infest the citieseven the
Mayor of London gets robbedand
not even frequent hangings can stop
the wave of crime.
The narrator extends the potential
similarities between revolutionary
France and England. Because of their
injustices, both governments are
sowing the seeds of discontent and

 The narrator tells an allegory of the

Woodman and the Farmerfigures of
the coming revolution who are silently
at work. But the royalty in both
England and France believe in their
divine right to rule and don't notice
the gathering storm.
The Woodman stands for Death and
the Farmer for Fate. Both, the
narrator implies, will harvest the
awful products of the monarchy's
political mistakes.