Book the Second, Chapter 3 Questions and Answers

Study Questions
1. What does the Attorney-General say about the prisoner in his opening statements?

2. Who are the two witnesses that the Attorney-General says will incriminate Darnay?

3. How does Stryver show that these two men are not credible witnesses?

4. Why is Lucie Manette called to the witness stand?

5. What did Darnay tell Lucie on the ship five years ago?

6. What leads to Darnay’s acquittal?

7. What problem concerning Dickens’ use of plot does this reveal?

8. What happens to Lucie Manette, once again, in this chapter?

9. What is the final line of this chapter?

10. What are the implications of this line?

Answers
1. He says that the prisoner has been engaged in secret business between France and England
for at least the past five years.

2. One is described as a patriot who has been able to figure out what the prisoner has been
doing; his name is John Barsad. The other is the prisoner’s former servant, Roger Cly.

3. He shows that Barsad has been in debtors’ prison and that he owes the prisoner money.
Stryver proves that Cly is a thief who has been friends with Barsad for many years.

4. She is called to the witness stand because she talked to Darnay on a boat ride from France
to England five years before.

5. He told her that he was conducting business of a sensitive nature and that he was traveling
under an assumed name.

6. A man who looks exactly like Darnay proves to the jury that it is very easy to mistake one
person for another.

7. This plot twist is too coincidental to be believable.

8. Her physical strength fails her when she feels strong emotions.

9. The crowd is described as “dispersing in search of other carrion.”

10. This line implies that a crowd can easily develop a lust for violence that has little to do
with justice.