A Tale of Two Cities PDF

A Tale of Two
Cities
Study Guide by Course Hero
ABOUT THE TITLE

What's Inside Charles Dickens wanted to call his novel Recalled to Life, but
he decided to use that title for Book 1. Instead, he called the
novel A Tale of Two Cities, referring to the cities of London and
j Book Basics ................................................................................................. 1 Paris, which figure prominently as settings.
d In Context ..................................................................................................... 1
a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3

d In Context
h Characters .................................................................................................. 3
The first installment of A Tale of Two Cities appeared in 1859

k Plot Summary ............................................................................................. 7
in the inaugural issue of Dickens's weekly magazine, All the
c Chapter Summaries .............................................................................. 13 Year Round. Despite Dickens's popularity, the novel was not a
hit with critics. Although they noted that Dickens had
g Quotes ........................................................................................................ 50 successfully used the French revolutionary era to mirror the
characters' personal tribulations, they found the story flat and
l Symbols ..................................................................................................... 54
lacking his typically humorous voice. They also found many of
m Themes ....................................................................................................... 55 the characters forgettable.
e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 56

The French Revolution
In the late 18th century, France experienced a violent
j Book Basics revolution that ended the Ancien Régime (Old Regime), a
monarchy that was a remnant of the centuries-old feudal
AUTHOR system. Before the revolution, people in France were not
Charles Dickens citizens. Each belonged to one of three estates:
YEAR WRITTEN the nobility

1859 the clergy
everyone else
GENRE
Historical Fiction The third estate—everyone else—was no longer simply a mass
of peasants who owed their continued existence to their
PERSPECTIVE AND NARRATOR relationships with noblemen or a monastery, it included
A Tale of Two Cities is told in the third person by an omniscient members of the burgeoning middle-class, or bourgeoisie, who
narrator. were well-educated people of independent means who wanted
to play a part in their own governance. Even the aristocracy
TENSE
resented the monarch's assumption of his divine right to rule
A Tale of Two Cities is told primarily in the past tense.
A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide In Context 2
without challenge or limitation. mostly old wooden structures, had been largely destroyed in
the Great Fire of September 1666. The rebuilt areas featured
The revolution took place in two parts: an aristocratic revolt stone buildings and (in keeping with Enlightenment concepts)
(which lasted from 1787 to 1789) and the popular revolt of more green areas—both of which would help to avoid another
1789. The aristocratic revolt was the result of financial reforms such catastrophe. Whoever could afford it lived in the newer,
intended to pay off the country's deficit by taxing the wealthy. safer areas, while the poor crowded into the surviving wooden
Meanwhile, the populace was dissatisfied with its lot, and Louis structures. So when London's population exploded in the 18th
XVI, the king, had to placate them by calling the assembly. century, the poorest people lived in dilapidated, terraced
houses huddled over dark, narrow streets. Sewage ran along
A disagreement about how votes would be weighed caused
the streets and into the Thames, as did industrial waste. The
the third estate to announce that it would form an assembly
river smelled foul and posed a health threat to anyone living or
without including the other two estates. The king responded by
working near it. With the burgeoning population and high level
creating the National Constituent Assembly, but he
of poverty, crime was rampant.
simultaneously raised an army to dissolve it, leading to fears
that the aristocracy and the king were ganging up on the Pprerevolutionary Paris was characterized by an active
populace to take down the third estate. intellectual and artistic life that fueled the Enlightenment. It
was Europe's largest city, and its population, prosperity, and
A harvest failure and dwindling food supplies further alarmed
literacy rates were increasing. Nevertheless, the poorest lived
the peasants, sparking the Great Fear of 1789, the beginning of
much as they did in London, and the growth in population was
the peasants' revolt. They stormed the Bastille, a Parisian
accompanied by a rise in crime that worried the middle class.
fortress prison, forcing the king to announce his support for
Growing secularism worried the Church. During the Reign of
the people's governance. Peasants outside the cities revolted
Terror, Paris was a place of violence and fear. The aristocracy
against the nobles who controlled them, and the National
fled for their lives, and those who remained were guillotined.
Assembly dismantled the feudal system altogether. The king
Intellectual and artistic life declined. As the country underwent
didn't support the new reforms or the constitution drawn up by
a series of new governments, crime remained rampant, and
the Assembly, but the people continued to argue for liberty and
epidemics swept through the poorer areas of the city.
self-governance.
The Assembly tried to create a power-sharing regime. The king

attempted to flee, but he didn't get far. The aristocracy, France and England in the
however, escaped to other countries. France went to war with
Austria, and Austria's ally Prussia attacked Paris. The Mid-19th Century
revolutionaries suspected—rightfully—that the monarchy had
turned on them, and King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Seventy years after the French Revolution, when Dickens
Antoinette, were tried for treason and executed in 1793. The published A Tale of Two Cities, France was still in turmoil and
Assembly declared the monarchy invalid and formed the new had experienced two more revolutions: in 1830 and 1848. Paris,
Republic. The resulting Reign of Terror saw thousands of as the center of the country's government, was the hub of this
people guillotined for plotting against the Republic. instability. The Second Empire, under Napoleon III, experienced
economic growth, but the emperor would not introduce liberal
reforms until after 1859.
London and Paris in the Late England, by comparison, was more politically stable than
18th Century France. Relations between the two countries had been poor,
with a long history of Anglo-French wars dating to the Norman
invasion of England in 1066. But after France's defeat in the
London, depending on one's class, was either a hub of industry
Napoleonic Wars (which ended in 1815), the two countries
and finance that provided endless opportunities for shopping,
became allies and remained so, despite concern in Britain
leisure, and entertainment; or an overcrowded tangle of waste
about the possible spread of French radicalism.
and disease. The central area of the city, which contained
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A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Author Biography 3
a Author Biography Charles Darnay

At the beginning of the novel, the innocent Charles Darnay is
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth,
being tried in England at the Old Bailey for treason. Sydney
England, to a naval clerk and a would-be teacher. His father
Carton gets him acquitted, and he meets Dr. Manette and
was sent to debtor's prison in London when Dickens was just
Lucie Manette, who reluctantly testified against him. He falls in
12. Dickens's mother and siblings went to live with his father in
love with Lucie and marries her, but he has to tell her father his
prison, but Dickens had to leave school and go to work at a
secret: He is of the same French aristocratic family that
boot-blacking factory. The despair of the lower working class
imprisoned Dr. Manette. Darnay is determined not to continue
and the abandonment of children by their parents—often into
the cruelty practiced by his ancestors but to treat people with
early jobs at dangerous factories—appear as themes in A Tale
compassion. Later, Darnay is imprisoned in Paris for being an
of Two Cities, reflected in Dr. Manette's time in prison, Lucie's
aristocrat despite having renounced his title. Saved by Dr.
humble beginnings, and the suffering of many of the poorer
Manette, he is rearrested—this time for murders committed by
characters. Dickens reflected on these themes in many of his
his father—and saved from the guillotine by Sydney Carton.
other works as well.
As an adult, Dickens worked as a newspaper reporter and

editor, but his primary career was as a novelist. Most of his Sydney Carton
novels were published in monthly installments in magazines,
and only later appeared as books. Dickens was one of the first Sydney Carton, a lawyer who drinks heavily, happens to look
authors to subsequently publish his serialized novels as enough like Charles Darnay that he saves Darnay from
complete books. trumped-up treason charges. He becomes reluctant friends
with Darnay because he is in love with Lucie Manette, but he
Dickens also acted, directed, and wrote plays. One of these
knows he cannot have her. Carton's failing is that he has such
was The Frozen Deep, written by Dickens's friend, the novelist
terrible self-esteem that a simple friendship with Lucie is not
Wilkie Collins. The play speculated on the fate of an 1845
enough to help him change his life for the better. But his love
expedition that had disappeared while searching for the
for Lucie is so strong that he vows to do anything for those she
Northwest Passage. Dickens played the main character in an
loves, so that she can have a good life. In the end, he sacrifices
1857 production. Acting in it served as an inspiration, in many
his life to save her husband from the guillotine.
ways, for the plot and characters in A Tale of Two Cities. For
instance, the self-sacrifice of the play's main character,
Richard Wardour is mirrored in the actions of Sydney Carton in
Dickens's novel. Moreover, Lucie Manette is believed to be
Lucie Manette
modeled on Ellen Ternan, another actor in the cast. Dickens
At the beginning of the novel, Lucie is only 17 and has been told
left his wife, Catherine Hogarth, for a relationship with Ternan
by Mr. Lorry, her guardian and adviser, that her father, whom
that lasted until his death from a stroke at age 58 on June 9,
she believes dead, has been released from the Bastille and is
1870. He is buried in Westminster Abbey, where people still
living in a garret in Paris. She brings him back to London to live
visit his grave to pay homage to one of the greatest novelists
with her. As the novel progresses, Lucie is the "golden thread"
of all time.
who ties together nearly all the other characters. She marries
Charles Darnay, becomes friends with Lorry, and is loved
unreservedly by Sydney Carton. Her goodness and her
h Characters connection to Darnay make her a target for Madame Defarge,
though Ernest Defarge believes she should be spared. Miss
Pross is jealous of anyone who takes her away and yet will also
do anything for her. And Dr. Manette considers her his angel of
mercy.

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Characters 4
Dr. Manette Madame Defarge

When the story begins, Dr. Manette is a frail former prisoner Madame Defarge is admirably strong in her determination to
who can do nothing but make shoes all day long. He is rescued fight for the revolution, but she is also vindictive and cruel.
by his daughter, Lucie, and once he is living with her, becomes Once crossed, she has no mercy whatsoever. She stands by
a stable, loving father and solid friend—unless something saying almost nothing and knitting, but she is the one who
reminds him of his time in prison. Even though Darnay is the ultimately decides if someone will be executed or not, knitting
nephew of the man who imprisoned him, Dr. Manette accepts that person's name into the long, otherwise purposeless piece
Darnay into his family for Lucie's sake. He is willing to fight for of fabric she creates. Anyone connected with the aristocracy
Darnay's life, using every connection he has to save him from in any way is an enemy of hers, and anyone connected with the
prison and certain death. death of her family is condemned to die.
Mr. Jarvis Lorry

Mr. Jarvis Lorry is the one who discovers that Dr. Manette is
actually alive and has survived his imprisonment in the Bastille.
As the financial adviser to the family and Lucie's guardian for
financial purposes, Lorry tries to keep their relationship
professional. However, he can't help but get personally
involved, and his ability to do business in both London and
Paris gives him leeway to go above and beyond the call of duty
for Lucie, Darnay, Carton, and Dr. Manette. His messenger
even serves as a sort of guide and guard for Miss Pross,
Lucie's governess. For Mr. Lorry, the Manette family and all
who are connected with them are like family.
Monsieur Defarge
At the beginning of the novel, Monsieur Defarge seems to be
an ally of Dr. Manette, his one-time employer. Defarge has
stepped forward to give the doctor a safe place to stay after
he is released from the Bastille. He also helps Lucie and Lorry
take Dr. Manette out of the garret above the shop and get him
out of Paris. However, as a leader of the revolutionaries,
Monsieur Defarge cannot simply stand by and allow Charles
Darnay to come back to Paris without any consequences,
regardless of the fact that he is now Dr. Manette's son-in-law.
Defarge is one of the people who denounces Darnay in court
and brings forth Dr. Manette's letter denouncing Darnay as
well. He stops short of being thoroughly vindictive, however, by
saying he thinks it enough to punish only Darnay, not his wife
and child.

Character Map
Sydney Carton
Heavy-drinking English
lawyer; loves Lucie
Friends
Charles Darnay Madame Defarge

French aristocrat; Friends French revolutionary;
abandons his title knits list of the condemned
Spouses
Lucie Manette
Young French woman
Spouses
raised in England;
loved by everyone
Guardian
Mr. Lorry Monsieur Defarge

English banker with Father French wine shop owner
a gentle heart and revolutionary leader
Trustee Former
servant
Dr. Manette
French doctor released
from the Bastille
Main Character
Other Major Character
Minor Character

Full Character List Jerry Cruncher

Jerry Cruncher is a messenger for
Tellson's Bank and a grave robber.
Character Description John Barsad is the alias of Solomon

John Barsad Pross (the long-lost brother of Miss
Pross) and a spy.
Charles Darnay (the anglicized
version of D'Aulnais) is the nephew of
the Marquis St. Evrémonde, but he Little Lucie is Charles Darnay and
Charles Darnay Little Lucie
gives up his claim to the title because Lucie Manette's young daughter.
of his family's cruelty and marries
Lucie Manette in England.
One of the peasants who works on
The mender of the Marquis's lands, the mender of
Sydney Carton is a lawyer who drinks roads roads eventually joins the
too much and works too much, but he revolutionaries.
Sydney Carton
is good at heart and would do
anything for Lucie Manette.
Miss Pross, Lucie Manette's
governess, is jealous of anyone who
The daughter of Dr. Manette, Lucie is Miss Pross
Lucie Manette gets too close to Lucie but will do
loving and good-hearted toward all. anything for her.
A hero to the French revolutionaries, Monseigneur is the name Dickens

Dr. Manette is released from prison, gives to any unnamed powerful
Dr. Manette
recovers, and opens his home to Monseigneur aristocrat; the Monseigneur embodies
those who have helped him. the decadence, ostentation, and
superficiality of the nobility.
Mr. Jarvis Lorry is Lucie's guardian,
the Manettes' financial adviser, and a Mr. Stryver is the lawyer who defends
Mr. Jarvis Lorry friend of the family. He tries to act Mr. Stryver Charles Darnay when he is up for
businesslike, but his emotions and treason in England.
occasional tears betray him.
Roger Cly is an English spy who fakes

The wine shop owner, Monsieur Roger Cly
his own death.
Monsieur Defarge, is one of the leaders of the
Defarge revolutionaries and a former servant
of Dr. Manette. Charles Darnay's uncle, the Marquis
St. Evrémonde, is a cruel and
The Marquis
heartless French aristocrat who is
Like her husband, Madame Defarge is also a rapist and murderer.
Madame a leader of the revolutionaries; she
Defarge knits the register of people to be
executed. The seamstress is condemned to die
The seamstress and makes her journey to the gallows
alongside Sydney Carton.
A former servant of Charles Darnay,
Gabelle Gabelle is imprisoned for working for
the aristocracy. The Vengeance is a woman who
knits—and fights—alongside Madame
The Vengeance Defarge; she beats the drum that
A peasant whose child is killed by the calls the woman revolutionaries to
Gaspard Marquis, Gaspard murders the battle.
Marquis out of revenge.
Young Jerry is Jerry Cruncher's

Jacques is a code name used by Young Jerry
young son.
Jacques French revolutionaries for any man
who is a revolutionary.

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Plot Summary 7
inheritance. That night, someone stabs the Marquis to death.

k Plot Summary
A year later, Darnay tells Dr. Manette he wants to marry Lucie.
Meanwhile, Sydney Carton tells Lucie that he will do anything
A Tale of Two Cities is set in both London and Paris in the late
for the people she loves.
18th century, but earlier events contribute to the plot. In 1757
one of the main characters, Dr. Alexandre Manette, has been
Jerry Cruncher sees the funeral procession of Roger Cly and
imprisoned in the Bastille by the Marquis St. Evrémonde and
decides to rob his grave to sell the body. Meanwhile, Gaspard
his brother for refusing to keep quiet about a crime they
has been caught and hanged for the death of the Marquis.
committed. At the start of the novel, he has been released and
Madame Defarge adds John Barsad and the Marquis's family
is in a garret in Paris.
to her "register"—the list of people to be guillotined recorded in
her knitting.
Book 1: Recalled to Life Lucie marries Darnay. After a private meeting with Darnay, the
doctor reverts to his old shoemaking habit, but he recovers ten
In 1775, Mr. Jarvis Lorry of Tellson's Bank is on his way from days later. Miss Pross and Lorry destroy his shoemaking tools.
London to Dover to meet with his charge, young Lucie
Over the next few years, Lucie and Darnay have a daughter,
Manette, who has also come from London. On the way, the
little Lucie, and a son, who dies young. In 1789. the Paris
coach is stopped by a messenger from Tellson's, Jerry, who
revolutionaries storm the Bastille, led by the Defarges. Later
gives Lorry a small, folded paper. Lorry reads the paper and
that month, revolutionaries burn down the Marquis's mansion.
tells Jerry to take a message back to the bank: "Recalled to
In 1792, Darnay learns that Gabelle, his uncle's former servant,
Life."
has been imprisoned and goes to France to save him.
When Lorry arrives in Dover, he meets with Lucie. Lorry tells
her that her father, whom she believed dead, is actually alive,
has been released from prison, and is staying at the house of a Book 3: The Track of a Storm
former servant. Lucie is in shock.
When Charles Darnay arrives in France, he is imprisoned as an
When Lorry and Lucie arrive at the Paris wine shop of
emigrant and an aristocrat. Lucie, Miss Pross, and Dr. Manette
Monsieur and Madame Defarge, they are taken to see Dr.
go to Paris, find Mr. Lorry at Tellson's Bank, and tell him Darnay
Manette, who is busy making shoes in the garret on the fifth
is in prison. Dr. Manette tries to get him out, but he is
floor of their house. When Lucie sees him, she is afraid at first,
unsuccessful. It is a year and three months before Darnay is
but she soon embraces him. She and Lorry take Dr. Manette
released. However, that evening, he is arrested again,
out of Paris.
denounced by the Defarges and another person.
Miss Pross sees her long-lost brother, Solomon Pross, who

Book 2: The Golden Thread uses the alias John Barsad. Jerry recognizes him, and so does
Sydney Carton. Carton blackmails Barsad to get him into the
Five years later in London, Charles Darnay is being tried for prison to see Darnay.
treason. John Barsad and Roger Cly, two spies, testify against
Darnay. Lucie and Dr. Manette also testify against Darnay, In court, the third person to denounce Darnay is Dr. Manette,
albeit unwillingly. Mr. Stryver, Darnay's lawyer, points out that through a letter found in his old cell. The letter says the
Sydney Carton, his associate, looks exactly like Charles Marquis raped and killed a peasant woman and, with Darnay's
Darnay, and Darnay is acquitted. father, killed the woman's father and husband as well as her
brother, who hid their younger sister before he died. Dr.
In Paris, the Marquis has his carriage drive through the streets Manette had tried to report the crime but had been captured
so fast that he kills the peasant Gaspard's child. The Marquis and imprisoned by the Marquis before he could do so. After
flips him a coin and drives on. That evening, he meets with hearing this, the jury condemns Charles Darnay to death.
Charles Darnay, who is his nephew, and Darnay gives up his

Sydney Carton discovers Madame Defarge is that younger

sister and that she plans to denounce Lucie, and little Lucie as
well. Carton tells Lorry to get the doctor, Lucie, and little Lucie
out of Paris. He goes to the prison with Barsad, exchanges
clothes with Darnay, and drugs Darnay. Barsad takes Darnay
out of the prison and leads his family to escape. Carton stays
in the cell.
Madame Defarge tries to find Lucie and her daughter. She

finds Miss Pross and struggles with her, pulling a gun. The gun
goes off in the struggle, killing Madame Defarge and
permanently deafening Miss Pross. Sydney Carton is
guillotined in Darnay's place.

Plot Diagram
Climax
11
10
12
9
Falling Action
Rising Action 8
13
7
6 14
5
15
4
Resolution
3
2
1
Introduction
9. Darnay tells his name; Dr. Manette is insane for days.

Introduction
10. Darnay is arrested in Paris; Dr. Manette frees him.
1. Jerry delivers a note from Tellson's Bank to Mr. Lorry.
Climax
Rising Action 11. Darnay is denounced by Defarges and Dr. Manette's letter.
2. Lorry sends back the message, "Recalled to Life."
3. Lorry tells Lucie Manette that her father is alive.

Falling Action
4. Lorry and Lucie find her father above Defarge's shop.
12. Miss Pross sees Barsad, her brother; Carton blackmails
5. Lorry and Lucie bring Dr. Manette back to London. him.
6. Charles Darnay's British treason charges are dropped. 13. Dr. Manette's prison term was for reporting the Marquis.
7. The Marquis kills Gaspard's child and is murdered for it. 14. Lucie escapes; Madame Defarge dies fighting Miss Pross.
8. Darnay asks to marry Lucie; Carton admits he loves her.

Resolution
15. Sydney Carton drugs and frees Darnay and dies in his
place.

Timeline of Events
1775
Mr. Lorry meets with Lucie to say that her father is alive.
Days later
Lorry and Lucie find Dr. Manette making shoes at

Defarge's wine shop and take him to London.
1780
John Barsad and Roger Cly frame Darnay for treason,

but Carton gets him acquitted.
Days later
The Marquis's carriage, driving too fast, kills the child of

Gaspard, a peasant.
That evening
Darnay renounces his inheritance to the Marquis, who is

later murdered by Gaspard in his sleep.
A year later
Darnay asks to marry Lucie; Carton tells Lucie he loves

her; Jerry digs up Cly's grave.
The wedding day
Darnay tells Dr. Manette his real name; after the

wedding, the doctor, lost, starts making shoes.
Mid-July, 1789
Lucie and Darnay's daughter, little Lucie, is six; the

Defarges lead peasants to storm the Bastille.
Three years later
Darnay goes to France to save his former servant

Gabelle and is imprisoned by Monsieur Defarge.
Soon afterward
Dr. Manette saves Darnay from death but can't get him

released from prison.
Fifteen months later
Darnay is freed on evidence from Dr. Manette and

Gabelle but rearrested the next day.
That night
Miss Pross sees her brother Solomon, who is John

Barsad; Carton blackmails him to help.
The next day
In court, Dr. Manette's old prison letter denounces

Evrémonde; Darnay is sentenced to death.
Later that day
Carton overhears the Defarges's plot to denounce

Darnay's family and warns them to leave.
The next day
In the prison, Carton drugs Darnay and switches places

with him; Barsad takes Darnay to Lucie.
Meanwhile
Miss Pross fights Madame Defarge to save Lucie;

Madame Defarge dies, and Miss Pross becomes deaf.
That afternoon
At the guillotine, Carton and a seamstress hold hands; he

is at peace, picturing Lucie happy.

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Chapter Summaries 13
common people. People in England have to think about how to

c Chapter Summaries keep themselves safe from crime, constantly looking over their
shoulders and defending themselves against theft. The
hangman is kept busy but is "ever worse than useless"; crime
Book 1, Chapter 1 continues to thrive everywhere in England. In France, however,

commoners are in danger from the authorities, who punish
them unreasonably and cruelly for the smallest crimes. The
narrator gives the example of the torture and death of a young
Summary boy simply for not recognizing authority from afar. In 1775,
French peasants and other working-class people are treated
In 1775, as in the 1850s, England and France can only be
like animals, with no respect for their basic human needs. This
described in "the superlative degree of comparison," such as
context helps explain the intense pressure to act in extreme
"best" and "worst." Both are ruled by "a king with a large jaw";
ways that characterized the popular uprising, which is essential
England's queen is "plain," and France's is "fair." England is
to the plot of the novel. It also introduces the themes of
fascinated by spiritualism, and her American colonies are
violence and injustice.
causing trouble. France is dealing with economic problems.
Both countries are facing social problems. In England, no one
is safe on the roads, everyone suspects everyone else of
plotting to steal from them, and a warning is issued to families
Book 1, Chapter 2
to store their furniture when they leave their houses so that
they will not be robbed while they're gone. Both countries
employ capital punishment to discourage crime and quell Summary
unrest. In France, a youth doesn't kneel for monks passing 60
The chapter opens with a description of just how tenuous
yards away; as a punishment, his hands are cut off, his tongue
one's safety is on any given road in England in 1775. Several
is torn out, and he is burnt alive.
passengers are on a mail carriage going from London to Dover,
All the while trees are growing that will be made into and everyone suspects everyone else of being a thief. The
guillotines, and French farmers are using carts that will coachman and the guard hear the galloping hooves of a horse
become the tumbrils that carry the condemned to their deaths. behind them and are prepared to fight, but the person on the
horse is a messenger from Tellson's Bank in London, asking for
a Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Mr. Lorry is in the carriage, and the
Analysis messenger, Jerry, hands him a note. The note reads, "Wait at
Dover for Mam'selle." Lorry tells Jerry to take back the
A Tale of Two Cities opens with the oft-quoted line, "It was the message "Recalled to Life." Jerry is thoroughly confused, but
best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of agrees to take the message back to the bank.
wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of
belief, it was the epoch of incredulity." This litany of contrasts
is one of the most famous first sentences in literature. It is Analysis
made memorable by the extensive use of anaphora—repetition
of the first part of the sentence—and antithesis—placing In this chapter, the reader is introduced to Jarvis Lorry, a
opposite ideas in the same sentence to contrast them. banker, and Jerry Cruncher, his messenger. Lorry's demeanor,
as the coach is stopped for Jerry, is calm, though everyone
The first chapter describes the environment in 1775 in both else in the carriage is terrified that they're going to be robbed.
England and France, where the events in the novel will take Jerry's demeanor is blustery and befuddled by the message he
place, without introducing any of the characters or beginning has to carry back to the bank, but he does it anyway, showing
the plot. that he's a loyal employee.
The narrator makes clear that neither country is safe for the Usually, if there is a message passed to a character in a novel

and the message doesn't make a lot of sense, readers can

safely assume that this message is going to resurface later. It
Analysis
may even become a very important part of the novel. Through
In the first paragraph, Dickens breaks through to address
the message that Jerry takes back to the bank, the narrator
readers directly with a reflection on the separateness of
alludes to a major event that begins the novel's plot: A client of
individuals and how each is a mystery to the others. He uses
Lorry's has been released from prison after a very long time.
the first person:
The note also introduces the theme of resurrection—coming
back to life, in the metaphorical sense. This theme will later
resurface in related subplots. In this chapter, it is Lorry's client A solemn consideration, when I
who is being recalled to life after having been gone from it for
so long.
enter a great city by night, that
every one of those darkly
The wording of the note is mysterious, rousing curiosity in the
reader. Referred to as a cliffhanger because it leaves out clustered houses encloses its own
important details to heighten suspense, this well-known
secret; that every room in every
technique was used by Dickens and other writers of his time to
get people to purchase the next installment of their novels. one of them encloses its own
Most novels in Dickens's era were serialized chapter by
chapter in magazines or pamphlets, so writers had to keep
secret; that every beating heart in
their readers coming back for more. Because each chapter the hundreds of thousands of
ended with a little mystery, the reader bought the next chapter
to find out what happened. breasts there, is, in some of its
imaginings, a secret to the heart
Book 1, Chapter 3 nearest it!
Such an interruption in the narration is known as authorial

Summary intrusion and was typical of Dickens's style.
This chapter gives the reader insight into what it must be like
Stopping at various pubs along the way, Jerry Cruncher
to be held prisoner in the late 18th century, not only separated
considers the message he carries and finds himself
from one's family, but locked up so securely that it's like
"perplexed" by it. Jerry suspects Mr. Jarvis Lorry may have
stepping into a grave. The emotional wear and tear that such a
been drinking. As he returns to Tellson's Bank that night, his
long prison term inflicts on the prisoner makes him question
uneasiness over the message has him jumping at shadows.
whether he even wants to live. But this particular prisoner is
Meanwhile, Lorry is dozing in the mail carriage, dreaming about to be freed from the "grave" of his prison cell, bringing
throughout the night that he is speaking to a 45-year-old man back the theme of resurrection from the dead. Because he has
who has been imprisoned for 18 years. The face changes in been gone for 18 years, it is possible that people in his life will
each dream, but each time it is a man in some stage of despair have assumed he's dead. After all, prisons in France at the time
and lethargic confusion. Lorry asks the man, "I hope you care were not places where people were well taken care of, and it
to live?" and the answer is always "I can't say." The reader is was not unusual for prisoners to die in their cells.
told that Lorry is going to dig up a prisoner who has been
Jarvis Lorry's dreams about this prisoner reveal a little more
"buried alive" for 18 years.
about his character. Supposedly all business, he still can't stop
thinking about what it will be like to go rescue a man who has
been "buried alive for 18 years." By describing his fitful dreams,
the narrator shows the reader that Lorry has a caring heart
underneath his stuffy banker exterior.

Book 1, Chapter 4 Analysis

The reader learns that Tellson's Bank provides services for
many people who are in the same situation that Lucie
Summary Manette's parents were in: her mother was English, and her
father, French. In order to have a trustee who could handle the
Mr. Jarvis Lorry arrives in Dover, where he takes a hotel room
financial affairs of both the husband's and the wife's family, it
and orders one for a young lady arriving sometime that day.
was necessary for such couples to work with a bank that had
Over breakfast, he talks with the waiter about Tellson's Bank,
offices in both countries. Tellson's has an office in London and
which has had flourishing offices in London and Paris for about
an office in Paris, so it has many clients with financial ties in
150 years. He says, "It is fifteen years since we—since I—came
both countries.
last from France."
Readers see once again how kind-hearted Jarvis Lorry is.

In the evening, Miss Lucie Manette, a pretty, blonde 17-year-old
Having been the trustee for the family and taken care of
who believes herself an orphan, arrives from London, and "with
Lucie's needs since she was small, he finds it hard to transmit
an air of stolid desperation," Lorry goes to meet her. Lucie has
information she will find difficult to hear. He tries to make up a
received a letter from Tellson's mentioning a discovery
story, but she immediately realizes he's saying her father is
regarding her father's property and advising her to meet with
alive. Lorry can barely keep his composure as he tells her that
their representative. Lorry admits he is that man and, so as not
her father has been found. Without getting emotional, Lorry is
to shock her, explains he was the adviser and trustee for a
also unable to tell Lucie her father has been changed by his
French doctor from Beauvais—like Lucie's father—and the
long ordeal in prison. Lorry may be insisting to Lucie that this
doctor's English wife. Lorry makes an effort to distance himself
interaction will be all business, but his reactions reveal that he
emotionally from the story by insisting it is simply business,
has a very personal connection with Dr. Manette. It's
that he is "a mere machine." But he can't bring himself to tell
impossible for him to remain neutral. The more the narrator
Lucie directly that her father is alive. As he speaks, Lucie
reveals about Lorry, the more he seems like a softy rather than
recognizes him as the man who accompanied her to England
a tough, businesslike banker.
after her mother's death 15 years earlier. Despite his
protestations of indifference, he tenderly kisses her hand. The theme of resurrection comes up again in this chapter, and
Resuming his story about the anonymous "Doctor of Beauvais," for Lucie it seems like a true resurrection from the dead.
Lorry describes how the man was untraceably locked away in Because she is 17 and Dr. Manette has been in prison for 18
prison by a powerful enemy, leaving his wife to plead years, she has never actually met her father. Lucie believes he
unsuccessfully with the king and queen for information about is dead—she says her mother survived her father "only two
her husband. She then had a daughter and, to spare her years"—so she feels like she is about to meet a ghost. She isn't
daughter pain, said the doctor was dead. Lucie falls on her far from wrong. Lorry tells her that Dr. Manette has changed a
knees, begging him for the truth. Finally, he explains her father great deal, and may, in fact, be "almost a wreck." Her shock is
has been found, "Greatly changed, it is too probable; almost a palpable, and her protective and doting governess, who
wreck, it is possible; though we will hope the best. Still, alive." swoops in to take care of her, is extremely angry that Lorry has
The doctor is at the home of his former servant in Paris. He is upset her.
using a different name, and they must take him out of France
secretly without asking questions.
Lucie is in shock, and Lorry calls for assistance. A ruddy, Book 1, Chapter 5
masculine woman rushes in, shoves him aside, and tenderly
helps Lucie lie down. Lorry asks the woman if she will be
coming with them to France. Summary
A cask of red wine has been broken outside a wine shop, and
people have rushed to the scene to drink the spilled wine. It

stains the street and the hands and faces of the people violence.) Madame Defarge says nothing; her strongest
drinking it. A tall man dips his finger in the muddied wine and reaction is to raise an eyebrow. She just keeps watching and
writes "blood" on a wall. The narrator comments, "The time was knitting, but remains a noticeable presence.
to come, when that wine too would be spilled on the street-
stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many In this chapter, too, readers first meet Gaspard, the "tall joker"
there." He goes on to describe the conditions of the people who writes the word "blood" on the wall. All too soon, Gaspard
who live there: hunger, filth, and despair. But, he says, despite will have his own encounter with blood and become an early
all the signs that something bad was coming, "the birds, fine of casualty of the class war in France.
song and feather, took no warning."

The poverty and terrible conditions of the peasants are
Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Lucie Manette have come to the wine described right down to the smells, so the reader gains an
shop of Monsieur Defarge and his wife. They note that the understanding of what it is like to be poor in 18th-century
owner and others call one another Jacques. Lorry introduces France before the revolution. Dickens is known for his vivid
himself, and Defarge immediately takes him and Lucie out of descriptions of poverty in cities, having experienced it himself,
the shop, into a courtyard, and through an entryway into a and he also did his research on revolutionary-era France to
building with five floors. The courtyard is filled with refuse and make sure that he got the setting and the place right. By
waste, and the stairway is even worse, as each person with a understanding the reprehensible way the poor are treated and
room in the house leaves their trash and the contents of their the squalor in which they live, readers will also be able to
chamber pots either on the landing or tosses them out their understand why, later in the novel, these same people turn to
windows. Lucie can barely breathe, and she is so nervous violence in their revolt against the aristocracy.
about meeting her father that Monsieur Defarge and Lorry

There is obviously some connection between the three
each have to take an arm so she doesn't fall down.
Jacques and Dr. Manette that is decidedly French and only
Three men named Jacques are in the hallway, peeking through understandable by those who know what's happening in the
a door. Lorry asks if Monsieur Defarge is making a show of the streets. It is as if Dr. Manette is some kind of celebrity.
poor doctor. Monsieur Defarge says he shows the doctor to Because Dr. Manette was in prison and it seems he's a hero
people for whom it will do some good, and because Lorry is with these commoners, readers may infer he was imprisoned
English, he wouldn't understand. He clears the men away, pulls by the aristocracy.
out a key, and opens the door. Lucie is terrified. Lorry, who has
Poor Mr. Lorry reveals through his actions that he is, in fact,
up until this time been repeating the word "business" to keep
emotionally involved with this family. He tries to keep calm and
himself and Lucie from being emotionally overwrought,
hold Lucie up, but he is unable to control his tears when he
suddenly has wet cheeks and becomes emotional. When they
sees the place where his friend and client is being kept. When
open the door, there is Dr. Manette, making shoes.
he begins to understand what a shell of his former self Dr.
Manette has become, there is "a moisture that [is] not of
business shining on his cheek."
Analysis
In this chapter, the reader is introduced to Monsieur and
Madame Defarge, the owners of the wine shop. Monsieur
Book 1, Chapter 6
Defarge is Dr. Manette's former servant, who has taken him in
after his release from prison. The reader is also introduced to
the method by which this band of revolutionaries are able to Summary
spread information without incriminating themselves; they all
refer to each other as "Jacques" and speak in a code that only Dr. Manette is a ragged, gaunt old man, with crazy white hair
they understand. (Dickens most likely used this code name to and a choppy white beard, huddled over the work of making a
reference the Jacobin Club, which would become the best- lady's shoe. Monsieur Defarge asks him about his shoemaking,
known French revolutionary group, characterized by its and the doctor says he asked to be allowed to teach himself
adherence to the principle of equality but also its extreme and has been making shoes ever since. Defarge points out he

has visitors, but Dr. Manette has a hard time pulling himself knew that prisoners in earlier times who were put in solitary
away from his shoemaking. Monsieur Defarge asks him his confinement for their entire sentences, like Dr. Manette, would
name, but the doctor gives the location of his cell instead: "One lose their sanity, having nothing to do and no one to talk to.
Hundred and Five, North Tower." Guards in French prisons were also corrupt and would use
corporal punishment at random on prisoners. The reaction of
Mr. Jarvis Lorry asks Dr. Manette if he recognizes him and if he prisoners to long sentences was often insanity or suicide, or
knows that Defarge is his old servant. Dr. Manette exhibits both. In addition, sanitary conditions in prisons were not
fleeting recognition, but goes back to making the shoe. optimal, and prisoners were likely to catch any number of
Suddenly, he sees the bottom of Lucie Manette's skirt and infectious diseases and die before they could be released.
looks up to see her face. He is shocked. As she sits down next
to him, he pulls out a scrap of cloth on a string around his neck. Despite her earlier fears, as soon as she meets her father,
He has been allowed to carry with him a few long golden hairs Lucie Manette takes charge. She has a calming effect on the
from his wife's head that he found on his shirt the day he was old doctor, and her sudden change from a fainting flower to a
imprisoned. He compares it to Lucie's hair, and it is the same. strong, confident woman is remarkable. She has always been
He asks her who she is, and she won't tell him, but holds him taken care of and sheltered by her governess, but now she has
and promises she will take him to London and take care of him. someone to take care of and assumes the role quite easily. Dr.
She orders everyone out of the room to prepare food, clothing, Manette's fragile state is a perfect foil for Lucie's newfound
and transportation out of France. Once her father has been strength.
fed and all has been prepared, Lucie, Lorry, and Dr. Manette
get into their coach. Dr. Manette calls "for his shoemaking tools
and the unfinished shoes," and Madame Defarge fetches them. Book 2, Chapter 1
They leave for London, and Lorry again hears the question "I
hope you care to be recalled to life?" and the familiar answer "I
can't say."
Summary
The time is "Anno Domini" 1780, or as Jerry Cruncher, the odd-
Analysis jobs man for Tellson's Bank says, Anna Dominoes. Cruncher is
at home with his wife and his son, Young Jerry, described as a
At the beginning of the chapter, readers receive their first
"grisly urchin" who looks very much like his father. Cruncher is
impression of Dr. Manette. He is doing complicated handiwork
yelling at his wife for praying for him, convinced that she is
in the dark, oblivious to the fact that people have entered his
trying to destroy his livelihood. She protests that she is just
room. Why is he in darkness? Why doesn't he keep the doors
saying a blessing. He even yells at her for saying grace over
open to let in some light? He may be so used to being in
breakfast. After breakfast, Jerry heads to Tellson's Bank
darkness in his cell that he can't tolerate any other
where he learns they need a porter right away, so he goes off
environment. His garret duplicates a prison-like atmosphere: a
to do the job. Young Jerry holds his father's place outside
tiny space with almost no light. He is also unused to seeing
Tellson's, wondering why his father's fingers are always rusty.
people and has lost the ability to react normally when people
come into the room. The reader receives a clear picture of just
how emotionally damaged a person can be by spending so
Analysis
many years in prison.
In this chapter, the narrator gives the reader a clear picture of

Dickens would likely have read the works of Charles Lucas,
Jerry Cruncher's personality (as well as his remarkable ability
who was the inspector general of French prisons from 1830 to
to mistake one phrase for another). Jerry is portrayed as a man
1865. Lucas was an advocate of abolishing the death penalty,
with little education who is not well off financially, and takes
as well as a proponent of using solitary confinement only for
out his dissatisfaction on his wife. Jerry's malapropisms lighten
prisoners who were waiting for trial or whose sentences were
what is otherwise a fairly bleak story. Contemporary critics of
a year or less in duration. He wrote more than 100 works on
A Tale of Two Cities complained that the novel did not contain
the prison systems in Europe and the United States. Lucas

Dickens's usual sense of humor and tendency to have at least imagining him undergoing this exact punishment. Among the
a few comical characters in his stories. Jerry and Miss Pross, crowd are Lucie Manette and her father; they stand out among
Lucie Manette's blustery governess, provide the only comic the crowd, both handsome and well-dressed. Word reaches
relief in the novel. Jerry that they are in the courtroom to provide evidence
against the prisoner.
The narrator also portrays Jerry as a person who, though
difficult at home, is reliable in his job. Dickens uses vivid Jerry, who is thoroughly overwhelmed by the legal language,
descriptions of characters' faults as well as their finer points, stands on the sidelines, sucking his fingers and hearing only
especially characters who are working class or poor, to give about half of what is going on.
readers a complete picture of each character. In this novel, the
graphic turns of phrase he uses in his character descriptions
are exemplified by the phrase "grisly urchin" that he uses to Analysis
describe Jerry's son, a mini-Jerry.
Dickens spends a lot of time in A Tale of Two Cities telling the
Dickens also tends to use names that reflect the personalities reader about horrific punishments for seemingly innocuous
of characters, especially the funny ones. The name Cruncher crimes. Treason is not an innocuous crime, but drawing and
conjures up someone who does physical work and doesn't give quartering goes far beyond straightforward capital
up until the job is done. However, it also conjures up a person punishment. Even Jerry Cruncher reacts vehemently:
who might possibly break things, which is how he behaves at "Barbarous!" he calls it. Dickens wants the reader to know not
home. How will Jerry's job connect with the story of the only how inhumane punishment was during this time, but how
Manette family? As the only person Mr. Lorry trusts to take the crowd went along with it and saw the death of another
messages to people and otherwise do as he is told, Jerry will human being as entertainment.
certainly play a part.
It is interesting to note that the Manettes are in the courtroom
to testify against Charles Darnay. This gives the reader
Book 2, Chapter 2 another tidbit of information about Dr. Manette's backstory and
another question to add to his mystery. Lucie Manette feels
terrible about testifying against Darnay, which is the first sign
that she has fallen for him—although, of course, Lucie is
Summary portrayed as such a flawlessly good character that she would
feel bad testifying against almost anyone.
Jerry Cruncher is given the task of going to the Old Bailey, the
courthouse where Charles Darnay is being tried for treason. Their appearance in court also foreshadows events at
The courtyard in front of the Old Bailey is filled with violence, Darnay's next court date in France, which will be even more
crime, and disease, and the courtroom itself is packed with dramatic and dangerous and far less successful. Because he is
people straining to see the accused. The inside of the court an aristocrat, there is almost no way that he can get out of
has been fumigated with herbs and vinegar to prevent disease being imprisoned by the revolutionaries when he dares to go
from spreading, but despite such precautions it was quite back to France. Dr. Manette will prove to be the one person
common for even the judge to contract a disease in court and who can save Darnay from prison and death the first time he is
die from it. imprisoned in France. But it will also be Dr. Manette's unwitting
(and unwilling) testimony that will afterward seal Darnay's fate.
Jerry must give a note to the doorman for Mr. Jarvis Lorry, who
is in the courtroom, and wait until Lorry needs him. He finds out
that everyone's waiting to see the prisoner hung, drawn, and
quartered, which means to be half-hanged, then sliced open Book 2, Chapter 3
alive, see his insides drawn out and burned, and finally be
decapitated and cut into four quarters. The more hideous the
punishment, the bigger the crowd. Jerry sees Darnay looking
around the room, fully aware that all the people there are

Summary Analysis
Charles Darnay is on trial for treason at the Old Bailey, and This is the first time Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay see
testimony begins with a so-called patriot, John Barsad, who each other, and their physical resemblance is remarkable. This
says he can prove the prisoner has been making lists of the fact saves Darnay's life by casting doubt on Barsad's judgment,
Crown's troops and movements for five years to give to the and Dickens uses this twist in the plot to foreshadow later
French monarchy. Barsad swears he is not a spy and has never events in the novel. Darnay will need saving again when he is in
done anything wrong. His servant, Roger Cly, also swears France. The theme of resurrection is brought back here,
everything Barsad has said is true, and that the lists in his because if Darnay had been convicted of treason, he would
possession were found in Darnay's desk. have been put to death, and for this particular crime, the
punishment is a very long and painful death rather than a
Mr. Jarvis Lorry testifies that Darnay did take the midnight simple hanging or beheading.
ferry with him and was the only other passenger except for
Lorry's companions, Lucie and Dr. Manette. Lucie Manette is It is also interesting to note that Sydney Carton could have
compelled to say what she knows, having taken the same ferry been dragged into this case, because he looks like Darnay.
and spoken with Darnay about why he was there, but she feels Barsad didn't try to implicate him, but Carton was risking his
she is doing Darnay a disservice by speaking about it and is own safety by pointing out that he looks just like a prisoner
very distraught. She says he was on perilous confidential who has been accused of treason. Carton may be a wreck in
business that took him back and forth from France. Dr. his personal life, but he has a self-sacrificing streak that
Manette also testifies, but does not remember anything Darnay becomes a theme whenever he is in the picture.
said because the doctor had just been released from prison.
In addition, the connection between Darnay and the Manettes
Mr. Stryver, Darnay's attorney, then tears into Barsad's has now been forged: a connection that will prove extremely
testimony, calling him a spy and a scoundrel. A wigged important. Again, Lucie Manette is portrayed as a woman who
gentleman in the courtroom tosses him a note, and Stryver doesn't want to get the prisoner in trouble, which is due partly
changes his direction a bit, saying it is impossible that Barsad to her innate goodness and partly to an instant attraction
could identify Darnay as the only person who could have made between her and Darnay.
the lists because he can't identify Darnay by appearance.
Stryver points out that his colleague, Sydney Carton, looks The theme of injustice is also explored in this chapter, as
remarkably like Darnay and tells the jury that they cannot trust Barsad and Cly try to frame Darnay, using his position as a
Barsad's judgment. In addition, he says, Barsad's servant Cly French aristocrat to make him vulnerable to accusations of
assisted him in his nefarious acts, and Barsad picked Darnay spying. It deflects attention from their own spying activities,
as a likely victim because of his family connections in France. which are, according to Stryver, significant and treasonous; he
Lucie's testimony, he says, has been twisted by Barsad and is accuses them of fabricating the evidence against his client,
actually just a report of the types of conversation anyone calling them "forgers and false swearers."
would have with a stranger traveling on the ferry.

Finally, the atmosphere in the courtroom is somewhat quieter
The jury retires to make a decision. Lucie begins to faint, and than one would expect at a public hearing, introducing England
her father takes her outside. Lorry checks on the Manettes, once again as a symbol of relative stability. In England, the
and then tells Jerry to make sure he is there for the jury's executions are public, as are the hearings for prisoners such
announcement. Jerry lets Darnay know that Miss Manette is as this one, and people place their natural curiosity for the
much better now, and Darnay asks him to pass on the macabre above their good sense as fellow human beings by
message that he is deeply sorry she has suffered through this attending these events as if they are entertainment. But when
trial. Sydney Carton asks Darnay what he thinks will happen, the attorney general finishes his presentation of evidence and
and Darnay is convinced he will die. But later, Lorry thrusts a his questioning of Barsad, a "buzz" of chatter ensues that
paper at Jerry with the word "Acquitted" on it to take to quiets down as soon as Stryver begins to question the witness.
Tellson's Bank. Jerry mutters that if the message had been Later in the novel, readers will find out what courtrooms in
"Returned to Life," this time he would have understood it. France were like in these types of cases during the revolution,

and the difference in noise level alone will be notable, anything Darnay said when he testified against him in court.
illustrating a difference in the views of the public on how much This imbalance of feelings, both admiring and fearful, will
influence they have, or should have, in the legal system. periodically come back to Dr. Manette.
Sydney Carton's interaction with Darnay is also telling. Carton
Book 2, Chapter 4 is unhappy with the way his life has turned out, but he only has
himself to blame. He appears to want someone like Lucie to
care for him, although he says to Darnay he has never cared
for anyone and no one cares for him. But he knows his
Summary lifestyle—staying alone, living in a tiny room, and drinking
himself to sleep every night—has ruined every opportunity for a
Charles Darnay has been acquitted of treason and is
better life, and he has no ambition to move up in his career.
surrounded by Mr. Jarvis Lorry, Mr. Stryver, Lucie Manette, and
Still, looking at Darnay is like looking in a mirror and seeing
Dr. Manette, who congratulate him. Darnay kisses Lucie's hand
what he could have been. Carton's envy is inevitable, but the
and takes Stryver's hand, as he owes him his life. Dr. Manette
reader also gets the sense he admires Darnay, especially
looks at Darnay as if he recognizes something in him, and Lorry
because it's clear that Lucie admires him, too.
suggests that the Manettes go home to rest.
Readers may wonder what is happening when Mr. Jarvis Lorry
Sydney Carton shows up to speak with Darnay, which annoys
suddenly calls out, "Chair there!" after bidding Darnay "good
Lorry, who feels Carton has no place in the conversation. He
night" in the middle of the chapter. The next line gives a clue:
isn't aware of the part Carton played in Darnay's acquittal.
"Lorry bustled into the chair, and was carried off to Tellson's."
Carton is also a little drunk and is not wearing his barrister's
A sedan chair had been an important mode of transport in
robes, which doesn't give a good impression. Lorry goes off to
England since Elizabethan times. It was a lightweight chair with
Tellson's Bank, and Carton ends up having dinner with Darnay.
a strong frame suspended on two long poles. Depending on
He mentions Lucie and seems to have decided he doesn't
the size and weight of the chair, it might be carried by as many
really like Darnay. He tells Darnay he's a "disappointed drudge"
as four men, but was usually carried by two. Many of the
and has no one in his life. Darnay makes an effort to part on
London "chairmen" were Irish immigrants. By the end of the
good terms despite Carton's efforts to get him to express
18th century, the sedan chair was falling out of use in London,
dislike. When Darnay leaves, Carton reveals he hates Darnay
as hackney coaches became the transport of choice.
because, although he looks almost exactly like Carton, he has
succeeded in life and attracted Lucie's attention, thus
embodying everything Carton has lost by drinking too much
and staying alone.
Book 2, Chapter 5
Analysis Summary
Charles Darnay becomes enamored of Lucie Manette, and who Sydney Carton works hard in Mr. Stryver's law office, but when
wouldn't? She's beautiful, composed, and gentle, and showed it comes to doing what it takes to improve himself, he has
in the courtroom that it pained her to harm Darnay. Dr. never been able to persist. His moods have always been up
Manette, however, has an interesting and disturbing reaction to and down, and he is prone to depression. Stryver, however, has
Darnay. What does he see in Darnay's face that makes him always achieved whatever he put his mind to. The narrator
suddenly turn distrustful and full of fear? Could it be that calls Sydney Carton a "good jackal" but not "a lion."
Darnay reminds him of people who were determined to hurt
Carton and Stryver talk about their school days, which
him in France? Darnay is portrayed as an aristocrat from
depresses Carton, so Stryver proposes a toast to Lucie
France who has business there, and it is possible that Dr.
Manette to lighten the mood. This just makes Carton more
Manette recognizes him. If so, it is natural that he not only
depressed. He even denies that Lucie is beautiful, and as he
becomes distrustful, but that he was unable to remember
walks home he suddenly has a fleeting vision of what he could

be if he followed his ambitions, persevered, and stopped

carousing. He heads for his room, his "neglected bed," and Book 2, Chapter 6
bursts into tears. He is a good person with strong abilities and
talent, and yet he can't seem to harness it and move forward.
He is slowly being destroyed by his depression, unable to help Summary
himself.
Four months after the trial, the Manettes are living in Soho, a
quiet, still somewhat rural area of London, where Dr. Manette
Analysis has set up his practice. Mr. Jarvis Lorry has become a regular
visitor. One Sunday afternoon, he arrives to find that the
Dickens uses his infamously detailed description style to Manettes are out, and strolls through the rooms. In the doctor's
portray the character of Sydney Carton for the reader. bedroom, he notices "the disused shoemaker's bench and tray
Carton's attitude is further explained by his current place in life. of tools" and wonders "that [the doctor] keeps that reminder of
The narrator likens him to a jackal (a small doglike animal that his sufferings about him."
may hunt in packs but frequently scavenges instead of
hunting) rather than a lion: He is never the one who initiates He is interrupted by the brusque Miss Pross, who tells Lorry
action; he simply shows up to clean up the mess. He is always she is worried that dozens of people might look in on her
there to back up Stryver, but he's also always there to drink "Ladybird"—the nickname she uses for Lucie Manette—none of
whatever Stryver is buying. whom are worth Lucie's attention. Then she upgrades that
statement to "hundreds." Eventually, Miss Pross confides that
Carton is an interesting mix of self-sacrifice and desire to be a "There never was, nor will be, but one man worthy of Ladybird,
better person (although he denies it) alongside an inability to ... my brother Solomon, if he hadn't made a mistake in life."
see how he could better himself or even attempt to better Lorry knows, though, that Solomon stole everything from his
himself this late in life. He rues his youth, having wasted his sister and gambled it away; her continuing devotion fuels his
time and energy on frivolous things instead of making a name good opinion of her. Lorry asks Miss Pross if Dr. Manette has
for himself, and finds talk of that era depressing. given up his shoemaking obsession. Miss Pross says she
believes he has but that he thinks of it often. Lorry wonders
Dickens's description of Carton's depression is surprisingly whether the doctor "has any theory ... relative to the cause of
modern. Instead of saying that Carton refuses to help himself, his being so oppressed; perhaps, even to the name of his
the narrator says that Carton is "incapable" of helping himself. oppressor." Miss Pross confides that Lucie "thinks he has," but
The narrator sympathizes with Carton, describing the sight of that she herself believes "he is afraid of the whole subject."
Carton returning to his state of caring for nothing and no one, She says he "lost himself" in prison and might not regain his
sobbing on his bed, as "no sadder sight." Even the sun rises sanity if he does anything that reminds him of his incarceration.
sadly on Sydney Carton. His word choice is telling: Carton can't
pull himself out of his despair. Dickens's understanding of The doctor and Lucie return, and the four of them sit down to
Carton's condition is rooted in his own experiences with eat a delicious dinner prepared by Miss Pross. After dinner, as
depression. He suffered from bipolar disorder, but as he grew they are drinking wine in the garden, rather than the predicted
older, this manifested itself increasingly as depression. "hundreds," only Charles Darnay arrives. He tells a story about
a prisoner in the Tower of London. The prisoner had scratched
Despite his struggles with depression, alcoholism, and poor the word "DIG" on the stone in his cell; workmen dug up the
self-esteem, Carton is perhaps the greatest hero in the novel. It floor and found the ashes of a letter and of a small bag. The
remains to be seen how he will live up to this role; in this prisoner had buried whatever he burned so that no one would
chapter, it certainly seems an unlikely one for him. find it while he was there. The doctor suddenly looks very ill. He
claims a sudden rain has startled him, and they go inside.
Sidney Carton arrives, and they all sit by the open windows,
listening to raindrops on the pavement. Darnay says that the
sounds bring to mind the echoes of footsteps. Because they

live in a secluded corner, they can hear the footsteps of people

running to get out of the rain but can't see anyone. Lucie Book 2, Chapter 7
suggests they might "be the echoes of all the footsteps that
are coming ... into our lives." Carton says in that case, "there is
a great crowd coming." Summary
At 1:00 a.m., Jerry Cruncher arrives to walk Lorry home, and Every two weeks, the powerful lord known only as the
Lorry says it has been a night "to bring the dead out of their Monseigneur holds a reception at a hotel in Paris. On this night,
graves." Jerry claims never to have seen a night that would do he indulges in a cup of hot chocolate, a treat requiring no less
that. Lorry bids goodnight to Darnay and Carton, wondering if than four attendants. His excesses were impoverishing the
they will "ever see such a night again, together." The narrator Monseigneur, so he took his sister out of a convent and
comments, "Perhaps, see the great crowd of people with its married her off to a very rich Farmer-General. It is imperative
rush and roar, bearing down upon them, too." that he and everyone around him dress well, keeping up the
appearance that everything is under control. The Monseigneur
prefers lavish dinners and receptions over actually thinking of
Analysis the needs of the French people. Because of his position in the
Court, no one around him will tell him anything he doesn't want
From Dr. Manette's expression, it seems he has knowledge—or to hear, and everything is fine as long as the Monseigneur
at least a suspicion—about Charles Darnay that no one else always gets his way.
has. His extreme reaction to Darnay's story hints at the notion
that something belonging to Dr. Manette, some piece of The last to leave the reception is the Marquis St. Evrémonde.
writing, may be found in his own cell later in the novel. The Just as he likes, "his man" drives the carriage as quickly as
doctor was compelling enough to get someone to give him possible so that the Marquis can "see the common people
implements to make shoes in prison, so it's not a stretch to dispersed before his horses." Suddenly, the carriage stops, and
imagine that he also kept a written record of his thoughts in people gather. A tall man—Gaspard—is wailing and crying over
prison and perhaps of the reasons he is there. Because he was a bundle. The Marquis asks what all the fuss is about and is
under guard all the time, he would have had to hide anything he told that the carriage has hit and killed a child. The Marquis
wrote, or it would have been confiscated and his punishment says that people should be more careful with their
perhaps increased. children—they're always in his way—and is more worried that
his horses might be hurt. He tosses a gold coin at Gaspard for
The talk of crowds of people is also an interesting turn of his trouble. Monsieur Defarge tries to comfort Gaspard, saying
events. Dickens suggests what will happen later in the novel by that at least the child died quickly and knew no pain, escaping
saying that crowds of people might swoop in to bear down on what would probably be a terrible life as an adult. The Marquis
the Manettes, Darnay, Carton, and Lorry. He has the narrator hears him and calls him a philosopher, tossing him a coin as
wonder if a "great crowd of people with its rush and roar" well. As the carriage begins to drive away, someone throws
would descend upon them. Who might that crowd be? In one of the coins back into the carriage. The Marquis demands
revolutionary France, it can only be one group of people: the to know who threw the coin. He looks to see if Monsieur
revolutionaries themselves, who have become bloodthirsty in Defarge is there, but all he sees is Gaspard hovering over his
their misery and desperation. child and Madame Defarge next to him, silently knitting. He
calls the peasants dogs, and says he would willingly
Mr. Jarvis Lorry's words to Jerry Cruncher that it has been a
exterminate all of them, especially the person who threw the
night "to bring the dead out of their graves" returns to the
coin. No one says anything against him because they know he
theme of resurrection. Jerry is a bit taken aback by this idea,
has power over them. He speeds off.
which seems to allude to his nighttime activities: As the reader
learns later, he moonlights as a body snatcher, digging bodies The rest of the guests at the reception drive by as well, all
out of fresh graves. If the dead did come out of their graves, members of the wealthy class and the aristocracy, while the
Jerry would be out of a job, and he certainly doesn't want to commoners watch the procession like rats peeking out of their
contemplate that possibility. holes. Meanwhile, Madame Defarge keeps knitting.

Analysis Summary
The Marquis appears for the first time in this chapter. He is a The Marquis drives through a small, poor village to his chateau.
guest at the Monseigneur's reception. The Monseigneur In the countryside, he is considered the Monseigneur. The
himself is described as a powerful man who is vain, easily people of the village are desperately poor because of all of the
swayed, and self-obsessed. But the Marquis is something else taxes they pay, including taxes to the Marquis. They are
entirely. At 60 he is well dressed, "haughty," and has "a face reduced to eating grass, leaves, and sometimes dirt. There are
like a fine mask"—a thin-lipped, narrow-eyed face that changes no dogs and few children. The Marquis sees one of them
only in a flare, pulse, or reddening of the nostrils. The narrator staring at his carriage and stops to ask what he's looking at. He
says he has "a look of treachery, and cruelty." At the reception, is a mender of roads, who says that someone was hanging
few people speak with the Marquis; he is mostly alone. Even under the carriage on its chain, covered in dust, but isn't there
the Monseigneur does not greet him warmly. Readers can anymore. The Marquis asks his servant, Gabelle, to find the
glean from this that he is not well liked—probably because he is person who ran away and drives on.
not likable—and that he may well feel resentful of how he has
been treated. This suspicion is borne out by his actions in the As his carriage slows beside a graveyard, a woman stops him
rest of the chapter. with a petition about her husband. He responds, "What of your
husband, the forester? ... He cannot pay something?" She tells
This chapter also reveals how the aristocracy may appear to him her husband is dead. "Well! He is quiet. Can I restore him to
the lower classes, providing insight into the resentment that you?" She explains that he is dead, that like so many others he
spawned the revolution. The Monseigneur values his own has "die[d] of want." "Again, well?" replies the Marquis, "Can I
comforts above all else, and has even sacrificed his sister's feed them?" The woman begs him for a morsel of wood or
vocation and happiness in order to continue living in the style stone to mark her husband's grave so she can tell where he is
he enjoys. Later, the Marquis feels that a gold coin is sufficient buried when she comes back to mourn him. The Marquis drives
compensation for the loss of a child—as if the child were "some on.
common thing" he has "accidentally broke[n]." The aristocracy
doesn't view the lower classes as human; the Marquis calls Arriving at his chateau, the Marquis asks his servant, who
them dogs to their faces. Through the narrator, Dickens likens opens the door, whether "Monsieur Charles" has "arrived from
them to rats, who have to scrounge for whatever they can find England" yet, but learns he has not.
and hide in order not to be exterminated.
The Marquis's treatment of Gaspard is another example of the Analysis

themes of injustice and violence. Later, readers will learn about
the Marquis's sexual abuse of a peasant woman, her death, This chapter continues to reveal to the reader the despicable
and the deaths of her family members—events that are character of the Marquis. He is truly uncaring and hateful
connected to Dr. Manette and his imprisonment. toward the poor and acts as if it is their fault they have so little.
By telling the story of the poor woman who just wants to mark
The actions and attitudes of the supercilious Monseigneur and her grave so she can find her dead husband again, Dickens
the scornful Marquis represent how many among the elicits sympathy from the reader for the working poor and
aristocracy act toward the populace. It is not surprising that brings back the theme of injustice. The peasants have been
the popular uprising turns into a bloodbath in which the suffering and dying for years under landowners like the
aristocrats are the first to suffer. Marquis and will exact their revenge in kind later in the novel.
There is also the matter of the man hanging from the bottom of
Book 2, Chapter 8 the carriage. The reader doesn't know who it is, but may
speculate that he means to do the Marquis harm.
Finally, readers learn "Charles" is coming to see the Marquis.

Because he is coming from England, readers may guess this is

Charles Darnay. This revelation explains one reason Darnay nephew in his bed, if you will."
has been so secretive about his comings and goings to France.
It's hard to believe that anyone as decent and respectable as The Marquis goes to bed, thinking about the death of the child
Darnay would want to admit that he is associated at the fountain. The night passes quietly. The next morning, the
with—perhaps even related to—this horrible man. As usual, chateau bell begins ringing, and Gabelle gallops off on a horse.
Dickens leaves out a few details, like Darnay's name and The mender of roads dashes to join the villagers who stand
relationship to the Marquis so that the reader will want to read whispering at the village fountain, wondering what has
the next chapter in order to learn more. happened. The Marquis is still in his bed, with a knife pinning
this note to his chest: "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from
Jacques."
Book 2, Chapter 9
Analysis
Summary This chapter reveals Charles Darnay's reasons for fleeing to
England, the most important of which is his unwillingness to
The table has been set for a late supper for two in a tower continue being part of a family that oppresses and kills people.
room at the chateau, but the Marquis's nephew has not yet He is also suspicious that his uncle might be pleased to see
arrived. The Marquis thinks he sees something outside, but him locked away in prison. The Marquis doesn't take any of this
when the servant opens the blinds, he can see nothing. Not very seriously, but he should have, because by the end of this
expecting his nephew to arrive so late, the Marquis begins chapter, he is dead, an event that is foreshadowed in their
eating alone. Halfway through his meal, the young man arrives. supper conversation, when the Marquis talks about dying
It is Charles Darnay. There is tension between the two men: "perpetuating the system" he has always known, and later
Darnay suspects his uncle of adding to the evidence against when they talk about the inheritance Darnay is renouncing.
him—an allegation the Marquis denies.
Their supper conversation also adds two more specific crimes
Darnay says their family has done great harm to the peasantry to the Marquis's record. Not only did he run down the child in
and to France in general but, as his mother would have wanted, Paris with his carriage, but he also had a man killed "for
he is committed to being merciful. The Marquis admits that professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter"
things are changing in France: "Our not-remote ancestors held and most likely raped the man's daughter. Readers will learn
the right of life and death over the surrounding vulgar. From more about these crimes later. In the same conversation, the
this room, many such dogs have been taken out to be hanged; Marquis shows an interest in Dr. Manette. By placing the
in ... my bedroom ... one fellow ... was poniarded on the spot for Marquis's mention of the father–daughter incident in the same
professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter ... conversation with his nephew's mention of a French doctor,
We have lost many privileges; ... the assertion of our station ... Dickens links them in the reader's mind. The reason for this will
might ... cause us real inconvenience." But he also says he "will become clear as the novel progresses.
die, perpetuating the system under which [he has] lived." He
recommends that Charles "accept [his] natural destiny." But The title of the chapter relates to the stone statues in the
Charles renounces his inheritance (the chateau and lands) and courtyard of the Marquis's house. At the end of the chapter,
France: "If it passed to me from you, to-morrow ... I would the narrator says that it is as if the Gorgon had stared at
abandon it, and live otherwise and elsewhere. It is little to someone and "added the one stone face wanting": the Marquis,
relinquish. What is it but a wilderness of misery and ruin!" The who is stone cold in his bed. Dickens usually gave his chapters
Marquis wants to know where Darnay is going to support titles that subtly referenced a metaphor or mythical allusion in
himself with his new peaceful attitude and no money. Darnay the chapter. In this way, he could let readers know what was
tells him he will go to England and stay there, having found happening in the chapter, and because each chapter was an
refuge with a French doctor and his daughter. The two say installment in a magazine, each one had to have its own title.
goodnight. The Marquis sends his servant with Darnay to light
the way, adding under his breath, "And burn Monsieur my The reader doesn't know yet who killed the Marquis, but the

note from "Jacques" reveals that it's a revolutionary, not

Charles Darnay. Darnay hates his family, but he hasn't joined
Analysis
the band of revolutionaries calling themselves "Jacques."
Dickens uses foreshadowing in several places in this chapter.
There are a lot of people who want to see the Marquis dead,
One very important reaction foreshadowing Charles Darnay's
but Dickens referred to Gaspard earlier as a tall figure, a clue
pain at being separated from his wife is Dr. Manette's outcry
that Gaspard may have taken revenge for the death of his
when Darnay speaks of his having known true love. It is too
child. But Defarge was with Gaspard when the child was killed.
painful for the doctor to contemplate the loss of his beloved
He might well have sent one of the Jacques or even committed
wife because, in addition to being a painful loss in itself, it is
the deed himself. Again, the theme of violence resurfaces: The
tied up with his long imprisonment and suffering. The doctor
solution to any problem in France seems to be violent death.
never speaks of Lucie's mother, and this is another of the
mysteries in the novel that need resolution.
Book 2, Chapter 10 Another example of foreshadowing is the doctor's reassurance

that he will not hold his family name against Darnay; but others
will judge Darnay based on his name later in the novel. Because
Summary the doctor says that whatever reasons there may be in his
mind to be wary of Darnay are not Darnay's fault, the reader
It is a year later. Charles Darnay teaches French at Cambridge begins to understand that the doctor knows exactly who
but spends time in London whenever possible. One day he Darnay is. This action brings up the theme of self-sacrifice: The
arrives at the Manettes' London home to find Lucie Manette is doctor is willing to set aside his very real fears of an evil legacy
running errands. He speaks privately to Dr. Manette about his for his daughter's happiness. Dr. Manette says that if Lucie
love for Lucie, assuring the doctor he knows how dearly the loves Darnay, the reasons for his wariness will disappear. This
doctor and Lucie love one another. Darnay starts to say the declaration foreshadows the devotion the doctor will show
doctor has known love before, but the older man cries out as if toward Darnay once he has become a part of the family.
in pain. Throughout their conversation, Dr. Manette has been
The hammering shows that Dr. Manette has not completely
very uncomfortable, but Darnay makes a concerted effort to let
overcome his illness and foreshadows the extreme agitation he
the doctor know that his love for Lucie extends to love and
will feel once Darnay actually reveals his name. Readers
support for the doctor as well. They discuss the two other
suspect the Marquis, who was alert to his nephew's
suitors who might be hoping to win Lucie's heart—Sydney
association with a doctor and his daughter, is somehow
Carton and Mr. Stryver, who often visit. Darnay does not ask
responsible for the doctor's imprisonment and his resulting
the doctor to speak for him, but only not to stand in his way if
obsession with shoemaking.
Lucie should ever say she loves Darnay. The doctor promises.
Darnay is moved to admit who he really is, but as soon as he

begins, the doctor becomes extremely agitated and—called by Book 2, Chapter 11
the narrator "the doctor of Beauvais"—orders him to "Stop!"
The doctor makes Darnay promise that if Lucie accepts his
proposal, he will not speak of his true identity until the morning Summary
of their wedding.
It is 5 a.m. and Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver have been
Dr. Manette retires to his room, and when Lucie returns, she is
working late every night preparing for the long vacation.
horrified to hear the sound of hammering there, a sure sign her
Carton has been drinking punch and suffering from a
father is slipping back into his prison-era madness. The
headache. Stryver tells Carton he acts morose when they visit
hammering stops, though, and when she looks into the room
the Manettes and he should learn to present himself better so
later, he is sleeping, and "his tray of shoemaking tools, and his
as not to make Stryver ashamed of him. Carton replies that as
old unfinished work, [are] all as usual."
a lawyer it's probably a good thing for him to cultivate his ability
to be ashamed. Stryver tells him that he, Stryver, is very careful

about how he presents himself, especially because he plans on Readers may suspect that, after this conversation, he will begin
courting Lucie Manette. Stryver feels Lucie is fortunate to think about how he presents himself at the Manette
because he is "already pretty well off, and a rapidly rising man, household and resolve to change.
and a man of some distinction." Carton, meanwhile, has begun
rapidly drinking down bumper after bumper of punch, while
claiming to approve of Stryver's plans. Stryver tells Carton he Book 2, Chapter 12
really ought to get a wife himself.
Summary
Analysis
On his way to the Manettes, where he intends to ask Lucie
Poor Sydney Carton is not quite prepared for another claim on
Manette to marry him, Mr. Stryver stops in at Tellson's Bank
the hand of Lucie Manette, and his sudden increase in drinking
and announces his intentions to Mr. Jarvis Lorry. To his
speed and equally sudden inability to say much at all gives
surprise, Lorry is doubtful Lucie would agree. Stryver is
away how he really feels about Stryver going after Lucie as a
shocked: How could he, the most excellent Stryver, successful
possible wife. Carton knows very well that any man would want
lawyer, be the wrong man for Lucie? Lorry tells him that if he is
to have Lucie for a wife, as she is beautiful, kind, and sweet;
correct and Stryver states his interest, it would be
she is nearly faultless. But that doesn't erase the feelings of
embarrassing for him and for the Manettes. Lorry offers to go
jealousy that crop up when Stryver makes his announcement.
and speak with them himself to ascertain surreptitiously how
As usual, Carton shuts down emotionally and doesn't tell
they might feel about Stryver's proposal. Stryver agrees.
Stryver his feelings because Carton thinks he doesn't deserve
Lucie anyway. Carton's silence on this matter is a kind of self- By the time Lorry returns, confirming that it's not a good idea
sacrifice; it may stem from self-doubt, but Carton is willing to for Stryver to court Lucie, Stryver has convinced himself the
step out of his friend's way. whole idea would not have been to his benefit: "I could have
gained nothing by it. ... I am by no means certain ... that I ever
It is clear that Stryver thinks highly of Carton's abilities but also
should have committed myself to that extent."
that he considers Carton a friend. Not only does he give Carton
advice meant to help him, but he accepts Carton's pointed
comments with equanimity. For example, Carton says to his
Analysis
employer, "It should be very beneficial to a man in your practice
at the bar, to be ashamed of anything ... you ought to be much
Mr. Stryver seems very confident at first that his success and
obliged to me [for making you feel ashamed]." Stryver
status will gain him a wife immediately, but just as he accepts
understands this as a joke and shrugs it off, returning to his
Sydney Carton's faults every day and seems to forget about
point. Jokes at the expense of lawyers are common in
them from one day to the next, he smooths out the criticism
Dickens's novels. He wrote 15 novels, and there are lawyers in
from Jarvis Lorry and makes it sound like it was his idea all
11 of them. From Dickens's three years as a law clerk, his own
along not to pursue Lucie Manette's hand in marriage. It is
law studies, and a later experience as a lawyer's client in a
typical of a lawyer to take the evidence and twist it around to
lawsuit, he came to believe that the law rarely served anyone
what he would like it to represent, and Stryver's personal life is
but the lawyers, who earned money from every case while
no exception to that rule.
others suffered. In Bleak House, for instance, an extended suit
over an inheritance ultimately puts the inheritance in the In the previous chapter, Sydney Carton joked to Stryver that he
pockets of the lawyers involved, while the heirs miss out. When should cultivate some shame as a lawyer—another light
reading Carton's quip, Dickens's devoted audience would have moment in an otherwise dark novel. In this chapter, however,
immediately recalled his many legal characters—most of them Lorry is very careful not to hurt Stryver's feelings, but stresses
much less admirable than Stryver. that his proposal could prove embarrassing for all involved.
This stems from both his own careful, considerate nature and
Because Carton loves Lucie, she and her family are really the
the nature of his relationship with Stryver: Unlike Carton, Lorry
only force that can lift him out of his inactivity and sadness.
has a strictly professional relationship with Stryver, one he

would not want to jeopardize. At the same time, he is such a father's face, ... your own bright beauty springing up anew at
considerate man that he would not want to hurt Stryver's your feet."
feelings. He has saved the lawyer from embarrassment. He
may not even have visited the Manettes, but, if he did, readers
may be sure they never knew the true purpose of his visit. Book 2, Chapter 14
Book 2, Chapter 13 Summary

Jerry Cruncher and his son are sitting outside Telson's Bank
Summary when they notice a funeral procession approaching. Jerry is
alarmed at his son's "exultant" exclamations. As the procession
Sydney Carton, who has been a regular fixture at the Manette nears, they see there is only one mourner and the crowd is
household, has rarely shown any of his inner goodness. "bawling and hissing" and "calling out: 'Yah! Spies!'" Jerry asks
However, having learned that Mr. Stryver has "thought better another spectator who the dead man is, and is told that it's an
of that marrying matter," he decides he must tell Lucie Manette Old Bailey spy, Roger Cly. The mourner flees the crowd, who
how he feels about her, that she has been "the last dream of take over the procession, filling the carriage and clinging to its
[his] soul." He tells Lucie he knows she cannot return his roof. After burying the spy, the crowd becomes a mob, hassling
feelings and is glad of it because "he would bring [her] to passersby, breaking windows, plundering pubs, and
misery, bring [her] to sorrow and repentance, blight [her], perpetrating general destruction. The crowd breaks up when
disgrace [her], pull [her] down with him." He says he "draw[s] they hear the Guards are on the way. Jerry, who has stayed in
fast to an end" and begs her to keep his confidence, which she the graveyard, discusses the deceased with the undertakers
assures him she will. Both cry. He tells her to "be comforted" and notes the location of the freshly dug grave. He stops in to
because he is "not worth such feeling" and will shortly return to see a surgeon before making his way back to Tellson's, where
his debased ways. But he also asks her to remember that young Jerry tells him no jobs came up while he was gone.
inwardly, his feelings for her will not change and to "think now
and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a After abusing his wife verbally yet again at the table, Jerry
life you love beside you!" goes out to do his nighttime job, which is not legal, but helps
the family make ends meet. His son, young Jerry, sneaks out to
follow him, because his father claims he's going fishing, but
Analysis doesn't bring a pole. Jerry is joined by two other "fishermen."
Young Jerry follows and watches them "fish[ing] with a spade"
Sydney Carton may seem a failure in most aspects of his life, and eventually pulling out a casket. When he sees his father is
but he has performed brilliant miracles in the courtroom, saving about to open the casket, he is so terrified he runs all the way
Charles Darnay's life in the process. Now readers see how well home and hides in the closet, falling asleep. He wakes to the
he knows himself and witness another proof of his capacity for sound of Jerry beating Mrs. Cruncher while blaming her for
self-sacrifice. He will not even attempt to win Lucie Manette "opposing ... his business."
because he knows doing so would ruin her. For her sake, he is
As he walks to work with his father that morning, young Jerry
glad she would never be able to love him. His declaration that
asks what a "resurrection man" is; Jerry pretends he doesn't
he would give his life to ensure hers is happy and filled with
know. The boy asks if it has to do with dead bodies, and Jerry
love is sincere. His devotion will be tested at the end of the
says it does, for scientific purposes. Young Jerry announces he
novel, and Carton will pass with flying colors, giving up more
wants to be a resurrection man when he grows up, which
than just his chance at love.
pleases his father.
In making this declaration, Carton predicts not only his own
future, but also Lucie's. She will marry—"new ties will be formed
about you"—and have a child—"the little picture of a happy

of drinking water. This report infuriates everyone, and they

Analysis decide to register the entire family of the Marquis to be put to
death by encoding their names in Madame Defarge's knitting.
The narrator tells readers that Jerry Cruncher is "joined by
another disciple of Izaak Walton"; the reference is to the author The mender of roads accompanies the Defarges to watch a
of one of the most famous books on fishing, The Compleat procession of the king and queen in their golden coach,
Angler, published in 1653. Of course, this is meant ironically, as surrounded by their noble entourage. On the way, someone
Jerry is not a fisherman, or angler, but a body snatcher, who asks Madame Defarge what she's knitting, and she calmly
digs up bodies and sells them for surgeons and their students answers, "Shrouds." During the procession, everyone in the
to dissect for research or for teaching purposes. crowd cheers for the passing royalty. The mender of roads is
particularly enthusiastic, and Monsieur Defarge compliments
It's interesting that young Jerry, who was so scared of what
him on it, saying that his actions will keep the king thinking that,
he'd see in the casket the night before, decides the next day
although he would dearly love to crush the peasantry, they still
that he wants to dig up bodies for science. Part of the reason
idolize and adore him. In his complacency, it will be easier for
he is insisting to his father that he follow in his footsteps, one
the revolutionaries to take over.
can assume, is that the violence inflicted in his home may
abate a little if he does something that pleases his father. He
has spent the night in the closet listening to his mother being
beaten and is likely willing to do anything to soothe his father's
Analysis
anger.
This chapter balances two evils: the first is the fact that the
This rapid acceptance of a rather grotesque profession may king doesn't care at all that the tall man's child was killed by the
also be due to the popularity of public executions at the time. Marquis. Despite petitions from witnesses who saw the
Young Jerry has likely attended them and seen dead bodies. Marquis's carriage run over the child, the king sentences the
It's a testament to the culture and social conditions of the day man to death for the murder of an aristocrat. This event
that young Jerry not only accepts the idea of digging up freshly virtually ensures the king will not stay alive very long. The
dead bodies, but also of doing something illegal in order to themes of violence and injustice go hand in hand.
make enough money to live on.

The second evil is that Madame Defarge registers the family of
the Marquis, though it is only the Marquis who is guilty of killing
the child. The desperation of the peasants is understandable,
Book 2, Chapter 15 but the brand of vengeance practiced by people like Madame
Defarge is just as relentless, sweeping, and violent as that
practiced by the aristocracy. It is also a form of injustice, as
Summary Charles Darnay is included on the register, even though he has
completely renounced his family and condemns the way the
Monsieur Defarge comes into his wine shop with the mender of common folk are treated.
roads and introduces his guest to his wife and to three men, all
called Jacques. He explains that he himself is Jacques Four In addition, it is becoming clear that revolution is seething
and that the mender of roads is now Jacques Five. beneath the surface of adoration for the king, but this farce is
being continued only to keep the king thinking he doesn't need
The mender of roads tells about an execution he witnessed. to protect himself. This will leave him open to attack later in the
The tall man he saw last year hanging from the chain below the novel, and an already chaotic France will experience violence
Marquis's carriage was accused of having killed the Marquis that is explosive and boundless.
and condemned to death. But Monsieur Defarge and others
petitioned the king, saying that the man was only reacting to The symbol of knitting is explored in this chapter. Madame
the Marquis having killed his only child. A few days later, Defarge's knitting contains the names of people who will later
despite the petition, a gallows was erected over the village be condemned to die. This is what she means when she says
fountain, and the man hung, poisoning the village's only source she is knitting shrouds. He shrinks away, sensing that here is a

woman who hates nearly everyone. Her knitting is a symbol of into the shop, as usual. Madame Defarge goes out to speak
the secretive way that the revolution built its power—an even with groups of knitting women.
more foolproof code than the name "Jacques."
Analysis
Book 2, Chapter 16
Readers have met Barsad before; he and Roger Cly testified
against Charles Darnay in court. Because of how people in
London reacted to Cly's funeral—by ridiculing the procession
Summary and using it as an excuse to go on a mob rampage—it is clear
that spies for the police are liked as little in London as in Paris.
In this chapter, when the Defarges come into Paris, headed for
This chapter shows how Parisians respond to being spied on,
Saint Antoine, their quarter, Monsieur Defarge stops to talk
and provides readers with the information they need to assess
with soldiers and police at the barrier gate. As they are walking
the threat to Barsad when he reappears later in the novel.
from their vehicle to their house, Madame Defarge asks
Monsieur Defarge what "Jacques of the police" told him. Madame Defarge knits throughout her conversation with
Monsieur Defarge replies that there has been a spy assigned Barsad, the knitted piece in her hands growing continually as
to their quarter: John Barsad, an Englishman. Monsieur the spy speaks. The knitting changes in direct relation to how
Defarge gives his wife a description of Barsad, and she says aggravated she becomes at Barsad. Although he is trying to
she will register him. get information from the Defarges, Barsad gives them
information and, in so doing, signs Darnay's death warrant.
The next day, Barsad shows up at the shop to dig for
Readers might be tempted to think Barsad is getting back at
information. Madame Defarge picks up a rose and pins it to her
Darnay for escaping conviction in London after he and Cly had
headdress. Barsad tries to flatter Madame Defarge by making
tried to frame Darnay.
small talk and complimenting her. As he is talking, two men
come to the door, see the rose on Madame Defarge's Barsad's use of the name "Jacques" and his expectation that
headdress, and leave. Madame Defarge tells Barsad that Monsieur Defarge will reply in kind shows that the
business is bad because the people are so poor. Barsad says, revolutionaries' code name is known. But Monsieur Defarge
"So oppressed, too—as you say." Madame Defarge corrects corrects him by saying, "You mistake me for another. That is
him: "As you say!" She knits an extra punishment into his not my name. I am Ernest Defarge." Barsad has failed again to
registration. Barsad then begins to talk about Gaspard's get the Defarges to reveal their complicity in the revolution.
execution, trying to get Madame Defarge to admit that the Moments later, he manages to get a faint rise out of Monsieur
neighborhood sympathizes with him, but she feigns innocence. Defarge, so he can leave the shop feeling he has succeeded
Just then, Monsieur Defarge walks into the shop, and Barsad after all.
calls him "Jacques," but Monsieur Defarge corrects him and
says his name is Ernest. Now Barsad is confused. Monsieur The end of the chapter brings the symbol of knitting together
Defarge also pretends he knows nothing about Gaspard. But with the theme of violence, as Madame Defarge wanders
when Barsad says Lucie Manette is about to marry Charles among groups of knitting women. The narrator says they are
Darnay, the new Marquis who is in England now, Monsieur preparing for the days when they will sit "knitting, knitting,
Defarge is visibly affected. Barsad leaves, having gleaned at counting dropping heads." This is a direct reference to the
least a little bit of information. guillotine, which would be the main method of execution used
during the popular revolt and the reign of terror: Thousands of
After Barsad leaves, the Defarges stay put in case he comes people would lose their heads and their lives, and the street
back. Monsieur Defarge is disconcerted that Darnay should be would run red with their blood.
on the register, his name beside Barsad's. His wife is
unconcerned: "I have them both here, of a certainty; and they
are both here for their merits; that is enough." She takes the
rose out of her headdress. Soon after, people begin to come

Book 2, Chapter 17 Summary

On the morning of the wedding, Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Miss
Pross are fussing over Lucie Manette and bickering with one
Summary another, with Miss Pross teasing Lorry for being a confirmed
bachelor. Miss Pross thinks it would have been a perfect day if
In London, Lucie Manette is talking with Dr. Manette on the
her brother Solomon had been the bridegroom.
evening before her wedding to Charles Darnay. She tells her
father that she would have been perfectly happy with him had Then the doctor comes out of his room with Charles Darnay,
she not seen Darnay, and that she would never leave him. He and Lorry sees with concern that he has gone completely pale.
tells her how he used to watch the moon out of his prison cell The happy couple are then married in a small ceremony, and as
window and wonder who his unborn child was and if it had they go off on their honeymoon, the doctor is cheerful with
lived. A son might have avenged him, he says; a daughter might them both, repressing his distress. But once the newlyweds
marry and have children of her own. Would they know of his have left, he wanders up to his room. Miss Pross and Lorry
existence? Lucie says she is that daughter and assures him of decide to give him some time alone to compose himself, Lorry
her devotion and her love. Dr. Manette tells Lucie that the thinking all the while about Defarge, the wine shop, and the ride
reason he is sharing all of this from such an unpleasant time is away from that garret so long ago. Lorry goes to Tellson's
to let her know how grateful and happy he is with her—and will Bank to work for a while, but when he comes back, Miss Pross
be. That night, she sneaks into his room and as he sleeps, is wild with worry because the doctor is making shoes again
prays over her father and kisses him. and doesn't have any idea who she is.
Lorry goes in to speak with the doctor but finds him fixated on
Analysis his shoemaking and oblivious to anything else. Lorry suggests
they go out for a walk; Dr. Manette simply says, "Out?" and
This is the first time Dr. Manette has been able to speak of his then continues working. There is nothing Lorry or Miss Pross
time in prison without falling apart or reverting to his old can do except to watch over him in shifts and make sure that
shoemaking insanity. It is also the first time he has told Lucie he is fed and taken care of. Nine days later, his shoemaking is
he knew her mother was pregnant when he was imprisoned. It "growing dreadfully skillful."
is a testament to the healing effect that Lucie has on her father
that he is able to broach such a sensitive subject and remain
calm. Analysis
Readers should note, however, that seeing Charles Darnay has This chapter seems to pose more questions than it answers.
made Lucie unable to be happy with only her father. This For example, this is the second time the reader has
statement confirms to Dr. Manette that he has done the right encountered the name Solomon Pross, Miss Pross's profligate
thing by agreeing to support the marriage. However, this also brother. It frequently occurs in Dickens's novels that
means that he will have to hear Darnay explain who he really is. characters hide their true identities. Charles Darnay is an
Dr. Manette is willing to risk his sanity for his daughter's obvious example in A Tale of Two Cities, but it may be that
happiness—more evidence of the theme of self-sacrifice—and Solomon Pross is also among the cast of characters,
can only hope that he will recover. masquerading as someone else. If so, it is likely his reasons are
not as pure as Charles Darnay's.
Book 2, Chapter 18 The reader will guess that Darnay has confirmed that he is
actually the Marquis St. Evrémonde, which is a huge blow to Dr.
Manette's stability and sense of self. But why should the doctor
be so distressed by this announcement? If this revelation has
driven him back to making shoes, it has reminded him of his
imprisonment. This deepens the mystery of what the

relationship might be between the Marquis and Dr. Manette. He gets the doctor to report everything he knows about what
The answer will come later in the novel, but in the meantime, happened and why, without sending him back into an emotional
the doctor has again lost all connection with the world around pit of terror. The doctor knows he is doing this and plays along,
him. which allows him to truly open up to Lorry.
In addition, Lorry makes very clear that he is not going to tell
Book 2, Chapter 19 anyone about this episode, because he knows that if he did, it
would break Dr. Manette's heart (and possibly affect his sanity)
to have Lucie know that he is still so fragile. It would also hurt
her terribly to know that this break with reality was sparked by
Summary learning who her new husband really is. This is further evidence
of Lorry's gentle and considerate kindness and his
It is the tenth day since Dr. Manette lost touch with reality. The
determination to protect his friends.
doctor comes out of his room for breakfast and acts normal,
but seems to think only one day has passed since the wedding. The doctor's willingness to allow Lorry and Miss Pross to
Jarvis Lorry asks him questions about a "friend," and both of destroy his shoemaking materials while he is gone is a sign
them know that he is asking about Dr. Manette, wanting to that he is putting the past behind him and feels strong enough
know what put him over the edge and how he recovered. Dr. to take on whatever happens with his daughter and his new
Manette has to ask Lorry how long the friend was in this state, son-in-law. Later in the novel, his strength in this regard will be
because he truly doesn't know. He asks if this friend engaged tested when he has to stand up for Darnay and try to free him,
in activities he did before, and Lorry says yes. He reveals, still and he will need to keep himself from lapsing back into that
speaking of this friend, that he doesn't remember what "scared, lost" state of mind.
happened, but that it clearly came about through an extremely
unpleasant association.
Lorry also says that he has not told the friend's daughter about
Book 2, Chapter 20
the episode and will keep it a secret. He then asks whether it
mightn't be best to remove the tools used in the friend's
"blacksmith's work," suggesting that it might be best if the Summary
friend were to let go of his "little forge." The doctor expresses
concern that the friend might need it to avoid having to focus The chapter opens with a discussion between Sydney Carton
on the things that so upset him, but Lorry insists that the and Charles Darnay, reflecting on their conversation over
"forge" should not be kept for the friend's daughter's sake. The dinner after Darnay's trial. Carton tells Darnay not to make light
doctor asks only that Lorry dispose of the "forge" when his of his inability to move forward with his life and improve
friend is away. himself, and Darnay tells Carton not to make light of the huge
debt he owes Carton for saving his life. Carton tells Darnay he
The next three days pass peacefully. The doctor then leaves to knows he's rather useless and morose but would like to be a
join Lucie and Charles Darnay. That night, Lorry chops up the "privileged person" in the family and spend time with them
shoemaking bench while Miss Pross holds a light for him. They when he chooses, which, he promises, would not be too often.
burn the pieces and bury the tools in the yard. As they work, it Darnay agrees.
feels almost as if they are committing and then covering up a
murder. At dinner that night, Darnay tells Lucie, Dr. Manette, Miss
Pross, and Jarvis Lorry about the discussion and casts Carton
"as a problem of carelessness and recklessness." Lucie later
Analysis confronts him, saying she feels he was harsh on Carton and
asks him to show Carton "more consideration and respect."
The tenderness between Dr. Manette and Mr. Jarvis Lorry is She tells Darnay Carton has a deeply wounded heart and "is
remarkable, and the way Lorry begins his conversation with the capable of good things, gentle things, even magnanimous
doctor about a truly terrifying episode of madness is ingenious. things." Darnay agrees.

and mentions that Tellson's Bank has been unusually busy

Analysis because their Paris customers are insisting on sending their
property to England, which Darnay finds worrying.
Lucie really is the "Golden Thread" (the title of Book 2) that
runs through all of the relationships in this chapter. She makes Meanwhile, in France, the Defarges and thousands of Jacques
a plea for empathy and compassion for Sydney Carton, storm the Bastille. They batter the prison with cannons and
because she sees in him something genuine and beautiful. She muskets and send wagonloads of blazing straw across the
is remarkable in that she is able to find the best in everyone drawbridge. After four hours the prison surrenders, and the
and bring it out. revolutionaries release the prisoners. They search for records
as well. Monsieur Defarge orders a guard to take him to the
Carton may believe that there is nothing redeemable about
North Tower and asks him what "One Hundred and Five, North
him, but he knows that he is as good as he will ever be when he
Tower" means. The guard tells him it is a cell, and Defarge
spends time with Lucie, Dr. Manette, and Darnay. This is why
orders him to lead the way to the cell. He finds the initials
he asks to spend time with the family as he pleases. Because
A.M.—Alexandre Manette—scratched into the stone wall along
he has promised Lucie he will do everything in his power to
with the words "a poor physician," and a calendar. They search
make sure she lives a happy life, he has to spend time with the
the cell, find nothing more, and burn the few furnishings.
family in order to protect them. In this way, he can make sure
that Lucie and her family have what they need. He is sacrificing Returning to the yard, Defarge finds the revolutionaries waiting
his own needs for that of the family—not that he has ever been for him. They have captured the prison governor. Once
all that good at taking care of his own needs. Defarge is with them, the mob bears the governor to the Hotel
de Ville, where he is stabbed to death. Madame Defarge has
In earlier chapters, readers have had the chance to examine
stayed close to him the entire time; she now steps on "his neck,
the relationship between the Defarges, who are united in their
and with her cruel knife—long ready—hew[s] off his head."
work for revolution, share mutual goals in business and politics,
and seem to support one another in these areas; Monsieur The revolutionaries carry off with them seven released
Defarge certainly admires his wife. Readers have also met the prisoners, who are stunned and confused by the hubbub
Crunchers, who share a mutual distrust; Mrs. Cruncher around them; "seven gory heads on pikes"; the keys to the
disapproves of Jerry Cruncher's moonlighting as a body prison; and various belongings of dead prisoners. The narrator
snatcher, and he feels undermined by her disapproval and prays their bloody, "loudly echoing footsteps" stay out of Lucie
expresses his anger in physical violence. In this chapter, Darnay's life.
readers observe another husband–wife relationship—the one
between Lucie and Darnay, which is characterized by mutual
trust and respect and by kindness and gentleness that extends Analysis
to all around them.
The Darnays have a wonderful life together, but there is a
shadow hanging over them, and that is Charles Darnay's
Book 2, Chapter 21 heritage, his connection to the aristocracy against whom the
peasants have revolted and declared war. Dickens uses the
image of the storm and the way it sounds, like the footsteps of
Summary a crowd, to connect to the actual thundering footsteps of the
swarm of peasants and the sounds of the cannons at the
Lucie hears the "echo of footsteps" of her family all around her storming of the Bastille, where there is no mercy for anyone
and feels surrounded by love. Years pass. Lucie has a baby girl, who is not with the revolutionaries.
little Lucie, and a baby boy, who doesn't live long. Carton
The storming of the Bastille has become an iconic symbol for
spends time with the family, coming uninvited, as they said he
the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was used
could. Little Lucie becomes extremely fond of Carton, and he
to hold people who were waiting for trial, but it was also used
of her. But other, darker echoes are "rumbl[ing] menacingly."
to hold political prisoners who were imprisoned by order of the
One day in 1789, when little Lucie is six, Lorry stops by for tea

king, which could not be reversed. It came to represent the desperate but have added to their demeanor the knowledge
corruption and overreach of power that the French monarchy that they can kill their oppressors. There is news that an
had exerted with no input from the people. The day the official named Foulon, who is infamous for telling the hungry
peasants stormed the Bastille, they actually came to the prison they can "eat grass," is not dead but only faked his funeral. He
wanting to ask the governor (the person whose head Madame has been taken prisoner by the revolutionaries.
Defarge cuts off after he is already dead) to give them the
weapons and ammunition held inside the prison. He avoided Monsieur Defarge rounds up the crowd, The Vengeance beats
them and wouldn't answer, and they stormed the prison, her drum, and the peasants stream through the streets,
burning everything that would burn and releasing the seven weapons in hand. They storm down to the Hotel de Ville, where
prisoners who were still there. The revolutionary government Foulon is tied up with a bunch of grass on his back. They drag
later took down the entire complex. Bastille Day, July 14, did him out to the lamp and try to hang him there, while people
not become a national holiday until 1880, but by the time stuff grass into his mouth. The first two times, the rope breaks,
Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities, the prison was already an but finally, he is hung, and they put his head on a pike with
icon for the revolution. grass in his mouth. They kill Foulon's son-in-law as well, putting
his heart and head on pikes, and parade them through the
The differences in the characters of Monsieur and Madame streets with the head of Foulon.
Defarge is in the forefront in this chapter. Monsieur Defarge is
considered the leader of the revolutionaries; Madame Defarge The peasants still go home to nothing to eat and get in line at
is influential enough to make them wait for her husband before the bakery for bad bread; still, they sleep well because they
executing the prison governor, but she is not their leader. She have taken down yet another symbol of oppression and made
is, however, the commander of the woman revolutionaries. The him eat his words, literally. Even though they are still starving,
main difference between them is that Monsieur Defarge is they have a kind of cheerfulness they haven't had in years
clear-headed; even in the midst of battle, he sets off to find Dr. because they have prevailed together.
Manette's cell and search it. His wife, on the other hand, is
bloodthirsty. Even though she has waited for her husband
before taking action, she won't move from her position beside
Analysis
the governor as he is taken to the city hall; as soon as he is
The Vengeance and Madame Defarge shriek through this
dead, she cuts off his head. This bloodthirstiness was hinted at
chapter, as do all the women, and they are wild-eyed with
in the intensity of her knitting when she heard the story told by
murderous rage. But the narrator points out that the trouble
the mender of roads, and it will play an important role later in
with causing so much bloodshed is that afterward, they haven't
the novel as well.
improved their lives. The feeling of power is fleeting, which can
At the end of the chapter, the narrator expresses a hope that only mean that they're not done killing yet; they need to do
Lucie Darnay will not come into contact with the bloody more and change more to feel they have erased the evil that
footsteps of the revolutionaries, but it seems that whenever has oppressed them. Dickens evokes the powerlessness of the
the narrator hopes something won't happen at the end of one poor to effect real change through bloodshed alone. The
chapter, it happens within the next few chapters. Dickens uses themes of vengeance (and its uselessness) and injustice come
this to foreshadow what will happen as well as to arouse the through as the chapter reveals how the urge to kill takes over
reader's interest in buying the next installment. in a crowd once it starts.
It should be noted that Foulon was a historical character, as
Book 2, Chapter 22 was his son-in-law. When asked how the people could feed
themselves if a certain financial measure were passed, it was
rumored that the government minister Joseph-François Foulon
(1715–1789) said, "The people may eat grass." To save himself,
Summary Foulon spread rumors of his death. After his capture and
execution, the crowd carrying his head met another crowd that
The poor people of Saint Antoine quarter still look hungry and had captured Foulon's son-in-law, a taxman who was similarly

despised, and meted out the same punishment. himself off it if his door is breached. The messenger shouts for
help from the villagers, but no one moves; he rides to the
While it is clear from the narrator's comments that Dickens did prison, but even the soldiers there refuse to budge. The
not feel that the aristocracy were the good guys in France—as villagers start ringing the bell—not as an alarm but as a
exemplified by the horrific abuses inflicted by the Marquis and celebration. The chateau burns all night. Gabelle is lucky
his cavalier attitude about taking lives—he didn't see the because, though the villagers hammer at his door for hours, he
revolutionaries as heroes either. This is because, instead of is still alive in the morning.
simply taking over and demanding a part in government, the
revolutionaries don't stop at killing their oppressors. They The same thing is happening throughout the country. On some
adopt the same cavalier attitude toward human life that the estates, the functionaries and the military defeat the rebels;
aristocracy has shown for so long. By making the revolutionary but on others, the rebels kill anyone associated with the
characters so uncaring and by describing mob mentality in oppressors.
detail, Dickens made clear he believed the revolutionaries had
become completely mad and as evil as their oppressors had
been. In other words, two wrongs don't make a right. Analysis
The chapter begins with several paragraphs of trademark
Book 2, Chapter 23 Dickensian verbal irony (saying the opposite of what one
means). For instance, the narrator says, "Monseigneur (often a
most worthy individual gentleman) was a national blessing";
what he actually means, as the description of the village and
Summary lands around the chateau shows, is that the greedy aristocracy
has ruined France and starved its people. Dickens often used
The chapter opens with a description of the difference felt in
irony to make his points because it amused his readers while
the villages after the storming of the Bastille: In place of the
driving home his point.
aristocrats showing their faces periodically, peasants from the
city come through on a regular basis. One particularly ragged Dickens uses an interesting technique to keep readers
individual arrives in the village over which the Marquis had once engaged in this chapter: He never says what, exactly, is
lorded, and meets up with the mender of roads. They planned or happening. Instead, sentence after sentence
exchange the familiar greeting, calling each other Jacques, and describes only in the most superficial fashion what is being
each one asks the other to touch, or take hands, as code. The said and done. There's only a glow from the chateau, then a
ragged man, who is wearing tattered clothes, has leaves and flickering light, for instance—the reader isn't told the chateau is
grass in his shoes, is blistered and covered with sores, and on fire until the flames are visible from outside. The secrecy of
needs a rest, as he hasn't slept for two days. He asks the the plots against the aristocrats is mirrored by the way Dickens
mender of roads to wake him when it's time. Then the mender tells the tale of this particular plot: He keeps the main objective
of roads, on awakening the man, tells him where the chateau of secret until the moment it becomes deadly.
the Marquis can be found.
The burning of aristocrats' homes was part of the peasant
Later, as night falls, the mender of roads keeps looking toward uprising, a way of eradicating anyone who opposed their
the chateau. Gabelle, who is now the Marquis's representative revolution. It seems strange, though, that they hung the
in the village, also comes out of his house to look up at the servants of aristocrats, people who were only workers, much
chateau on the hill. People stay outside after supper and like themselves. By highlighting this, Dickens adds to his
whisper to each other instead of going to bed. Four lights move message regarding the revolution. Gabelle is safe for now, but
toward the chateau and then away again until they disappear. other functionaries were hung, and yet these people were
Suddenly, there is a glow from within the chateau, and then a probably treated nearly as badly by "the Monseigneur" as the
flickering light, and then a sudden burst of flames. A rider from peasants themselves. But the denouncing of the servants and
the chateau hammers at Gabelle's door, but Gabelle has bolted functionaries of the aristocracy happens anyway because the
the door and climbed up on the roof, determined to throw killing gets out of hand. This idea will be explored further in the

last book of the novel, where Dickens shows even more Darnay to save him. Darnay realizes he must go to Paris
graphically just how vengeful and unjust the revolutionaries because Gabelle's only crime has been loyalty to him. But he
become—more bloodthirsty than those they are rebelling can't tell Dr. Manette or Lucie because they would try to stop
against. him or go with him. Darnay tells Lorry he has delivered the
letter and asks him to take a reply to Gabelle that the man is
coming. Lorry agrees to do so and leaves for Paris. That night,
Book 2, Chapter 24 Darnay writes letters to both Dr. Manette and Lucie, and the
next day tells them that he has an engagement which will take
him out of town. He packs a valise, mounts his horse, and
Summary heads for Dover and the ferry.
Three years have passed, and in France, the aristocracy has

been "scattered far and wide." Those who foresaw what was
Analysis
coming sent their property to England and are now coming to
As is pointed out in the chapter, Mr. Jarvis Lorry is close to 80
Tellson's Bank to collect it. Those who did not share that
and has been working for Tellson's Bank for some 60 years.
foresight, gather there to look for help and to learn the latest
He is very familiar with the bank's French business and is
news on their homeland. Tellson's even posts the news in its
therefore the best person for the job. Moreover, as he points
windows.
out, his age and nationality should protect him from the
Charles Darnay is at Tellson's speaking with Mr. Jarvis Lorry. revolutionaries. He is also wise enough to take Jerry Cruncher
As a longtime employee who knows the bank's business in with him to protect against violence and crime on the road.
both England and France, Lorry has to go to Tellson's Paris
Charles Darnay is pulled to France, of course, because it is his
office tonight. Darnay, who wishes he could go back to France
home, his "loadstone," and he wishes that he could help the
himself to try to calm the situation there, is worried about his
unfortunate people more than he already has by lessening the
friend's safety. Lorry explains that the situation is precarious:
financial burden on the peasants on his lands. His uncle left the
No one knows from one day to the next whether Paris will be
estate deeply in debt, and Darnay has asked Gabelle to take
set alight or whether important papers will be stolen or
from the land only what is needed to keep the debt current. He
destroyed; he refers to clients escaping the barriers of the city
doesn't realize the peasants don't know he tried to help them,
with their heads "hanging on by a single hair." Lorry will be
and he has no sense of how much they hate him because of
taking Jerry Cruncher with him as a bodyguard.
who his family was. Darnay's innate generosity and nobility of
An assistant brings Lorry a letter and asks if he has found the spirit blinds him to the realities of the revolution.
addressee yet. Darnay looks down at the letter and is shocked
The peasants have a similar hatred of Gabelle because of his
to see his own real name there. Lorry doesn't know who
loyalties, and Darnay feels entirely responsible for this terrible
Darnay really is, and neither does Darnay's wife; only Dr.
turn of events in Gabelle's life. Gabelle may have survived the
Manette knows. The former French nobles gather round and
burning of the chateau, but his loyalty to Darnay will soon cost
discuss the missing heir, calling him "degenerate" and a
him his freedom if not his life. Interestingly, the film version of
coward who "abandoned [his] estates ... and left them to the
this novel has Barsad and Gabelle using the letter to lure
ruffian herd." Stryver, who is also present, finds this behavior
Darnay to Paris. Another possibility is that the Defarges have
reprehensible. Angrily Darnay says, "I know the fellow," and
imprisoned Gabelle but allowed him to write to Darnay, hoping
points out that Stryver "may not understand the gentleman."
to get Darnay to come to Paris so that they can kill him.
But Stryver and the others remain unconvinced and leave.
Dickens doesn't mention any of these ideas, but later critics
Lorry asks Darnay if he can deliver the letter, and Darnay
noted this weakness in the plot.
agrees to do so.
Darnay slips away and reads the letter, which is from Gabelle,
who has been jailed and will be executed for treason against
the people, for aiding the emigrant marquis—Darnay. He begs

the city ... with the wall of voices that he knew."

Book 3, Chapter 1
Analysis
Summary
Poor Charles Darnay receives a bracing dose of reality in this
It is 1792, and Charles Darnay is traveling from the ferry port to chapter. Not only is it impossible to travel very far in France
Paris, but he is constantly stopped for identity checks and without being caught, but he is condemned as soon as he
observed along the roads. One night while sleeping at a village arrives in Paris. He expects to have rights, but he is told that
inn, he is awoken by the "local functionary and three armed emigrants have no rights. He finds out that this law was passed
patriots" and told he will have an escort to Paris. Darnay says on the day he left England, and thinks he would not have left
he would love to get to Paris, but doesn't need an escort. He is had he known. But readers may doubt this. He is so selfless
given no choice; he must have an escort and pay for the that it is likely he would have risked the journey anyway in
privilege. He pays an exorbitant price and sets off at 3 a.m. order to try to save Gabelle.
with two armed patriots riding beside him, both ragged and one
drunk. When the trio reaches Beauvais, the postmaster there Dickens titled this chapter "In Secret," which is an old term for
protects Darnay from the crowd, who want to hang him right solitary confinement. By the time Dickens wrote his novel, as
away for being an emigrant and an aristocrat. The postmaster mentioned earlier, he would have read the French prison
says that there was a decree to sell the land of anyone who reformer Charles Lucas's works, in which the devastating
left France, and there may be a decree to condemn to death effects of solitary confinement for long periods of time are
any emigrant who dares to return. described. Lucas was against solitary confinement, and if a
harsher punishment than just being in jail was required, he felt
When Darnay and his escort reach Paris, Darnay is put in that "silence"—not allowing prisoners to speak—was better.
charge of "a resolute-looking man in authority," who reads Certainly, Dickens's description of the insanity that Dr. Manette
Gabelle's letter with surprise. Darnay is separated from his experienced after 18 years "in secret" shows that he knew
escort, who ride off. In the guardroom, Darnay is immediately something about this terrible punishment's negative impact.
identified as "the emigrant Evrémonde" and condemned to La
Force prison. Paperwork is completed, marked "in secret," and This is the first time the guillotine has been mentioned, and it is
handed to the "man in authority," who turns out to be Monsieur made to sound frightening indeed. But the guillotine was
Defarge. Defarge asks Darnay if he is the same person who actually an improvement on earlier methods of capital
married the daughter of Manette, the prisoner from the punishment. It is a simple device consisting of two vertical
Bastille. Darnay says he is and asks Defarge to help him, but posts with a crossbeam on top, much like a door frame. The
Defarge will do nothing for him. Defarge asks why, "in the name two posts have deep grooves in the sides that face one
of that sharp female newly-born, La Guillotine," he came to another. These guide a heavily weighted knife that is dropped
Paris, and Darnay explains again that he is there because from the crossbeam. The person to be executed is made to
Gabelle asked for his help. Darnay begs Defarge to let Mr. extend his or her neck through a slot below the knife, which
Jarvis Lorry know he will be in La Force, but Defarge refuses. slices through it, cutting off the person's head. The guillotine
As Darnay is led to prison, the people on the street scarcely was not developed by the French and was already in use in
notice him because they have become so used to seeing other countries. It was considered a far less painful death than
people in decent clothes being led to prison. beheading with an ax or sword, which could require several
strokes; or hanging, which might not snap the neck. The first
When Darnay arrives at the prison, the jailer brings him in, French execution by guillotine took place in 1792; the last was
grumbling about overcrowding and especially about the in 1977.
notation "in secret," which Darnay discovers means he is to be
kept in solitary confinement. The prisoners around him look at
him with pity as he is led away to a tiny, dark cell. Darnay paces
the cell, thinking of Dr. Manette and the golden hair of one of
the woman prisoners he'd passed and listening to "the roar of

Book 3, Chapter 2 Analysis

Again, Lucie is being protected from knowing anything about
Charles Darnay, which is indicative of the status of wives in
Summary England at the time, but also speaks to what the men around
her view as her fragility. In reality, she is extremely sensitive to
Mr. Jarvis Lorry is in Tellson's Bank's Paris office, which
the plights of others, and although she is prone to fainting and
inhabits one of the wings in the house of the very same
grabbing onto people for support, it takes serious bravery to
Monseigneur who once needed three strong men to serve his
head back to France. After all, she knows about the law that
hot chocolate. The Monseigneur escaped the country dressed
was passed on the day Darnay left England, so she has a much
as his cook, and his three strong servants escaped punishment
better notion than he did of how dangerous France might be.
for being part of his household by denouncing him and joining
But her father is certain his status will protect both of them.
the patriots, who have now taken over the main part of the
Dickens portrays Lucie as an interesting mix of feminine
house.
weakness and gutsy strength, and she'll certainly need her
Lorry looks out the window to where a huge grindstone has strength now that she is in the middle of such chaos and
been set up across the courtyard. He closes the window, but danger. As he did in the beginning of the novel, Mr. Jarvis Lorry
still hears "the usual night hum of the city, with an indescribable serves as the rock to which Lucie clings.
ring in it now and then, weird and unearthly, as if some
The doctor, knowing he is a hero to the patriots, makes use of
unwonted sounds of a terrible nature were going up to
his reputation to go to La Force to try to free Darnay. He has
Heaven." He thanks God that no one he loves is in Paris
convinced and fired up this raggedy group of "murderers," but
tonight. Suddenly, he hears the gate clang, and in rush Lucie
like Lorry, readers cannot be sure he will succeed, which
and Dr. Manette. Lucie is deathly pale and falls into Lorry's
provides the cliffhanger for this chapter.
arms, panting, "O my dear friend! My husband!" In a jumble she
manages to explain that Charles Darnay is in Paris and in
prison. Meanwhile, the doctor asks, "What is that noise?" and
goes to the window. Lorry begs him to stay away from the Book 3, Chapter 3
window, but the doctor says that no one would ever hurt him, a
former prisoner in the Bastille.
Summary
As soon as he learns Darnay is in La Force, Lorry sends Lucie
to wait in his room, telling her she can do nothing to help Mr. Jarvis Lorry decides to find an apartment for Lucie so that
Charles and that he must speak alone with her father without the presence of an emigrant prisoner's wife does not endanger
delay. Lorry and the doctor look out the window at a terrible the bank. He leaves Jerry Cruncher there to guard them. That
sight: Around the grindstone is a crowd of people covered with evening, Monsieur Defarge arrives at the bank with a message
blood; they have come to sharpen hatchets, knives, bayonets, from Dr. Manette saying Charles Darnay is safe, but the doctor
and swords taken from people they have killed. Lorry whispers, can't leave yet, and that the messenger has a letter for Lucie
"They are ... murdering the prisoners" and asks the doctor to from Darnay. Lorry is to let Defarge see Lucie. Madame
use his reputation to get to the prison to save Darnay. The Defarge is in the courtyard knitting, and accompanying her is
doctor immediately joins the crowd around the grindstone, and her friend The Vengeance.
it is not long before there are cries to save the "Bastille
prisoner's kindred in La Force." Monsieur Defarge says it is necessary for his wife to see Lucie
and the child for their safety. His tone is unemotional and
Returning to Lucie, Lorry finds that Miss Pross and little Lucie almost mechanical, which concerns Lorry. Darnay's note to
are also there, and they wait together for news, sleeping Lucie is only a few phrases, but Lucie is so taken by having any
intermittently. Twice more during the night, Lorry hears the message at all that she kisses Madame Defarge's hand, which
grindstone at work, and at sunrise he sees that it is red with is limp and cold; her expression is chilly as well. Lorry presents
blood. little Lucie and Miss Pross to Madame Defarge, who points her

knitting needle at little Lucie and asks if she is Darnay's child. She makes it clear that her suffering and that of her fellow
Lorry says she is the prisoner's only child, and the shadow that women have never made anyone pity them, so she sees no
Madame Defarge casts on little Lucie makes her mother kneel reason to pity Lucie. Once a person is on Madame Defarge's
down and hold onto her, frightened. register, they are there for good, just as people condemned by
the king were killed, no matter who petitioned to save them.
Lucie begs Madame Defarge to be good to her husband and
"do him no harm." Madame Defarge responds by saying only
little Lucie is her business, not Darnay, and Dr. Manette's
influence will have to suffice. Lucie pleads with Madame
Book 3, Chapter 4
Defarge not to use her influence against Darnay, as a wife and
mother who understands. Madame Defarge retorts that wives
and mothers in France have not been considered, and their
Summary
husbands and fathers have been imprisoned and worse: "All
Dr. Manette returns after four days, and hides from Lucie the
our lives, we have seen our sister-women suffer, in themselves
extent of the horrors he has seen. She knows there was an
and in their children ... Is it likely that the trouble of one wife
attack on the prisons and that some political prisoners were
and mother would be much to us now?" With that, the
removed and executed, but her father doesn't tell her that
Defarges and The Vengeance leave, Madame Defarge knitting
1,100, including women and children, were "killed by the
as she goes. Lucie feels the darkness of their shadow long
populace."
after they have gone, and so does Lorry.
Dr. Manette confides his story to Jarvis Lorry. He went before

the Tribunal, which includes Monsieur Defarge, but was unable
Analysis to get Darnay released; he received the assurance, though,
that his son-in-law would not be executed. He stayed during
The cold way that Monsieur Defarge speaks to Lorry seems to
the attack on the prison to make sure Charles Darnay
contradict his insistence that he see Lucie and her child for
remained safe. He was called on to dress the wounds of a man
their safety. The shadow that Madame Defarge casts on them
who had been released, but was accidentally stabbed with a
makes it even less likely that Lucie and little Lucie are safe
pike by a "savage" who was unaware of his status. The people
from harm. Even though Dr. Manette is protected because of
who helped him tend the victim later went back to "butchery so
his former prisoner status, it appears that his daughter doesn't
dreadful" that the doctor passed out. As he speaks, Lorry sees
get the same protection. The reader knew this back when
a change in the doctor. Now it is Dr. Manette who has strength,
Madame Defarge entered Lucie's name on the register of her
determination, and influence and who takes care of his family.
knitting, and it appears that she has not changed her mind.
Soon the doctor has become "the inspecting physician of three
Dickens has set Lucie up as such a faultless character that she prisons," including La Force. Dr. Manette visits Darnay—who is
serves as a foil for Madame Defarge, who certainly has no longer in solitary confinement—every week with messages
suffered enough to earn the right to be furious, and even to from Lucie.
take revenge on those who have hurt her and her community.
The king and later his queen are tried and beheaded. The
However, in making Madame Defarge the cold-hearted person
Republic is caught up in "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or
that she is, Dickens reveals his sentiment that the entire
Death"—mostly death, as "La Guillotine" is so active that the
populace has become just as evil as the force they are fighting
ground is permanently red. Both the innocent and the guilty are
against. The characters of Madame Defarge and The
executed. The rivers are clogged with bodies of people
Vengeance exude that evil.
drowned at night, and prisoners are lined up and shot if they
Dickens also uses the dialogue between Madame Defarge and aren't beheaded. The terrors swirl around Dr. Manette, who
Lucie to evoke the darkness of events to come, not just for treats anyone who needs medical attention; his special status
Lucie and for little Lucie, but for Darnay and many others in makes him untouchable. An entire year and three months pass
Paris. It would be next to impossible for anyone to have hope like this, without Darnay being released.
for a loved one in prison after speaking with Madame Defarge.

little Lucie, but often, she is alone. On the third day, a

Analysis woodcutter nearby, who used to be a mender of roads, notices
Lucie and speaks to her; as required by law, they address each
In this chapter, Lucie and her father have switched roles, says
other as "citizen" and "citizeness." The next day, she is there
the narrator, and Dr. Manette regains his authority as a father
with little Lucie, and he speaks to the child, too. The
and his confidence as a doctor. He is kept busy, and this
woodcutter refers to his saw as his little guillotine and gleefully
sustains him. Meanwhile, the doctor tends any patient, guilty or
uses it to cut off bits of wood, saying, "And off his head
innocent, making no distinction between the two. He is a
comes!" He then pretends to behead the rest of the family,
shining example of a doctor who has taken an oath to heal and
including a child. Lucie shudders, but to stay in his good
not harm. His reputation sets him apart, and he is one of the
graces, she always speaks to him first and even gives him
few people who is beyond suspicion. It is as if he has
money for drinks. She frequently catches him staring at her as
experienced yet another resurrection. In fact, the narrator
she waits there; when that happens, he often says, "But it's not
comments that it is as "if he had indeed been recalled to life
my business!"
some eighteen years before, or were a Spirit moving among
mortals." One day in December of 1793, the woodcutter is not in his
shop; his saw is in the window, though, with a sign that says
Still, Dr. Manette can't get Charles Darnay released. Eventually,
"Little Sainte Guillotine." Lucie hears a terrible noise coming
the doctor will be able to get Darnay out of prison, but it won't
down the road, and it is a mob of men and women, singing the
be for long. It almost seems as if he and Darnay are being set
theme of the Revolution at the top of their lungs, dancing and
up so that when Darnay is finally brought to trial, there is no
whirling, "like demons." The woodcutter is there, holding hands
way he will be declared innocent of the crimes for which he
with The Vengeance. Lucie feels she has never seen anything
has been accused.
as horrible as this dance, the Carmagnole. Then they are gone,
Dickens devotes several paragraphs to describing the Reign of and snow covers their tracks as if they had never been there.
Terror, in which many innocent people were killed based on Dr. Manette shows up at Lucie's side and calms her. He tells
suspicion alone. Mad with their new power, the formerly her Darnay is just climbing to the window and, because no one
oppressed have become the oppressors, wreaking vengeance is there, to wave to him. She does so, but suddenly Madame
not only those who have wronged them but on many who have Defarge walks by, greeting them in passing, moving "like a
not. Dickens describes the guillotine as taking off 22 heads in shadow over the white road." The doctor tells Lucie that
as many minutes. (These were the heads of the leaders of a Darnay is to appear in court the next day, and will be home
moderate political party that was defeated by the Jacobins and afterwards. Just then, three tumbrils rattle past, carrying the
guillotined in October 1793. One had committed suicide but condemned to the guillotine.
was beheaded anyway.) But apparently, one death per minute
The doctor and Lucie walk back to Tellson's Bank to see Jarvis
was not fast enough; the people also drowned and shot their
Lorry, who comes out of another room and embraces Lucie.
victims.
She tells him the news about Darnay, and he repeats it to
someone inside they cannot see: "Removed to the
Conciergerie, and summoned for to-morrow?"
Book 3, Chapter 5
Analysis
Summary
Again, Lucie shows herself to be the epitome of grace and
Since Charles Darnay's reprieve, Lucie has remained strong, decency, not only greeting the woodcutter but offering him
keeping their home and teaching little Lucie as if Charles were tips. When she sees the crowd of people dancing, however,
there. One day, her father tells her that if she stands in a she is overwhelmed by fear. Dr. Manette is the only person
particular place at 3 p.m. each day, Darnay may be able to who can really calm her, just as she calmed him in his worst
reach a window from which he can see her. So every day she episodes of fear after she rescued him. The theme of violence
stays in that place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sometimes she brings is present, as the crowd has been looting churches and is likely

off to watch people being executed at the guillotine. Lucie is that Madame Defarge is knitting and has an extra piece of
constantly aware of what her husband is up against and won't knitting under her arm. He also notices they will not look at him.
be truly calm until he is back at her side. Darnay is charged as an emigrant, and the crowd shouts, "Take
off his head! ... An enemy to the Republic!" But Darnay counters
One of the most influential leaders in the French government the accusation, saying he's not an emigrant; he was in England
at this time was Maximilien Robespierre. Among other things, because "he had voluntarily relinquished a title ... and a station
he established a form of deism as the state religion known as that [were] distasteful to him, and had left his country ... to live
the cult of the Supreme Being. (Deism was a product of the by his own industry in England, rather than on the industry of
Age of Reason that held that God could only be known through the overladen people of France." Gabelle and Dr. Manette
reason and innate understanding of natural law, not through could bear witness to this. The President of the Tribunal
church teaching or revelation.) The guillotine was viewed as a reminds him that he married in England, but Darnay explains
protector of the people and referred to as "La Sainte that he married a French woman, Dr. Manette's daughter.
Guillotine"; guillotines were even dressed in blue robes like the Because of Dr. Manette's status, this information has a positive
Virgin Mary for the festival of the Supreme Being in June of effect on the onlookers. Darnay also explains he came back to
1793. Meanwhile, Catholicism had been renounced, even by France to save a fellow citizen, Gabelle, who confirms this. Dr.
priests and nuns (if they knew what was good for them); the Manette explains that Darnay was tried by the English
mob of dancers who so disturbed Lucie Manette were "Aristocrat government" as an enemy for supporting the United
probably celebrating after vandalizing a church, a common States, and Lorry confirms this. The jury votes unanimously to
pastime in November and December of that year. acquit Darnay.
Dickens doesn't reveal the identity of Mr. Jarvis Lorry's Before Darnay leaves the building, another five prisoners are
mysterious visitor, but he does leave a few clues: Lorry is condemned to die. But their trial has no audience. Everyone
agitated, for one, and the visitor seems to have come by has followed Darnay to celebrate his reprieve. The onlookers
horseback, because he has left his riding coat across a chair. It lift him up onto a chair and process through the streets with
could be that he has traveled all the way from England. Also, it him. He looks for the Defarges in the crowd but doesn't see
seems to be someone who is interested in Darnay's them. He is carried home and reunited with his loved ones. The
appearance before the Tribunal the following day. crowd then lifts a young woman into the chair to represent the
Goddess of Liberty and moves off through the streets, dancing
the Carmagnole. Darnay tells Lucie he is safe, and that "no
Book 3, Chapter 6 other man in ... France could have done what [her father] has
done for me." As she hugs the doctor, he tells her, "Don't
tremble so. I have saved him."
Summary
At La Force prison, the jailer reads the "evening paper"—the list Analysis
of prisoners to be taken before the Tribunal the next day.
Charles Darnay's name is on the list. The prisoners are The presence of the Defarges near Charles Darnay during his
transferred to the Conciergerie to await trial. The Conciergerie trial is unsettling, especially because they won't look at him.
was a Gothic palace that was converted into a palace of justice Madame Defarge's knitting is a reminder that, although the
in the late 1500s, at which time some sections became prison crowd is emotionally moved by Darnay's marriage to Dr.
cells. Under the revolutionary government, its importance as a Manette's daughter, not everyone thinks this absolves him
prison grew, and it housed the revolutionary tribunal. from the charge of treason. In fact, marrying him condemns
Lucie, especially in Madame Defarge's mind. Darnay is
After waiting in the Conciergerie, the prisoners are called one concerned about them and looks for them in the crowd. They
by one into the Tribunal. Fifteen are called before Darnay, and aren't there, of course, as they are not about to celebrate his
all of them are condemned to die. Finally, Darnay is called. The release.
courtroom is packed with coarsely dressed and well-armed
ruffians, and the Defarges are seated near Darnay. He notices The onlookers may go wild when Darnay is acquitted, but they

are not to be trusted. Dickens mentions several times how Darnay. Again, the doctor chides her for overreacting, because
fickle the people are. Many an innocent person have already he has "saved" Darnay already. "What weakness is this," he
been sent to the guillotine without a trial, accused of plotting says; "Let me go to the door."
against the revolutionary government.
At the door are four armed men wearing red caps who demand
This is the second time Charles Darnay has been on trial, but "the Citizen Evrémonde." Darnay asks who wants him, and they
the courtroom atmosphere in this chapter is very different than reply that he is "again the prisoner of the Republic" and is to be
that of the English courtroom at the Old Bailey in London, taken to the Conciergerie to go before the Tribunal the
where readers were first introduced to him. The Old Bailey is following day. Dr. Manette asks them to explain and is told the
positively peaceful compared to the Tribunal, where the Defarges and one other person have denounced him. The
atmosphere reflects the mob mentality. There are other doctor asks, "What other?" One of the four, who is from Saint
differences as well. Here, Darnay speaks for himself and Antoine, says, "Do you ask, Citizen Doctor? ... Then ... you will
introduces his own witnesses. In the Old Bailey his barrister, be answered to-morrow."
Mr. Stryver, was in charge of his defense. Also, in London the
prosecution called witnesses against him. But in Paris, all that
is required is an accusation; the burden of proof falls on the Analysis
accused.
For all of Dickens's portrayals of Lucie as a typical soft-voiced,
gentle woman of her age, in need of direction by a man, he has
Book 3, Chapter 7 moments where he portrays her as a woman with nerves of
steel and an incredible ability to understand the psychology of
everyone she meets. In this chapter, he shows the latter
quality: Lucie is completely in tune with the environment in
Summary which she hides. She is very much aware that no one is ever
safe from the populace, and that one person's hatred can
That night, Lucie still can't shake her fears for her husband's
condemn another person to death. It is strange that Dr.
safety, whereas her father feels triumphant and sees Lucie's
Manette doesn't see that the populace is fickle, but his elation
worry as womanly weakness; she can lean on his strength, he
at having special status clouds his understanding of just how
feels, because he has overcome his feebleness and his
bad the situation has become in Paris. Sure enough, Lucie's
insanity. He has saved Charles Darnay from death, and has had
assessment of Charles Darnay's safety is spot on: He is free
Darnay's name—"Charles Evrémonde, called Darnay"—added
for less than a day before the Defarges cast their shadow over
to the list of residents on their doorpost.
him again, denouncing him to the Republic. Injustice is rampant,
Even though neither speaks French, Miss Pross and Jerry and Darnay is not safe. No one is.
Cruncher (who is now living with the Manettes) do the family's
Dr. Manette no longer has as much influence as he has had in
shopping "every evening, in small quantities and at various
the past, and this is seriously disturbing to him. He can't even
small shops"; this prevents potential thieves from noticing the
get information out of the four men who show up to take
household. They are getting ready to go on this nightly errand
Darnay away, much less save his son-in-law a second time. It is
when Miss Pross asks Dr. Manette when they will be returning
the doctor, not Lucie, who is delusional, much as Darnay was
to England, but the doctor says it isn't safe for Charles to leave
when he first came to Paris to save Gabelle.
yet. Miss Pross tries to respond cheerfully and says, "We must
hold up our heads and fight low, as my brother Solomon used In Chapter 2, the reaction of the people on the mail coach to
to say." She and Jerry leave. Jerry Cruncher's arrival showed how great the fear of crime
was in England; it was everyone's first thought that he was a
Sitting with her family by the fire, Lucie is feeling "more at ease
highwayman, and any stranger at all might be a criminal. But
than she had been." Suddenly, she shouts, "What is that?" and
this chapter demonstrates that things are much worse in
explains she thought she heard footsteps on the stairs. Her
France. People are not only afraid of strangers; they're afraid
father replies, "My love, the staircase is as still as Death." But
of their neighbors. That's why Jerry and Miss Pross must shop
there is a hard knock on the door, and Lucie begs him to hide

together and shop so frequently. They even change the stores winning game; I will play the losing one ... Anyone carried home
they buy from every day and buy only small amounts in each. by the people to-day, may be condemned to-morrow."
This way no one around them can figure out how much money
the family has to spend on food and other necessities. Carton then sets about blackmailing Barsad into helping him.
He says he knows not only that Barsad was once an English
spy, but that he is "still in the pay of the aristocratic English
Book 3, Chapter 8 government, is the spy of Pitt, the treacherous foe of the
Republic." When Barsad is not convinced, Carton tells him that
he saw him meeting Roger Cly, the other spy from the Old
Bailey. Smiling, Barsad produces Cly's burial certificate. Now
Summary Jerry steps in and asks Barsad if he put Cly in his coffin.
Barsad replies that he did, and Jerry asks, "Who took him out
Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher are doing the shopping, and
of it?" He says he and two others know there were paving
Miss Pross finally finds a wine shop that is somewhat safer
stones in the coffin and, angry again that he was cheated out
than others. She and Jerry go inside, and while they're waiting
of his pay that night, Jerry says he'd be glad to denounce
for their order to be filled, Miss Pross comes face to face with
Barsad himself. Barsad gives up, and asks Carton what he
a man on his way out the door. She screams, claps her hands,
wants. Barsad confirms that he can enter and leave the
and addresses the man as Solomon. The man shushes her,
Conciergerie at will, and Carton takes Barsad into another
saying not to call him that or she will "be the death of me."
room to speak privately.
Solomon tells her to come outside if she wants to talk to him
and to have Jerry come out, too. He asks if Jerry has seen a
ghost. Jerry certainly looks as if he has but doesn't answer.
Analysis
Once they are outside and away from the shop, Solomon asks
Dickens has finally revealed the identity of Lorry's mysterious
Miss Pross what she wants, and she gets upset, calling him
visitor; it's Sydney Carton. Now that Charles Darnay has been
cruel for not even greeting his sister. For this man is Solomon
rearrested, perhaps Carton, who is so committed to ensuring
Pross, her long-lost brother. Solomon, however, has no interest
Lucie's happiness, can apply his formidable intellect to an
in seeing Miss Pross. Jerry, who is confused, asks Solomon if
effective fallback plan.
his name is Solomon John, or John Solomon, and his name
surely wasn't Pross back in England. Jerry remembers that he This chapter is full of "aha" moments for readers. Dickens has
"was a spy-witness at the Bailey." A voice from behind Jerry masterfully tied together a number of threads. First, he
supplies the name: "Barsad." It's Sydney Carton, who has been connects John Barsad to Miss Pross, as her long-lost brother
waiting, under the care of Lorry, to step in when he is needed. who once took all her money and made off with it. Barsad is
Carton says he needs to have a chat with Miss Pross's brother, every bit the scoundrel Stryver accused him of being back in
whom he calls a "Sheep of the Prisons," meaning he is a spy for London. Dickens also ties Barsad to Charles Darnay's trial at
the jailers. Carton tells him he saw Barsad come out of the the Old Bailey and, by extension to Roger Cly. Jerry Cruncher
Conciergerie and followed him here, where he listened in on also recognizes Barsad from Darnay's trial, having been the
Barsad's conversation. Carton suggests Barsad follow him to messenger who was hired by Jarvis Lorry to report the trial
Tellson's Bank, where he has a proposal he would like to make. result to the bank. Sydney Carton also recognizes Cly when he
sees him with Barsad in the wine shop where Miss Pross
On the way, they leave Miss Pross at her door, and Jerry goes
recognized Barsad as her brother. Finally, Dickens connects
on with the men to Tellson's, where Carton introduces Barsad
both Barsad and Cly to Jerry's illegal grave-digging business.
as Miss Pross's brother, and Lorry recognizes him from
Because Jerry saw Cly's fake funeral and subsequently tried to
Charles Darnay's trial at the Old Bailey. Carton says he has
dig up his body, he knows that there was no body in the casket.
discovered from Barsad that Darnay has been arrested, and
The reader isn't told this in the chapter where Jerry digs up the
Carton finds it alarming that Dr. Manette could not prevent it.
body, which is a classic Dickens technique: revealing a crucial
Also, because Dr. Manette is now linked with Darnay, his life
detail near the end of a novel in order to tie subplots together.
may be in danger, too. Carton says, "Let the Doctor play the

Dickens also reveals Barsad's complete web of duplicity: a web reminds him that Lucie and her child will do so, for which he
that spans two countries and three governments. Carton says can be thankful. Carton suggests that if he had not been
that he is willing to lose the bigger game, but Dickens doesn't useful, trusted, respected, and loved, his 78 years would be
reveal how this will happen or what the bigger game is. In "seventy-eight heavy curses." They talk of Lorry's childhood
having Carton speak privately with Barsad but not revealing memories, and Carton says, "my young way was never the way
what they say to each other, he draws out the suspense so to age." Then he walks Lorry to Lucie's gate, promising to be in
that the reader is intrigued enough to want to read the next court in the morning.
chapter.
Carton then walks to La Force prison, following in Lucie's steps
on her daily visits. At the prison, he meets the wood-sawyer,
Book 3, Chapter 9 who is smoking a pipe. The little man was watching executions
today and is delighted by how fast the executioner worked:
"He shaved the sixty-three to-day, in less than two pipes!" He
recommends Carton go and watch tomorrow's executions.
Summary Next, Carton stops at a dingy old pharmacy on the left bank,
where he buys several items. The pharmacist warns him to
Mr. Jarvis Lorry is appalled that Jerry Cruncher has been body
keep them separate, and Carton assures the man he knows
snatching illegally on the side, and threatens to report Jerry
"the consequences of mixing them." Back on the street, Carton
when they get back to England. But Jerry defends himself.
remembers the words read at his father's graveside: "I am the
First, they've worked together many years. Then, medical
resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me,
doctors bank at Tellson's and might right now be "a cocking
though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth
their medical eyes at [an honest] tradesman [like Jerry] on the
and believeth in me, shall never die." Thinking of everyone who
sly"; Lorry can't "sarse the goose and not the gander." Jerry
died that day and are yet to die on the guillotine, he sadly
says his son is old enough to take over Jerry's position at
recrosses the Seine to the better part of town. Outside a
Tellson's, and Jerry can make amends by becoming a
theater, a woman and her daughter are trying to cross the
gravedigger and burying bodies rather than digging them up.
muddy road. Carton carries the little girl over the mud, asking
Lorry softens slightly and says he needs to see Jerry repent "in
for a kiss as he puts her down. He walks nearly all night,
action—not in words."
hearing the Bible passage in the echoes of his footsteps. In the
morning, he naps on the riverbank, waking with the words still
Sydney Carton comes out of the other room with Barsad and
in his mind and seeing "a bridge of light [spanning] the air
bids the spy "Adieu." Carton tells Lorry that if things don't go
between him and the sun, while the river sparkled under it."
well for Darnay, he has access to the prisoner "once"; to ask
more of Barsad would condemn him as surely as denouncing
Carton goes to the Tribunal. Lorry is there with Lucie and Dr.
him would. They agree that access would not be enough to
Manette. When Darnay comes in, Lucie's look of
save him. Lorry cries. Carton tells him he is "a good man and a
encouragement and love " brighten[s] his glance, and
true friend," and Lorry, suddenly seeing "the better side" of
animate[s] his heart"; it has the same effect on Carton. The
Carton, takes the younger man's hand. Carton tells him not to
judges, the jury, and the audience, however, look murderous.
tell Lucie, lest she think the meeting was to give Darnay some
The prosecutor reports that three people have denounced
means of killing himself. Carton thinks he should not see Lucie
Darnay: Monsieur Defarge, Madame Defarge, and "Alexandre
and asks the older man not to mention him to her. He asks how
Manette, physician." Dr. Manette protests loudly, saying this is
she looks; Lorry replies, "Anxious and unhappy, but very
a fraud and he would never denounce his son-in-law. Monsieur
beautiful." Carton's grief is apparent.
Defarge is called to testify, and, staring at his wife the entire
time he is speaking, testifies that when he stormed the Bastille,
Lorry's work in Paris is finished; he has his "Leave to Pass" and
he found a written paper hidden behind a stone in Dr.
had intended to leave once he knew Lucie's family to be safe.
Manette's cell. The President of the Tribunal orders the paper
Carton remarks that Lorry has led a long and useful life,
read.
"steadily and constantly occupied; trusted, respected, and
looked up to," and when Lorry says no one will mourn him,

doctor, "who [sees] none of them"; he is watching the reader.

Analysis The direction of each person's gaze reveals their strongest
feelings. What matters most to Darnay is Lucie; the two people
Through his actions in this chapter, Jarvis Lorry and others
in the room whom Lucie loves most are Darnay and her father;
learn that Sydney Carton is the generous, kind, loving person
Dr. Manette is overwhelmed by the horror contained in the
Lucie has known him to be. Lorry has teared up before. In this
letter; the onlookers are fascinated by and greedy for the
chapter, he reacts to Carton's plan, which is to go to Charles
doctor's horror. Defarge's choices, such as his choice to testify
Darnay if he is condemned to death, by breaking down and
against the family of an old friend and a hero of the Republic,
crying. In response, Carton exposes his true self, treating Lorry
are dictated by his love for his wife; but Madame Defarge,
with the tenderness of a son. The two men have an unusual
whose life is dominated by vengeance, has eyes only for
conversation about the value of one's life and what it feels like
Darnay—the first name on her personal register of the
to look back over one's life as when approaching the end of it.
condemned.
Lorry points out that Carton is still young, but Carton says, "my
young way was never the way to age." This implies he also
feels as if his life were approaching its end. Later, when he's on
his own, Carton meditates on the prayer said over his father's
Book 3, Chapter 10
grave, again leading readers to believe he's approaching death.
But he seems to be facing it peacefully. The words also
reinforce the theme of resurrection, which will play out in Summary
greater detail in the next few chapters. The truth about
Carton's death is foreshadowed by the wood-sawyer's Dr. Manette's paper is read to the court. It tells how the doctor
recommendation that he attend the executions the next day. was compelled by two men to go with them to a house to treat
a patient. They were armed and rude, and he could not refuse.
During the night, Carton buys several substances from a At the house, the two men hit the person who answered the
pharmacist that should not be mixed together. Readers door across the face for being too slow and then brought the
suspect he's going to use them to help Darnay, but it isn't clear doctor to the patient—a beautiful young woman tied to a bed
how. with strips of gentlemen's clothing. One binding was a scarf
embroidered with a crest and the monogram E. She kept
In the courtroom, the announcement that the third person to
crying out "My husband, my father, and my brother!" then
denounce Darnay is Alexandre Manette comes as a shock to
counting to 12 and saying "Hush."
Dr. Manette, but Dickens foreshadowed the existence of this
paper earlier in the novel, when Darnay told Dr. Manette the The two men, who were twin brothers, told Dr. Manette there
story of writings found in a prisoner's cell. Again, Dickens was another patient. This was a young boy dying from a sword
leaves the contents of the paper to come in the next chapter wound. The boy told Dr. Manette the woman was his sister; she
so as to build suspense. was a "good girl" with a sickly husband, but the younger
Evrémonde brother wanted to sleep with her. To force her
In the courtroom, Lucie is a model of strength and love,
husband to agree, the Evrémonde brothers harnessed the
watching Darnay steadily in such a way as to encourage him
husband to a cart and drove him all day every day. At night,
and give him strength. She knows Darnay is terrified, and if she
they kept him on their property in the cold "to quiet the frogs."
were to act on her own terror, it would make him feel far
One day they let the man go at noon to try to find food; he lay
worse. Lucie puts Darnay's emotional state above her
in his wife's arms, "sobbed twelve times, once for every stroke
own—again, the theme of self-sacrifice—by setting aside her
of the bell," and died. Then the younger brother took the
terror and exhibiting only the emotions and strengths that will
woman away and had his way with her. Upon hearing what had
help Darnay get through this trial knowing he is loved. Their
happened, the boy's father had a heart attack and died. The
eyes are locked on one another's; Lucie only looks away to
boy hid his younger sister and went after the younger
impart some strength to her father, who is stunned.
Evrémonde brother. The Marquis's brother threw money at the
Defarge, too, is looking at his wife as he testifies, but her eyes boy, then whipped him, and when the boy still came at him,
are "feasting" on Darnay. Everyone else is looking at the plunged his sword into the boy. The doctor supported the boy,

who confronted the Marquis, saying, "I summon you and yours, evidence of their view of peasants not only as animals to be
to the last of your bad race, to answer for [your deeds]. I mark herded and killed as necessary, but also as property. Women in
this cross of blood upon you, as a sign that I do it." After the village were seen by people like the Marquis as available
repeating his curse for the Marquis's brother, the boy fell dead. for their pleasure no matter what their family status was.
Whether or not such a right existed is still a matter of debate. If
The woman lived a week before lapsing into unconsciousness. it did exist, the droit du seigneur ("the lord's right") actually
The Marquis asked the doctor not to say anything about what pertained only to the woman's wedding night, when the lord
he had witnessed, but Dr. Manette avoided answering. Finally, could sleep with her if he wanted. But it is generally believed
the woman died, just before midnight. The Marquis that such rights were just another type of tax; the vassal could
congratulated his brother and tried to give the doctor money, pay the lord a sum of money instead of acquiescing to the
but the doctor refused it. Soon afterward, the Marquis's wife demand. In Victorian England, the perception of women as sex
showed up at the doctor's door, asking if he knew the family slaves was abhorrent, and this letter was Dickens's way of
name of the peasants, as she wanted to find the younger sister completing the picture of a truly evil character.
and help her, but the doctor didn't know. The Marquise made
her little son, Charles, promise to turn over whatever he Dr. Manette's testimony from so long ago denouncing the
inherited from her to the dead woman's sister. entire "race" of Evrémondes is the key testimony that seals
Charles Darnay's fate. The onlookers are baying for his blood.
Dr. Manette delivered a letter to a government minister These are the very same people who carried him home on their
recounting what had witnessed, and that same night a man shoulders the day before, celebrating his reprieve. Sydney
arrived and followed the doctor's servant, Ernest Defarge, up Carton's earlier statement that the same crowd that carries
to where the doctor was sitting with his wife. The man said he people home will take them to their death is proven correct.
had a coach waiting downstairs to take the doctor to an urgent
case. In the coach, the doctor was gagged and tied. The
Evrémondes met the coach, identified Dr. Manette, and burned
the doctor's letter in front of him. The doctor was imprisoned in
Book 3, Chapter 11
the Bastille and 10 years later wrote this paper denouncing the
brothers "to the last of their race."
Summary
The crowd goes wild, and Madame Defarge happily murmurs,
"Save him now, my doctor, save him!" Darnay is unanimously As the court room empties, Lucie asks to hold her husband one
condemned to death, to be executed within 24 hours. more time and is brought near him. Wrapping her in his arms,
Charles Darnay tells her they will meet again. He sends his
daughter a blessing and a kiss, and Lucie replies that she is not
Analysis sure how long she will last without him so they will not be apart
for long. She says she will pray their daughter finds friends as
This terrible story further explains Dr. Manette's suffering in she did to support her when Lucie is gone.
prison and his descent into insanity. In addition to the many
years of solitary confinement, Dr. Manette had to suffer his Dr. Manette approaches, about to fall to his knees before them.
own guilt. He hadn't been able to save any of the patients in the Darnay tells him he has no reason to kneel, and that the paper
peasant family, and he couldn't make the Marquis or his gave them a new understanding of the horrors he went
brother pay for what they had done. The feelings of desperate through and how hard it was for the doctor to accept Darnay,
frustration and failure nearly did him in. The letter that had knowing who he really was. When Dr. Manette continues his
reported the incident was burned, and the only consolation agonized shrieking, Charles says, "It was the always-vain
was that one member of the peasant family was still alive, endeavour to discharge my poor mother's trust that first
hiding somewhere. Dickens doesn't yet reveal who she is, but brought my fatal presence near you. ... [A] happier end was not
he will. in nature to so unhappy a beginning. Be comforted, and forgive

me." Then Darnay is led away, Lucie watching him with love
The story of the Marquis and his brother reveals more and "a comforting smile." Then Lucie turns to her father and

faints. Sydney Carton carries her to a coach and lays her on doctor can change the sentence, but in his heart he knows it's
the seat. Her father and Jarvis Lorry get in with her, and Carton not possible, so he proceeds with his plan, which still has not
climbs up next to the driver. been completely revealed to the reader, building the suspense
almost to the end of the novel.
When they get home, Carton lowers Lucie to a couch, to be
taken care of by Miss Pross. Little Lucie throws herself at
Carton to embrace him, begging him to save her mother and
father. Carton gives her mother a kiss, with her permission, and
Book 3, Chapter 12
whispers to her, "A life you love." He then goes into another
room with Lorry and the doctor. He asks Dr. Manette to use his
influence again to at least try to save Darnay, but recognizes
Summary
that it is probably futile. Carton says he will return at 9 p.m. to
Sydney Carton decides he should be seen in the
find out what has happened. As Carton is leaving, Lorry
neighborhood, especially in Saint Antoine. First, he has a meal
whispers to him that the prisoner "will perish; there is no real
and then a good sleep. He has stopped drinking anything more
hope." Carton echoes his words.
than "light thin wine." He wakes at 7 p.m.—two hours before he
must meet Dr. Manette at Tellson's Bank—and goes to the
Analysis Defarges' wine shop, where he finds the Defarges, The

Vengeance, and Jacques Three in conversation over a drink.
Lucie shows her strength again in this chapter, even fighting He orders a glass of wine in halting French. While pouring it,
off unconsciousness long enough to get to her husband and Madame Defarge remarks to the others how much Carton
comfort him, smile at him, and embrace him. She does, looks "like Evrémonde." After toasting the Republic, Carton
however, know herself well enough to know that if he is put to pretends to be struggling to read a Jacobin newsletter while
death, she will not be able to bear living without him for long, actually eavesdropping on the Defarges' conversation.
and she tells him so. Her honesty adds to her many admirable
Madame Defarge favors complete extermination of the
qualities, and by saying this to Charles Darnay, she hopes it will
Evrémonde family, but Monsieur Defarge wants to stop at
comfort him to know they will soon meet again in the afterlife.
executing Darnay because "this Doctor has suffered much."
But, when Darnay finally leaves the courtroom, Lucie can't hold
His wife counters that Dr. Manette is "not ... a true friend of the
on any longer and falls to the ground. Given the circumstances,
Republic" and makes clear she wants to send Lucie to the
this is completely understandable, and Dickens doesn't portray
guillotine, too. Jacques Three and The Vengeance support her
it as weakness; it is simply intense, overwhelming shock and
enthusiastically. Madame Defarge says to her husband, "Thou
grief.
wouldst rescue this man even now," and he denies that. Then
As for Darnay, his reaction to the doctor shows what a truly Madame Defarge admits something to Jacques Three and The
good man he is and reinforces the idea that all along, he has Vengeance that she told her husband on the night he brought
wanted to turn his family heritage around, and follow his home the doctor's paper from the Bastille: "That peasant family
mother's wishes that he be a force for good and peace. At this so injured by the two Evrémonde brothers ... is [her] family."
point, the only way he can manage that is to be put to death, so She says to her husband, "Tell Wind and Fire where to stop ...
that the male part of the family line is out of the picture. He is but don't tell me." Then customers enter the shop, and the
extremely sympathetic to Dr. Manette's plight and lets the conversation ends. Carton leaves, asking Madame Defarge for
doctor know how moved he is by the doctor's suffering and his directions to the National Palace. As she raises her arm to
subsequent strength in putting his love for Lucie and for her point the way, he considers stabbing her beneath it, but
happy life before his own revulsion towards the Evrémonde instead goes on his way, stopping at the prison before
family. returning to the bank.
Speaking of putting Lucie's happy life above all else, Carton At Tellson's, Jarvis Lorry tells Carton the doctor hasn't
now knows what he has to do. His statement to Lucie as he returned yet. By midnight, he still hasn't arrived. When Dr.
kisses her is a goodbye and a gift. He wishes fervently that the Manette finally shows up, he has no hat or scarf and drops his

coat on the floor, saying "I cannot find it ... and I must have it. In two days, a relationship has formed between the childless
Where is it?" He is asking for his shoemaking bench. When he Lorry and the fatherless Carton that seems as close as family.
doesn't get it, he throws a childish tantrum. Carton says that Both men seem to have a limitless capacity for love. Before
the doctor must be taken to Lucie, but first, he lays out a plan they part, Carton kisses the older man's hand in a gesture a
for Lorry. He tells Lorry what he overheard at the Defarges' son might make toward his father—a gesture Carton makes
shop and that he suspects Madame Defarge will wait to gather knowing they will never meet again.
as much evidence as possible against Lucie, little Lucie, and
even the doctor. He explains that the wood-sawyer can testify The other big piece of news dropped in the conversation at the
that Lucie has been signaling to prisoners; also, it is considered wine shop is the identity of the young girl from the peasant
treason "to mourn for, or sympathise with, a victim of the family, the girl who was hidden away. That young girl is
Guillotine," and he believes Madame Defarge will wait until Madame Defarge. Her coldness and seemingly heartless
everyone has seen the family's sorrow. In the doctor's coat, he desire for vengeance on the Evrémondes is explained by this
finds papers allowing Dr. Manette, Lucie, and the child to leave revelation. It seems less terrible that she wants revenge
the city; he entrusts these papers, as well as his own, to Lorry because her pain is real and understandable. However, it is still
and tells him to have a carriage readied and everyone in it at 2 inhumane to blame and condemn someone who was a baby at
p.m. the next day. Lorry is to wait only for Carton and to leave that time and to extend this condemnation to his wife and child
as soon as Carton joins him in the carriage. Lorry promises now that he is an adult. Dickens doesn't give Madame Defarge
"solemnly that nothing will influence [him] to alter the course a pass to act the way she does, but he does give the reader an
on which [they] now stand pledged." Carton kisses Lorry's opportunity to see that her rabid insistence on vengeance may
hand and helps the older man bring the doctor to Lucie. Then not be the product of evil but of madness. Her personal history
he stands in her courtyard, sending a blessing up to her also explains why her husband's attitude toward Darnay has
window. seemed so ambiguous and even remorseful.
Analysis Book 3, Chapter 13

Sydney Carton, who has played the part of a careless drunk
who only helps his employer when push comes to shove, Summary
stages a brilliant stakeout to get information from the
Defarges, proving that he is a much better spy than the Fifty-two people are awaiting execution in the Conciergerie.
professionals readers have met in the book. He completely Charles Darnay is one of them. After hearing Dr. Manette's
convinces the Defarges that he can't understand what they are document, he fully understands that there is no hope. He
saying to each other so they talk about their plans in front of writes a letter to Lucie, explaining that he had not known why
him without censoring themselves. Carton not only has a her father was imprisoned and that it was a condition of their
gentle heart but his cleverness extends beyond legal cases, marriage that he not tell her his real name. He writes to the
and his heroism is genuine. It looks like Carton's doctor to tell him he hadn't known about his connection with
reconnaissance mission at the wine shop will save everyone's the Evrémondes. He commends Lucie and his daughter to the
life but Charles Darnay's. But why must Lorry and the family doctor's care and the care of the entire family to Mr. Jarvis
wait for Carton to join them? Right now, he has no obvious Lorry. Sydney Carton doesn't even cross his mind.
connection to Darnay, so his life isn't in danger. Yet, he insists
Jarvis Lorry hang on to his traveling papers. Again, Dickens Then he sleeps and dreams he is back in Soho with his family.
builds the suspense. The reader suspects that whatever In the morning, he doesn't realize where he is "until it flashed
Carton ends up doing, it will be self-sacrificing, in order to keep upon his mind, 'this is the day of my death!'" He hears the hours
his promise to Lucie. striking and knows he will never hear those hours struck again.
He is supposed to be executed at 3 p.m.; the tumbrils move
In just two days, Carton has completely reversed Lorry's slowly, so he thinks he will be leaving around 2 p.m. He paces
opinion of him. Before, he found him rather distasteful, but now back and forth in his cell, calmly counting the hours.
he trusts him completely and does as asked without question.

Then he hears "footsteps in the stone passage outside the safe.

door." The door is unlocked, and in walks Sydney Carton.
Carton says he has a message from Lucie that Darnay is to do
everything he says without argument. He tells Darnay to switch Analysis
clothes with him and shake out his hair like Carton's. Darnay
protests the switch won't work and Carton will just die with him In this chapter, it becomes clear what Sydney Carton's real
but does what he's told. Carton insists he's not asking Darnay plan is, and it is nothing less than to give his own life to save
to escape and if he should, to refuse. Then Carton dictates a Charles Darnay's. He knows that Lucie has said she can't live
letter addressed to no one and undated. The letter begins, "If for long without Darnay, and he wants her to have a long life
you remember ... the words that passed between us, long ago, filled with love. The only way he can do that is to give her
you will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do Darnay, alive, and there is only one way to make sure Darnay
remember them, I know. It is not in your nature to forget them. lives. Carton uses his resemblance to Darnay to bring him back
... I am thankful that the time has come, when I can prove them. to life, reinforcing the resurrection theme.
That I do so is no subject for regret or grief." As Darnay writes,
Darnay has no time to react, although he protests the plan at
Carton leans down and puts his hand near Darnay's head.
every turn, believing it to be futile and that it can only end in
Darnay starts getting woozy and eventually passes out. Carton
Carton dying alongside him. Carton knew Darnay would
puts the paper in Darnay's breast pocket and orders John
protest and purchased chemicals that, when mixed, would
Barsad to take "Sydney Carton" out and say that he had
render Darnay unconscious and therefore unable to give the
already been weak with emotion going in and became fainter
plan away. When he delivers Darnay to Jarvis Lorry, John
once inside. He reminds him to take him to the courtyard, place
Barsad shows him Darnay's face. In the carriage, only Lorry
him in the carriage, and remind Lorry of his promise. Barsad
knows it is Charles Darnay and not Sydney Carton who is
has two men carry Darnay out, and he says to Carton, "The
traveling with them. Lucie is too busy to notice as she is
time is short, Evrémonde." Carton replies, "I know it well. Be
occupied with her daughter and especially her father, who is
careful of my friend, I entreat you, and leave me." Barsad
"helpless, inarticulately murmuring, wandering" and therefore
leaves with Darnay on a litter, carried by the two men.
requires all her attention. It is not until Darnay awakes that
Carton is led out of his cell to be bound with the rest of the 52 Lucie will realize he has been resurrected—and how.
prisoners to die that day. He sees a young seamstress, who
Carton's connection with the seamstress gives him strength,
recognizes him, calls him Citizen Evrémonde, and asks if she
as it does her, especially when she realizes he is dying for
can hold his hand to give her courage. When he squeezes her
Evrémonde. In a way, the two are parallel. She is dying for the
hand and brings it to his lips, she gets a better look at him and
Republic, though she doesn't see how her death can benefit it,
realizes he is a stranger. She whispers, "Are you dying for
and he is dying for Lucie. Carton is a hero not only for saving
him?" He whispers back, "And his wife and child." She asks if
Darnay and keeping his promise to Lucie, but also for
she can hold his "brave hand," and he tells her he will hold her
comforting a stranger who has been wrongly condemned to
hand until the last moment.
death.
Meanwhile, Lorry is answering questions at the barrier and
refers to Darnay as Sydney Carton, who is unwell and "has
separated sadly from a friend who is under the displeasure of Book 3, Chapter 14
the Republic." After a few more questions, they are waved on.
Lucie worries constantly that they are being pursued, but Lorry
can see no one. They change horses and postilions several Summary
times without incident. Suddenly, the postilions begin arguing
and stop the coach to ask how many heads were to roll today; Madame Defarge fears her husband may warn Dr. Manette and
Lorry tells him 52, settling the argument. They start to move his family that she intends to denounce them because of his
again. As it gets dark, Darnay begins to regain consciousness, feelings for the doctor. On the day Evrémonde is scheduled to
but thinks he is still with Carton, calling him by name and die, she meets with Jacques Three, who is on the jury of the
asking what is in his hand. They drive on through the night, Tribunal; The Vengeance; and the wood-sawyer who can attest

that Lucie has been signaling prisoners in La Force. She feel this exonerates her. Lest readers forget, he reminds them
herself witnessed Dr. Manette doing so. She gives her knitting in this scene between her and her closest supporters. The
to The Vengeance and asks her friend to save her a seat at the Vengeance and Jacques Three seem to share her passion.
execution. Madame Defarge sets off to the Manette Jacques, in particular, feels the more executions, the better.
apartment, where she hopes to find Lucie and the doctor His ravings are so clearly evil that they serve to remind readers
mourning Darnay, which will help to condemn them. such feelings deserve no sympathy. And, despite the praise of
The Vengeance and Jacques Three, Dickens does not let
While Madame Defarge is approaching, Miss Pross and Jerry readers forget the fear Madame Defarge inspires; the poor
Cruncher are making their plans. Jarvis Lorry has charged wood-sawyer is so afraid that he's willing to lie to make her
them with hiring a small, rapid transport in which they can leave happy. She is a terrifying woman who, with her knife and her
at 3 p.m. and overtake Lorry's heavier carriage and ensure gun, feels completely invincible and never doubts her right to
changes of horse have been arranged for the carriage. They vengeance. The narrator says, "She was absolutely without
know the identity of the man John Barsad brought at 2 p.m., pity. If she had ever had the virtue in her, it had quite gone out
and Jerry is frantic with worry; he suddenly understands the of her."
value of prayer. Miss Pross suggests he arrange the transport
and pick her up at the cathedral, so that two carriages won't be Miss Pross is already very strong, but she is also filled with
seen leaving their courtyard. He sets off to do so, and she gets protective courage and desperation to make sure that no one
ready to leave. hurts her "Ladybird"—her nickname for Lucie. Dickens
describes her strength in holding Madame Defarge away from
Madame Defarge is suddenly in the room with Miss Pross and the door as "the vigorous tenacity of love, always stronger than
demands to see Lucie. But Miss Pross doesn't speak French, hate." Miss Pross's version of love is certainly vigorous and
and Madame Defarge doesn't speak English. A conversation tenacious. Jarvis Lorry has always admired Miss Pross for her
ensues in which Miss Pross insults Madame Defarge, and strength and faithfulness, even to her errant brother, Solomon.
Madame Defarge becomes increasingly angry and abusive. But in this chapter, readers see proof of her cleverness, her
Each understands the tone of what the other is saying. reliability, and her determination. Miss Pross does what she
Eventually, Madame Defarge suspects that no one is there and plans without paying much mind to anyone else. She is ready
makes a lunge for the closed door to a back room. Miss Pross to sacrifice her life for Lucie's family, but in the end sacrifices
throws her arms around Madame Defarge's waist and holds on her hearing. She loves fiercely and can sometimes be
as tightly as she can so that Madame Defarge can't move. obnoxiously overprotective, but it serves her and those she
Madame Defarge claws at Miss Pross's face and hair, but Miss loves well.
Pross buries her face and hugs harder. She can tell that
Madame Defarge has a knife in her belt and keeps her arm
over it. Madame Defarge reaches for the gun stashed in her
bosom, Miss Pross sees it and swats at it. There's a flash and a
Book 3, Chapter 15
bang. When the smoke clears, Madame Defarge is lying on the
floor dead. Miss Pross straightens her clothes as best she can,
puts on a bonnet and veil to hide her scratched-up face, and
Summary
leaves, locking the apartment door behind her. She runs to the
The tumbrils, full of prisoners, rumble through the streets,
cathedral to meet Jerry, throwing the apartment key in the
which are unusually crowded. People are constantly looking for
river along the way. She asks Jerry if there are sounds in the
Evrémonde, who is in the third cart, holding a girl's hand. John
streets but can't hear his answer; she is deaf. Jerry postulates
Barsad arrives and looks for him, too. A man in the crowd
she will never hear again, and she never does.
comes up and stands beside the spy, crying "Down,
Evrémonde!" Barsad tells him "He is going to pay the forfeit: it
Analysis will be paid in five minutes more. Let him be at peace." Sydney
Carton looks intently at him as he passes. At the foot of the
Readers may understand that there are reasons why Madame guillotine, The Vengeance looks in vain for Madame Defarge,
Defarge is so vengeful and merciless. But Dickens does not crying in frustration that her friend is missing the best part.

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Quotes 50
Carton and the seamstress are lifted down from the third he dies brings back all of the ways in which he has resurrected
tumbril and wait for their turn to be beheaded. They face each others. He saved Lucie and her father and daughter from
other, and Carton keeps her back to the guillotine so she certain death by warning them of the dangers headed their
doesn't have to watch. As each head falls, the knitting women way, and he snatched Darnay from the jaws of death not once,
count the number. They talk together calmly. The seamstress but twice.
asks Carton if it is better that she wasn't able to tell her only
relative her fate, and Carton agrees it is. She wonders if she
will have to wait long "in the better land" for her cousin, and
g Quotes
Carton reminds her that in that better land, there is no time and
no trouble either. This comforts the seamstress, and as it is her
time to go, she kisses him and calmly goes to her death. Hers "It was the best of times, it was the
is the 22nd head. Carton thinks of the prayer "I am the
Resurrection and the life," and everything disappears for him worst of times, it was the age of
and the women count 23.
wisdom, it was the age of
Later, the crowd is said to have remarked that Carton had the foolishness, it was the epoch of
most peaceful face of anyone they had ever seen go to their
death at the guillotine. As he goes to his death, he imagines belief, it was the epoch of
Lucie with another child with his name, and her father at peace. incredulity, it was the season of
He sees Darnay and Lucie laid to rest together when they are
old and the son with his name making good. He sees him with light, it was the season of
his own child, telling him Carton's story. Carton's last thoughts
darkness, it was the spring of
are these: "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 hope, it was the winter of despair."
known."
— Narrator, Book 1, Chapter 1
Analysis
Dickens begins his novel with what has become one of the
Sydney Carton has grown as a heroic character and an best-known quotations of all time. It is a description of the
honorable man in this final chapter, as he and the seamstress spectrum of emotions, political activity, human decency, and
keep each other calm before they go to their deaths. For human cruelty that existed during the time leading up to the
Carton, to be the force of love in this young woman's life helps French Revolution and the time in England after the American
him to also remember that he is the force of love in Charles Revolution. Social awareness and the fight for human rights is
Darnay's and Lucie's life and their children's lives as well. He reflected in these words, coexisting with and bubbling under
has kept his promise to Lucie and knows that his story will live the surface of intense repression by those in power and those
on in the tales they pass down through their family. Carton may with money: the best and the worst of humanity.
have thought that he could never improve himself, but he has
gone above and beyond to do just that. It may seem like a
terrible end, and it is extremely sad that Carton has to lose his "All through the cold and restless
life in order to save Darnay. There is nothing joyful about the
terror and the destruction of life that plagued France like an
interval, until, dawn, they once
illness during that time. But the man who could never find more whispered in the ears of Mr.
peace and was always held down by his own darkness is at his
most peaceful just as he loses his life, because he has given
Jarvis Lorry—sitting opposite the
the gift of it to those that he loves. buried man who had been dug out,
The resurrection prayer that Carton recites in his head before and wondering what subtle

powers were forever lost to him, "Not knowing how he lost himself,
and what were capable of or how he recovered himself, he
restoration—the old inquiry: "I may never feel certain of not
hope you care to be recalled to losing himself again."
life?" And the old answer: "I can't
— Miss Pross, Book 2, Chapter 6
say.""
Miss Pross is speaking with Mr. Jarvis Lorry about whether or
— Narrator, Book 1, Chapter 6 not Dr. Manette remembers or understands why he was
imprisoned. Miss Pross believes that he does because Lucie
Dr. Manette spent 18 years in prison for trying to report a thinks he remembers, but Miss Pross understands that
crime, and this has damaged his psyche, as illustrated in this because the reason was so horrible, he avoids talking about it
passage. The doctor lost contact with his wife, did not see his so as not to lose his sanity again. She knows he finds it hard to
daughter, and was held in isolation: a terrible fate akin to death, maintain his recovered state, and a return to the subject of his
or at least the death of his life as he knew it. If it were not for imprisonment might send him back over the edge.
making shoes, he would have completely lost his sanity. These
words also foreshadow a later retreat into shoemaking.
"A multitude of people, and yet a
solitude!"
"Sadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose
upon no sadder sight than the man — Charles Darnay, Book 2, Chapter 6
of good abilities and good

Before Charles Darnay moved to England, he was surrounded
emotions, incapable of their by the aristocracy, and yet completely opposed their terrible
directed exercise, incapable of his treatment of the unfortunate. He didn't fit into his social class
at all and was, in fact, horrified by it. These words foreshadow
own help and his own happiness, the separateness he will also feel in prison, surrounded by the
sensible of the blight on him, and sound of footsteps, and on the street after his release,
surrounded the crowd of revolutionaries.
resigning himself to let it eat him
away."
""Repression is the only lasting
— Narrator, Book 2, Chapter 5 philosophy. The dark deference of
fear and slavery, my friend,"
These words sum up Sydney Carton's personality and his
place in the world—or at least the place he sees himself observed the Marquis, "will keep
occupying. He feels there is no hope for him to change for the
the dogs obedient to the whip, as
better. Even if he could win Lucie, he fears he would never
really change. The interesting part about this bit of self- long as this roof," looking up,
knowledge is that it eventually proves to be false.
"shuts out the sky.""

— The Marquis, Book 2, Chapter 7 making sure that Lucie Manette and the people she loves are
happy and safe. It foreshadows what Carton will do in order to
make sure that her family has a life they love. This phrase
This is the Marquis's response to Charles Darnay's comment
appears again at the end of the book as Carton is executed.
that people don't look at him with respectful deference, but the
deference of fear and slavery. It sums up the attitude that
many French aristocrats had toward the peasantry and the
working class, leading up to the French revolution. It is a "It would be easier for the weakest
particularly odious statement because the Marquis can't even
poltroon that lives, to erase
refer to these people as human beings, and if this is how he
treats his animals, they must have painful, short lives. It is no himself from existence, than to
wonder that Darnay doesn't want to have anything to do with
erase one letter of his name or
his family.
crimes from the knitted register of
Madame Defarge."
"I wish you to know that you have
been the last dream of my soul." — Monsieur Defarge, Book 2, Chapter 15
— Sydney Carton, Book 2, Chapter 13 This statement reveals the method by which Madame Defarge
keeps track of who is to be condemned to die when the
These words begin a long statement made by Sydney Carton revolutionaries come into power. Once she decides that a
to Lucie Manette, telling her that she has inspired him to be a person deserves to be there, there is no turning back and no
better man, though he has no faith that he can actually change begging for mercy, as Lucie Manette later discovers.
for the better. He wants Lucie to know that he is glad she
doesn't return his love, as he would only hurt her because he
cannot change. He tells her he will do anything to ensure her "So much was closing in about the
happiness, including to live without her.
women who sat knitting, knitting,
that they their very selves were
"Oh, Miss Manette, when the little closing in around a structure yet
picture of a happy father's face unbuilt, where they were to sit
looks up in yours, when you see knitting, knitting, counting
your own bright beauty springing dropping heads."
up anew at your feet, think now
and then that there is a man who
would give his life, to keep a life
These words foreshadow the building of the guillotine to
you love beside you!" behead the French aristocrats and anyone else who opposes
the French revolutionary state. Madame Defarge and her
cohorts sit in the audience, knitting silently, watching as the
— Sydney Carton, Book 2, Chapter 13
people Madame Defarge has registered in her knitting are put
to death. But the structure is more than just the guillotine: It
This quotation shows just how devoted Sydney Carton is to represents the human capacity to be cruel and to witness that

cruelty inflicted on other human beings, standing aside silently

the Loadstone Rock."
as hundreds of people die, one by one. The peasants have
suffered unspeakable cruelty at the hands of their oppressors,
— Charles Darnay, Book 2, Chapter 24
but their desire for vengeance makes them equally dark and
dangerous.
Charles Darnay tries to convince himself that he is doing the
right thing and honoring his mother, who was a generous and
"The sea of black and threatening kind person. He also tries to boost his morale, as he is leaving
his family behind. Although he may be trying to convince
waters, and of destructive himself that he will not get hurt, some part of him likely realizes
upheaving of wave against wave, that he is about to step straight into the heart of a situation
that is not only dangerous to him, but possibly lethal. Dickens
whose depths were yet foreshadows what will happen once Darnay is in Paris by
referring to him as "the poor prisoner."
unfathomed and whose forces
were yet unknown. The
remorseless sea of turbulently "Judge you! Is it likely that the
swaying shapes, voices of trouble of one wife and mother
vengeance, and faces hardened in would be much to us now?"
the furnaces of suffering until the — Madame Defarge, Book 3, Chapter 3
touch of pity could make no mark
upon them." This seemingly heartless statement makes a certain amount of
sense, considering that the peasant women and children have
had to endure horrific conditions for years, while their
husbands, sons, and fathers were imprisoned for whatever
reasons the aristocracy could make up. When Madame
This is a description of the crowd that has stormed the Bastille, Defarge and her friend The Vengeance come to see Lucie
released prisoners, killed government officials, and paraded Manette and little Lucie, they offer her no help or sympathy,
the prisoners and the officials' heads through the streets on and this quote sums up their attitude toward the wife and child
pikes. It reveals just how far oppressed people will go when of an aristocrat. After all their suffering, why should they care
they finally get the upper hand and become a part of a mob. how these people feel?
""For the love of Heaven, of justice, "I am not afraid to die, Citizen
of generosity, of the honour of Evrémonde, but I have done
your noble name!" was the poor nothing. I am not unwilling to die, if
prisoner's cry with which he the Republic which is to do so
strengthened his sinking heart, as much good to us poor, will profit
he left all that was dear on earth by my death; but I do not know
behind him, and floated away for how that can be, Citizen

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Symbols 54
their footsteps. Even the tapping of raindrops on the pavement

Evrémonde. Such a poor weak
sound like footsteps. In such sounds, Lucie Manette imagines
little creature!" the echoes of her family's footsteps and of people she has yet
to meet. A storm can sound like a crowd approaching. As the
— The seamstress, Book 3, Chapter 13 revolution begins in France, the narrator links the bloody
footsteps of revolutionaries to those echoes.
A seamstress is one of the condemned prisoners traveling to

the guillotine with Sydney Carton. Thinking at first that he is
Darnay, whose birth name was Evrémonde, she talks to him England
about dying. She is confused because she cannot see how her
death benefits the Republic. It was meant to help poor people
like her, but it is about to execute her even though she is
England, although it has its own dangers—violence, injustice,
innocent. Dickens uses the seamstress to exemplify his point
and difficulty—is politically far more stable than France, and for
that injustice breeds vengeance, which is itself unjust.
the Manette family and Charles Darnay, it is a safe haven. It
symbolizes stability and safety.
"It is a far, far better thing that I do,

than I have ever done; it is a far, far
France
better rest that I go to than I have
ever known."
France symbolizes utter chaos, loss of humanity, and violence.
— Sydney Carton, Book 3, Chapter 15 The French Revolution and the frustration and despair of
hunger and mistreatment have turned the entire society upside
down. Everyone is a suspect, everyone is a possible enemy,
This famous last line is Sydney Carton's last thought as he and generally decent people become cold-blooded murderers
goes to the guillotine. He has always viewed himself as in the name of liberty.
worthless and always had trouble sleeping, but his final act of
self-sacrifice gives him something to be proud of, and he
consoles himself that nothing will disturb his rest again.
Thread and Knitting
l Symbols Dickens names an entire book (Book 2) in A Tale of Two Cities

using the thread symbol: "The Golden Thread." That golden
thread is Lucie, who connects all of the people in the English
Echoing Footsteps story line of that book. Her thread is golden because she is a
good-hearted and loving person who would never do anyone
any harm. Meanwhile, in France, Madame Defarge (with her
knitting) is the thread connecting the revolutionaries and their
From the beginning of the novel, the echoes of approaching
victims, including Darnay and his family.
footsteps represent threat. This begins in Chapter 2 as Jerry
Cruncher approaches the mail coach, and the sound of his Knitting, of course, names not only a few chapters but also
horse's approach terrify the people in the coach. In London, symbolizes the threat of death because Madame Defarge uses
the Manettes' home is in a recessed corner. Its inhabitants do her knitting to register the people who will be denounced and
not see people passing on the street but hear the echoes of condemned to die. She and her group of women, The

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Themes 55
Vengeance among them, sit and knit while silently watching being part of an aristocratic family that had previously done
people lose their heads at the guillotine. The quiet, humble wrong. It is unjust to blame an entire family for one person's
craft of knitting, which is generally considered productive and crime. It is especially unjust to blame Darnay's wife and his six-
is usually such a comfort to those who practice it, has been year-old child for the actions of the Marquis and his brother.
subverted into a weapon of revenge. The way knitting has
been corrupted mirrors the way humanity has been corrupted
in France: Everything that could possibly be loving and kind has
become vengeful and dangerous. Love
Dickens explores many powerful love relationships in the book:

The Guillotine romantic love, love between parent and child, love from afar,
love between friends, and love for mankind. He also examines
differences between people in how they love as well as how
The guillotine is the ultimate symbol of death, injustice, and love can be twisted and even overridden by circumstance or an
revenge. It is a quick way to die, but it is also gory and very individual's foibles.
public, quickly reducing the formerly mighty and arrogant to
decapitated corpses, which delights the bloodthirsty crowds. The love between parent and child is represented throughout
However, it is also the last stop in a corrupt system that lumps A Tale of Two Cities by the love between Lucie and her father
the innocent in with the guilty, offering no due process. The and, in the second half of the book, between Lucie and her
guillotine casts a literal and figurative shadow over everyone's daughter. The love between husband and wife is examined as
lives. the narrator depicts the relationships between Lucie and

Charles and between the Defarges. Finally, love between
friends is investigated in many relationships, most notably the
ones between the Manettes on the one hand, and Mr. Lorry
m Themes and Sydney Carton on the other.
Injustice Resurrection
The fact that people who did so little to deserve it were In A Tale of Two Cities, resurrection plays a large part in the
punished so severely is just one example of the injustice way the plot unfolds. For starters, Dr. Manette has been
portrayed in A Tale of Two Cities. Dr. Manette's imprisonment, imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, where those who go in
which tore him down emotionally, was unjust, as he was seldom come out again. People are forgotten there, and it is a
imprisoned for trying to protect a family from harm and trying miracle that Dr. Manette is released alive. But he is not
to report a crime. Being imprisoned for trying to do something resurrected from death just once: in his garret making shoes,
honorable is an excellent example of injustice; in France, it was he is completely separated from the real world, and it is Lucie
a common occurrence. who resurrects him once again, to return him to real life and
familial love in London. Other characters also experience
Another example of this type of injustice is the imprisonment resurrections: Charles Darnay, who survives several death
and denunciation of Charles Darnay, as well as that of his wife sentences; Roger Cly, whose funeral is held in Book 1 but who
and child. Darnay renounces his heritage because of the turns up alive in Book 3; John Barsad and Madame Defarge
cruelty his family inflicted on people. He is determined to even experience a sort of resurrection when their true
embody his mother's love of compassion and humanitarian identities become known.
actions, and still, the revolutionaries want to guillotine him for

A Tale of Two Cities Study Guide Suggested Reading 56
There are small reminders of this theme throughout, such as Dickens examines the topic of vengeance from the
the note from Mr. Lorry to his bank—"Recalled to Life"—and perspectives of not only classes, but also of individuals. For
Jerry Cruncher's moonlighting as a resurrection man, or body some, like Madame Defarge and many other revolutionaries,
snatcher. vengeance is the primary driver of their actions. For others,
such as Charles Darnay, the Manettes, and Sydney Carton,
vengeance is another form of violence and should be
relinquished.
Self-Sacrifice
Lucie embodies the idea of self-sacrifice, taking on her father,

Violence
regardless of how unstable he is; she is as good-hearted with
everyone else as she is with him. She opens her home to
people who need a calm place to go, she tries to help Sydney In a novel that takes place during the French Revolution, there
Carton even though he feels like there is no help for him, she is bound to be rampant bloodshed, and Dickens portrays it
comes to Paris to try to save her husband regardless of the graphically—including state-sanctioned torture and killing, mob
threat to her own safety, and she gives money to the violence, and the brutal Reign of Terror. Even in relatively
woodcutter who teases her and her daughter, instead of being stable England, though, capital punishment was frequent and
frightened of him or denigrating him. public. Apart from the violence inflicted by court rulings, crime
was rampant and often violent. Travelers lived in fear of
Dr. Manette's effort to report the crimes of rape and murder by highwaymen, and people were afraid to walk the streets at
denouncing the Marquis and his brother is another example of night. In A Tale of Two Cities, these fears are made clear in the
self-sacrifice, as he knows he is risking his own safety by doing actions and reactions of people in England.
so. Still, he can't help but try to do the right thing, hoping to
protect the last member of the family from harm. He also runs As the novel progresses, the revolution takes hold, and
all over Paris, trying to convince any authority he can find that violence becomes increasingly brutal and pervasive. Dickens
Charles Darnay should be released from prison. By standing up leaves readers wondering whether the ends can possibly
for an aristocrat, he is risking his own life, but he does it justify such means.
anyway.
Sydney Carton, however, makes the ultimate self-sacrifice: He

takes Darnay's place at the guillotine in order to make sure that
e Suggested Reading
Lucie and her family will be together and happy. He also puts
aside his own fear to comfort a young seamstress who is going
Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. London: Vintage, 2002. Print.
to the guillotine for "plotting," though she has plotted nothing.
Andress, David. The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in
Revolutionary France. New York: Farrar, 2006. Print.
Vengeance Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Ed. Michael D.

Aeschliman. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012. Print. Ignatius
Critical Eds.
Before the revolution, the aristocracy often treated the

Jordan, John O., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Charles
common people with disdain, taking what they could from them
Dickens. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002. Print. Cambridge
and ignoring their needs. Any sign of disrespect against the
Companions to Lit.
aristocracy was cruelly punished. When the tables turned and
the revolution got underway, the common people, fueled by Philp, Mark, ed. The French Revolution and British Popular
generations of starvation and mistreatment, went even further. Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1991. Print.

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A Tale of Two

ABOUT THE TITLE

a Author Biography ..................................................................................... 3

The first installment of A Tale of Two Cities appeared in 1859

m Themes ....................................................................................................... 55 the characters forgettable.

e Suggested Reading .............................................................................. 56

YEAR WRITTEN the nobility

The Assembly tried to create a power-sharing regime. The king

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a Author Biography Charles Darnay

As an adult, Dickens worked as a newspaper reporter and

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Dr. Manette Madame Defarge

Mr. Jarvis Lorry

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Charles Darnay Madame Defarge

Mr. Lorry Monsieur Defarge

Other Major Character

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Full Character List Jerry Cruncher

Character Description John Barsad is the alias of Solomon

A hero to the French revolutionaries, Monseigneur is the name Dickens

Roger Cly is an English spy who fakes

Young Jerry is Jerry Cruncher's

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inheritance. That night, someone stabs the Marquis to death.

Miss Pross sees her long-lost brother, Solomon Pross, who

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Sydney Carton discovers Madame Defarge is that younger

Madame Defarge tries to find Lucie and her daughter. She

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9. Darnay tells his name; Dr. Manette is insane for days.

1. Jerry delivers a note from Tellson's Bank to Mr. Lorry.

2. Lorry sends back the message, "Recalled to Life."

3. Lorry tells Lucie Manette that her father is alive.

8. Darnay asks to marry Lucie; Carton admits he loves her.

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Copyright © 2019 Course Hero, Inc.

Lorry and Lucie find Dr. Manette making shoes at

John Barsad and Roger Cly frame Darnay for treason,

The Marquis's carriage, driving too fast, kills the child of

Darnay renounces his inheritance to the Marquis, who is

Darnay asks to marry Lucie; Carton tells Lucie he loves

The wedding day

Darnay tells Dr. Manette his real name; after the

Lucie and Darnay's daughter, little Lucie, is six; the

Three years later

Darnay goes to France to save his former servant

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released from prison.

Fifteen months later

Darnay is freed on evidence from Dr. Manette and

Miss Pross sees her brother Solomon, who is John

The next day

In court, Dr. Manette's old prison letter denounces

Later that day

Carton overhears the Defarges's plot to denounce

The next day

In the prison, Carton drugs Darnay and switches places

Miss Pross fights Madame Defarge to save Lucie;

At the guillotine, Carton and a seamstress hold hands; he

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common people. People in England have to think about how to