BOOK REVIEW: NOVEL

Submitted To:
Ma’am Mubashra
Submitted By:
M. Usama Javaid
5111
BS English, 4th (Tesol)

Department of English
 Introduction

Novel:
Author Charles Dickens
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Historical novel
Set in London and Paris, 1775–93
Published Weekly serial April – November 1859
Book 1859
Publisher London: Chapman & Hall
Preceded by Little Dorrit (1855–1857)
Followed by Great Expectations (1860–1861)
Text A Tale of Two Cities at Wikisource

Author:

Born 7 February 1812

Landport, Hampshire, England

Died 9 June 1870 (aged 58)

Higham, Kent, England

Nationality British

The Pickwick Papers

Notable works
Oliver Twist
Nicholas Nickleby
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield
Bleak House
Little Dorrit
A Tale of Two Cities
Dickness Writing Style

Dickens had picked on the style of the picaresque novels that he could find on his
father’s shelves. Another important Literary Style of Charles Dickens influence could be
found from that of the fables of The Arabian Nights.

Charles Dickens was not only a talented storyteller but he was also a word stylist
("Dicken's style"). His priority was to relay a message, but as a writer, he was also interested
in creating beautiful prose. His writing style was heavily detailed. He used exaggeration in
description to imply character traits. He was fond of metaphor, simile and frequently repeated
words in a sentence to emphasize a phrase (Lorcher, Trent). This made it easier for people to
read and understand his work and also made his words more memorable. For example, the
opening of A Tale of Two Cities uses repetition, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of
times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it
was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was
the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing
before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”
(Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities).

Selection:

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, deals with the major themes of duality,
revolution, and resurrection. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times in London and
Paris, as economic and political unrest lead to the American and French Revolutions. So, to
observe and learn about them I’ve chose this novel. Moreover, the novel tells the story of the
French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris and his release
to live in London with his daughter Lucie, whom he had never met. The story is set against
the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.

Most Favorite Character:

In A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton is a well-rounded character because he has

depth, and he is dynamic because he changes over the course of the novel.
 Characters
Doctor Alexandre Manette A doctor from Beauvais, France, who was secretly imprisoned
in the Bastille for 18 years and suffers some mental trauma from the experience. After being
released, he is nursed back to health by his daughter, Lucie, in England. During the
Revolution, he tries to save his son-in-law, Charles Darnay, from the guillotine.
Lucie Manette, later Darnay A beautiful young woman recognized for her kindness and
compassion. After being reunited with her father, she cares for him and remains devoted to
him, even after her marriage to Charles Darnay.
Charles Darnay A French aristocrat. Darnay renounces his family name of St. Evrémonde
and moves to England, where he works as a tutor and eventually marries Lucie Manette. He
is put on trial during the Revolution for the crimes of his family.
Sydney Carton A lawyer who looks like Charles Darnay and who lives in a fog of apathy
and alcohol. His love for Lucie Manette motivates him to sacrifice his life to save the life of
her husband.
Mr. Jarvis Lorry An English banker. A loyal friend to the Manette family, Mr. Lorry
shepherds the family out of Paris after the Doctor's release from prison and during the
Revolution.
Ernest Defarge The owner of a wine-shop in a Paris suburb. Defarge is a leader of the
Jacquerie (a roving band of peasants) during the French Revolution.
Madame Thérèse Defarge A hard, vengeful woman who is married to Ernest Defarge.
Madame Defarge knits a registry with the names of aristocrats she condemns and later leads
the female revolutionaries in killing and exacting revenge on her enemies.
Miss Pross A forceful Englishwoman who was Lucie Manette's nursemaid. She remains
Lucie's devoted servant and protector.
Jerry Cruncher A messenger for Tellson's Bank and Jarvis Lorry's bodyguard. He is also
secretly a graverobber.
Mrs. Cruncher Jerry's wife. A pious woman, she is frequently beaten by her husband for
praying.
Young Jerry Cruncher Jerry's son, who resembles his father in appearance and
temperament. He assists Jerry at Tellson's.
C. J. Stryver A boorish lawyer who employs Sydney Carton. Stryver is Darnay's defense
attorney in England and aspires briefly to marry Lucie.
Roger Cly A police spy in England who faked his own funeral. He appears later as a prison
spy in revolutionary France.
John Barsad, or Solomon Pross A police spy in England who becomes a spy in
revolutionary France. Recognized as Miss Pross' brother, he is forced to help Carton save
Darnay.
Monseigneur the Marquis A greedy, self-absorbed French aristocrat. He personifies all that
is wrong with the upper classes in pre-Revolutionary France.
Marquis St. Evrémonde Darnay's uncle. An immoral, cruel man, he runs down a child with
his carriage and is later murdered by the child's father.
Jacques One, Two, Three, and Four Members of the Jacquerie, the revolutionaries who
organize and implement the French Revolution. The name comes from the nickname for
peasants.
Théophile Gabelle An agent for the St. Evrémonde family. The revolutionaries imprison this
man during the Revolution for handling some business affairs for Darnay. His letter begging
for help sends Darnay back to France.
Gaspard A peasant. This man murders the Marquis St. Evrémonde for running down and
killing his child.
Road-mender and Wood-sawyer A peasant. This man becomes a bloodthirsty revolutionist.
Young Lucie Darnay The daughter of Lucie and Charles Darnay. Madame Defarge
threatens her life during the Reign of Terror.
Foulon A callous prison official who faked his own death. He is hanged and decapitated by a
mob after they storm the Bastille.
The Vengeance The grocer's wife. Turned vicious by the Revolution, she becomes Madame
Defarge's main companion.
A Seamstress A frightened young woman who is executed with Carton. She and Carton
comfort each other on the way to the guillotine.
 Summary

It is 1775, and Mr. Jarvis Lorry is traveling to Dover to meet Lucie Manette. He tells
her that she is not an orphan as she had been told from a young age. He now says that he will
travel with her to Paris to meet her father, who has recently been released from the Bastille.
Doctor Manette is housed in the Defarges' wine-shop and has lost his reason, but he starts to
regain it when he meets his daughter and is transported back to London.

Five years later, Charles Darnay is tried in London on a charge of treason for
providing English secrets to the French and Americans during the outbreak of the American
Revolution. The dramatic appearance of Mr. Sydney Carton, who looks remarkably like him,
precludes any positive identification and allows Darnay's acquittal. Darnay, Mr. Carton, and
Mr. Stryver all fall in love with Lucie Manette, who was a tearful, unwilling witness for the
prosecution. Although they all make an attempt to woo her, she favors Charles Darnay and
marries him. Carton comes to her house alone and declares that while he expects no return of
his love, he would do anything for her or for anyone whom she loves. Darnay has ominously
hinted to Doctor Manette of his concealed identity, and he reveals to his father-in-law on the
morning of his wedding that he is a French nobleman who has renounced his title.

In France, Darnay's uncle, Monseigneur, has been murdered in his bed for crimes
against the French people. This means that Darnay is next in line to inherit the aristocratic
title, but he tells no one but Doctor Manette. At the urgent request of Monsieur Gabelle, who
has been arbitrarily imprisoned, Darnay returns to Paris. He is arrested as a nobleman and an
emigrant and thrown into jail.

A spy named John Barsad drops into the Defarges' wine-shop to gather evidence
regarding whether they are revolutionaries. They reveal practically nothing, although
Madame Defarge is knitting a list of those whom she and the other revolutionaries intend to
kill.

Doctor Manette, Miss Pross, Lucie, and her small child follow Darnay to Paris, where
the Doctor is almost successful in using his power among the revolutionaries as a former
Bastille prisoner--like the people, he was oppressed by the ruling regime--to secure Darnay's
release. But Darnay is once again denounced by the Defarges, a charge which is made even
stronger by Monsieur Defarge's revelation of a paper document that he found in Doctor
Manette's former cell in the Bastille. The document recounts that Manette was arbitrarily
imprisoned by the Evrémondes for having witnessed their rape of a peasant girl and the
murder of her brother. Darnay is brought back to prison and sentenced to death.

Sydney Carton also has traveled to Paris because of the selfless love that Lucie
Manette has inspired in him. He resolves to sacrifice himself to save her husband's life. He
forces the help of John Barsad, having recognized him as Solomon Pross, the dissolute
brother of Miss Pross. Carton overhears the Defarges discussing a plan to kill Lucie and her
child, and he figures out that Madame Defarge is the surviving sister of the peasant girl who
was raped and of the boy who was stabbed by the Evrémonde family.

Carton arranges for the Manettes to leave immediately. He uses his influence with
Barsad (Pross), who also works as a turnkey, to get into Darnay's cell. He drugs Darnay and
exchanges places with him, having Barsad carry Darnay out of the prison to safety.

Madame Defarge knocks on Lucie's door to arrest her, but the Manettes have already
fled to safety. She is instead confronted with the extremely protective Miss Pross, who comes
to blows with her and accidentally shoots her dead with her own gun. Darnay returns with the
Manettes to London in safety. Carton dies in Darnay's place at the guillotine, satisfied with
the knowledge of his good deed.

Analysis

This first chapter presents the sweeping backdrop of forces and events that will shape
the lives of the novel's characters. From the first paragraph, Dickens begins developing the
central theme of duality. His pairings of contrasting concepts such as the "best"and "worst"of
times, "Light"and "Darkness,"and "hope"and "despair"reflect the mirror images of good and
evil that will recur in characters and situations throughout the novel.

England and France in 1775 embody the concept of duality that Dickens outlines in
the first paragraph. Both countries are simultaneously experiencing very similar and very
different situations. For example, both the English and French monarchs — George III and
Louis XVI, respectively — seem indifferent to the plight of their people and cannot
comprehend any power being great enough to eclipse their divine right to rule. However,
while their attitudes will result in revolutions for both countries, the American revolution
occurs an ocean away, leaving the British infrastructure unscathed and saving the British
population from the massive loss of life and the horrors that will take place during the French
revolution.

The differences between the two countries become more pronounced when Dickens
compares the concepts of spirituality and justice in each country. In England, people are
enthralled with the supernatural, especially with visionaries and ghosts that communicate
mystical messages. In France, though, people pay attention to religious leaders out of fear
rather than fascination. A man neglecting to kneel to a distant procession of monks may be
condemned to a torturous death for his transgression. Dickens contrasts France's harsh justice
system to England's lax one. Criminals overrun England: Highwaymen rob seemingly at will,
prisoners revolt against their jailers, and violence is answered with more violence. When the
courts serve justice in England, they serve it indiscriminately, with murderers and petty
thieves alike receiving the death penalty.

Themes

The Ever-Present Possibility of Resurrection:

With A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens asserts his belief in the possibility of resurrection
and transformation, both on a personal level and on a societal level. The narrative suggests
that Sydney Carton’s death secures a new, peaceful life for Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay,
and even Carton himself. By delivering himself to the guillotine, Carton ascends to the plane
of heroism, becoming a Christ-like figure whose death serves to save the lives of others. His
own life thus gains meaning and value. Moreover, the final pages of the novel suggest that,
like Christ, Carton will be resurrected—Carton is reborn in the hearts of those he has died to
save. Similarly, the text implies that the death of the old regime in France prepares the way
for the beautiful and renewed Paris that Carton supposedly envisions from the guillotine.
Although Carton spends most of the novel in a life of indolence and apathy, the supreme
selflessness of his final act speaks to a human capacity for change. Although the novel
dedicates much time to describing the atrocities committed both by the aristocracy and by the
outraged peasants, it ultimately expresses the belief that this violence will give way to a new
and better society.

Dickens elaborates his theme with the character of Doctor Manette. Early on in the novel,
Lorry holds an imaginary conversation with him in which he says that Manette has been
“recalled to life.” As this statement implies, the doctor’s eighteen-year imprisonment has
constituted a death of sorts. Lucie’s love enables Manette’s spiritual renewal, and her
maternal cradling of him on her breast reinforces this notion of rebirth.

The Necessity of Sacrifice:

Connected to the theme of the possibility of resurrection is the notion that sacrifice is
necessary to achieve happiness. Dickens examines this second theme, again, on both a
national and personal level. For example, the revolutionaries prove that a new, egalitarian
French republic can come about only with a heavy and terrible cost—personal loves and
loyalties must be sacrificed for the good of the nation. Also, when Darnay is arrested for the
second time, in Book the Third, Chapter 7, the guard who seizes him reminds Manette of the
primacy of state interests over personal loyalties. Moreover, Madame Defarge gives her
husband a similar lesson when she chastises him for his devotion to Manette—an emotion
that, in her opinion, only clouds his obligation to the revolutionary cause. Most important,
Carton’s transformation into a man of moral worth depends upon his sacrificing of his former
self. In choosing to die for his friends, Carton not only enables their happiness but also
ensures his spiritual rebirth.

The Tendency toward Violence and Oppression in Revolutionaries:

Throughout the novel, Dickens approaches his historical subject with some
ambivalence. While he supports the revolutionary cause, he often points to the evil of the
revolutionaries themselves. Dickens deeply sympathizes with the plight of the French
peasantry and emphasizes their need for liberation. The several chapters that deal with the
Marquis Evrémonde successfully paint a picture of a vicious aristocracy that shamelessly
exploits and oppresses the nation’s poor. Although Dickens condemns this oppression,
however, he also condemns the peasants’ strategies in overcoming it. For in fighting cruelty
with cruelty, the peasants effect no true revolution; rather, they only perpetuate the violence
that they themselves have suffered. Dickens makes his stance clear in his suspicious and
cautionary depictions of the mobs. The scenes in which the people sharpen their weapons at
the grindstone and dance the grisly Carmagnole come across as deeply macabre.

Sacrifice:
 The theme of sacrifice is most strongly apparent in Sydney Carton’s decision to take
Charles Darnay’s place, even though doing so means being executed. When the seamstress
asks Carton if he is dying for the sake of Darnay, Carton agrees, and adds “And his wife and
child”. Carton’s love for Lucie and her daughter encourages him to sacrifice himself because
her happiness is more important than anything else. As a man who does not have a family of
his own, he places more value on Darnay’s life than on his own. Carton is also aware that he
has lived an unproductive and dissolute life, and that he has not offered much to the world.
Carton believes that his act of sacrifice will redeem everything that has come before, and
make his life meaningful. As he reflects to himself, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I
have ever done before”.

Class:

Social inequality and class conflict are sources of violent disruption and revolution in
France. For generations, aristocrats like Monseigneur have thought of nothing else except
their own pleasure and luxury. The narrator sarcastically parodies the pretentions of the
upper-classes by describing how four servants are involved in serving an aristocrat his
morning cup of chocolate, and noting that “Deep would have been the blot upon his
escutcheon if his chocolate had been ignobly waited on by only three men”. Not only are the
French aristocrats presented as spoiled and lazy, but they are also shown to be heartless and
lacking in any regard for the lives of the lower-classes. Monseigneur cruelly tells the working
class Parisians that “I would ride over any of you very willingly, and exterminate you from
the earth”. The theme of class adds an important element of moral complexity to the novel
because Dickens presents both the cruelty of the upper-classes and the brute violence of the
lower-classes in equally damning terms.

Justice:

Justice appears in the novel both in terms of the institutions that are supposed to serve
it (courts and so on) as well as something that individuals struggle to achieve outside of those
institutions. Justice is represented literally by the series of trials and imprisonments
interwoven through the plot, including Doctor Manette’s lengthy imprisonment, Darney’s
trial in London, and then his additional imprisonment and trial in France. While these plot
episodes feature legal structures that are designed to bring individuals to justice, the courts
and prisons largely subject innocent people to suffering. Perhaps because legal forms of
justice so often prove incompetent, characters are also very invested in taking justice into
their own hands. After Gaspard’s son is killed by the Marquis’s carriage, he knows he will
never receive legal justice against a powerful man so he kills the Marquis himself. Likewise,
Madame Defarge has been plotting revenge against the Evremonde family for decades
because their wealth and status allowed them to commit terrible crimes against her family and
evade legal repercussions.

History

A Tale of Two Cities: The Historical Novel:

The roots of the historical novel can be traced back to the early nineteenth-century. In
1814, Walter Scott published Waverley, or’ Tix Sixty Years Hence, which is usually
considered the first example of the modern historical fiction. In this book and later works,
Scott brought two key innovations to his representation of the past. Firstly, he focused on
representing small details of everyday life, such as food, clothing, and architecture, in order
to create an immersive experience for the reader. A Tale of Two Cities is considered an
example of the classic form of the historical novel during its golden age. Dickens
incorporates factual events from the past, such as the storming of the Bastille, but he also
creates a rich fictional world where the emotional experiences of specific characters intersect
with historical events. Later in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, historical fiction
would continue as a significant literary movement, with important examples including Hilary
Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy or Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. Increasingly, authors
use historical fiction to present perspectives of individuals whose voices were not included in
the historical record.

The French Revolution:

The French Revolution began on May 5, 1789, when the Estates-General

(representatives elected to represent the clergy, the nobility, and the rest of the population)
gathered together for the first time in more than 150 years. Most of the French population
was frustrated by heavy taxes and a political system that put virtually all power in the hands
of aristocrats. Revolutionaries tried to seize power, which led to rioting and violence in Paris,
and on July 14, 1789, they stormed the Bastille fortress. Many French aristocrats fled to other
countries, including England, and French revolutionaries attacked and burned the homes of
the wealthy. In August 1789, the Revolutionary government published the Declaration of the
Rights of Man, proclaiming a new vision of social and political equality.

Despite the hopes of creating a more just and equal society, violence and unrest
continued. The French King and Queen were executed during a period known as the "Reign
of Terror,” which lasted from 1793 to 1794. During this time, anyone perceived as disloyal to
the Revolutionary government could be imprisoned or executed. In total, more than 16,000
people were executed. The violence of the Revolution led other European countries to
eventually declare war against France. The Revolution finally came to an end when a French
general named Napoleon was recognized as the leader of the French state. The wars which
began during the Revolution lasted until 1815, when Napoleon was defeated for the final
time.

Impacts

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, deals with the major themes of duality,
revolution, and resurrection. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times in London and
Paris, as economic and political unrest lead to the American and French Revolutions. A Tale
of Two Cities presents a nuanced view of the French Revolution. During the period preceding
the Revolution, the aristocracy is abusing their power and bringing suffering to people as well
as to France in general. The narrator describes how “on inanimate nature as well as on the
men and women who cultivated it, a prevalent tendency… towards a dejected disposition to
give up, and wither away.” However, while Dickens criticizes the social injustice and
suffering created by the old system, he also shows the horrors perpetuated by the Revolution.
In describing the fall of the Bastille, Dickens paints a vivid picture of “the remorseless sea of
turbulently swaying shapes, voices of vengeance and faces hardened in the furnaces of
suffering until the touch of pity could make no mark on them.” Even if the Revolutionaries
have good reasons to try to change the system, they become dehumanized in their violent
struggle to do so.

In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens uses his critique of both the conditions leading up to
the Revolution, and the Revolution itself as a warning to his English audience. He connects
the cold and selfish behavior of the aristocracy to the revolutionaries’ violent demands for
justice. On a political and also a personal level, the Evremonde family is punished for
generations of exploiting others. This storyline serves as a cautionary warning to the English
nobility not to become complacent or exploitative. At the same time, the negative
representation of figures like Madame Defarge cautions against using violent means to
achieve political goals.

Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities as a warning to the ruling powers of
England. The message was that the French Revolution was caused by social inequality and
serious unrest. At the time the book was written, it was already historical fiction. The two
main moral themes in A Tale of Two Cities are the possibility of redemption and the
importance of compassion. The redemption theme is most obvious in the arc of Sydney
Carton, whose love for Lucie Manette is entirely selfless.