A Tale of Two Cities Test Study Guide

1. Vocabulary
2. Characters
3. Plot
4. Themes
5. Quotes

VOCABULARY

1. epoch - a particular period of time in history

2. incredulity - the state of being unwilling or unable to believe something
3. valise - a suitcase
4. supplication - the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly
5. admonitory - expressing warning
6. expostulation - the act or instance of discussing or examining
7. sagacity - wisdom, keenness, intelligence
8. coercion - the act of dominating by force
9. lethargy - the state of being drowsy, sluggish, and lazy
10. incommodious - causing inconvenience or discomfort
11. antipathy - a deep-seated feeling of dislike
12. cadence - a modulation of speech (rhythm)
13. deprecate - to express disapproval of
14. dexterous - skilled, clever
15. dissipated - wasted, exhausted; scattered
16. fervent - passionate, intense
17. spectral - of or like a ghost
18. vivacity - characterized by high spirits
19. ecclesiastic - a clergyman or priest
20. felicitous - pleasing, fortunate
21. adjure - to urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something
22. deferential - showing respect
23. emissary - a person sent on a special mission
24. incorrigible - unable to be corrected or improved
25. magnanimous - very generous or forgiving, especially toward a rival or someone less powerful
than oneself
26. conflagration - an extensive fire that destroys a great deal of land or property
27. degenerate - an immoral, corrupt person
28. sanguine - confident, optimistic
29. squalid - extremely dirty and unpleasant
30. sequestrated - isolated, hidden away

QUOTES

 It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it
was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had
everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all
going direct the other way — in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of
its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree
of comparison only.

 The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint
Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many
naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks
on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of
the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the
cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head
more out of a long squalid bag of a night-cap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger
dipped in muddy wine-lees—blood.

 I am a disappointed drudge, sir. I care for no man on earth, and no man on earth cares for me.

 A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound
secret and mystery to every other. A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that
every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one
of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts
 there, is, in some of its imagin-ings, a secret to the heart nearest it! Something of the awfulness,
even of Death itself, is referable to this.
 Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend, will
keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof shuts out the sky.

 I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul…Oh, Miss Manette, when the
little picture of a happy father’s face looks up in yours, when you see your own bright beauty
springing up anew at your feet, think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to
keep a life you love beside you!

 So much was closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that they their very selves
were closing in around a structure yet unbuilt, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting
dropping heads.

 I am not afraid to die, Citizen Evremonde, but I have done nothing. I am not unwilling to die, if the
Republic which is to do so much good to use poor, will profit by my death; but I do not know how
that can be, Citizen Evremonde. Such a poor weak little creature!

 Then tell Wind and Fire where to stop, but don't tell me.

 But indeed, at that time, putting to death was a recipe much in vogue with all trades and
professions, and not least of all with Tellson's. Death is Nature's remedy for all things, and why
not Legislation's? Accordingly, the forger was put to Death; the utterer of a bad note was put to
Death; the unlawful opener of a letter was put to Death; the purloiner of forty shillings and
sixpence was put to death; the holder of a horse at Tellson's door, who made off with it, was put
to Death; the coiner of a bad schilling was put to Death; the sounders of three-fourths of the
notes in the whole gamut of Crime, were put to Death. Not that it did the least good in the way of
prevention — it might almost have been worth remarking that the fact was exactly the reverse —
but, it cleared off (as to this world) the trouble of each particular case, and left nothing else
connected with it to be looked after.

 It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest I go to than I
have ever known.

 Like the mariner in the old story, the winds and streams had driven him within the influence of
the Loadstone Rock, and it was drawing him to itself, and he must go. Everything that arose
before his mind drifted him on, faster and faster, more and more steadily, to the terrible
attraction. His latent uneasiness had been … that he who could not fail to know that he was better
than they, was not there, trying to do something to stay bloodshed, and assert the claims of
mercy and humanity.
 Above all, one hideous figure grew … the figure of the sharp female called La Guillotine. It was the
popular theme for jests; it was the best cure for headache, it infallibly prevented the hair from
turning grey, it imparted a peculiar delicacy to the complexion, it was the National Razor which
shaved close: who kissed La Guillotine, looked through the little window and sneezed into the
sack. It was the sign of the regeneration of the human race. It superseded the Cross. Models of it
were worn on breasts from which the Cross was discarded, and it was bowed down to and
believed in where the Cross was denied.

 I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.