A Tale of Two Cities

 OUTLINE THE PLOT

MAIN CHARACTERS
 Charles Darnay- A French aristocrat by birth, Darnay chooses to live in England
because he cannot bear to be associated with the cruel injustices of the French
social system. Darnay displays great virtue in his rejection of the snobbish and
cruel values of his uncle, the Marquis Evrémonde. He exhibits an admirable
honesty in his decision to reveal to Doctor Manette his true identity as a member
of the infamous Evrémonde family. So, too, does he prove his courage in his
decision to return to Paris at great personal risk to save the imprisoned Gabelle.
 Sydney Carton- An insolent, indifferent, and alcoholic attorney who works with
Stryver. Carton has no real prospects in life and doesn’t seem to be in pursuit of
any. He does, however, love Lucie, and his feelings for her eventually transform
him into a man of profound merit. At first the polar opposite of Darnay, in the end
Carton morally surpasses the man to whom he bears a striking physical
resemblance.

MAJOR CONFLICT
 Madame Defarge seeks revenge against Darnay for his relation to the odious
Marquis Evrémonde; Carton, Manette, Lucie, and Jarvis Lorry strive to protect
Darnay from the bloodthirsty revolutionaries’ guillotine.

RISING ACTION
 The ongoing murder of aristocrats after the storming of the Bastille; Darnay’s
decision to go to Paris to save Gabelle; the Defarges’ demand that Darnay be
arrested

CLIMAX
 During a court trial, Defarge reads aloud a letter that he has discovered, which
Manette wrote during his imprisonment in the Bastille and which indicts Darnay
as a member of the cruel aristocratic lineage of Evrémonde (Book the Third,
Chapter 10). In this climactic moment, it becomes clear that Madame Defarge’s
overzealous hatred of Darnay can end only in death—either his or hers.

FALLING ACTION
 The jury’s sentencing of Darnay to death; Darnay’s wish that Manette not blame
himself; Carton’s decision to sacrifice his life to save Darnay.

RESOLUTION
  The novel resolves this conflict with twin climaxes: Sidney Carton smuggles
Darnay out of prison and takes his place on the execution block, while Madame
Dafarge becomes a victim of her own desire for violence after she is killed while
struggling with Miss Pross.

 SUMMARY OF THE STORY

A Tale of Two Cities is structured around a central conflict between Charles Darnay’s
desire to break free of his family legacy, and Madame Defarge’s desire to hold him
accountable for the violent actions of his father and uncle. This conflict embodies
conflicting aspects of the French Revolution in general: on one hand, the Revolution led
to the deaths of many people who hadn’t done anything wrong, and were likely good
people on a personal level. On the other hand, the Revolution was a response to
generations of well-documented injustices. Like Darnay, many French aristocrats could
be considered guilty by association, or as a result of profiting from systems of
exploitation. The plot is set in motion years before the action of the novel begins, when
the Evremonde brothers participate in a series of violent and cruel actions toward
members of Madame Defarge’s family, and then unjustly imprison young Dr. Manette in
order to conceal their crimes.

Readers don’t find out about these incidents until late in the novel, but the fact that they
have been propelling the plot mirrors how history unfolds. The violence of the
Revolution doesn’t just come out of nowhere: it breaks out because of the accumulation
of decades of unjust treatment and abuses of power. Similarly, crimes committed
generations earlier continue to haunt and threaten Darnay, Lucie, and Dr. Manette. Key
events like Darnay building a career for himself in England, getting married, and starting
his own family seem to be taking him closer to his desire of living a good and honest life
without exploiting or hurting anyone. However, as Darnay eventually realizes, he hasn’t
actually resolved the conflict because he has never taken responsibility for the suffering
his family has caused: he has only run away from it. As Darnay admits, “He knew very
well that in his love for Lucie, his renunciation of his social place… had been hurried and
incomplete.” In order to fully obtain his desire and break all bonds with a system he
despises, Darnay returns to France.

Darnay’s return moves the action quickly toward its climax. When Darnay gets arrested,
freed, and then arrested a second time, the conflict intensifies between Darnay’s freedom,
and Madame Defarge’s desire to see him and all of his family punished. The novel
resolves this conflict with twin climaxes: Sidney Carton smuggles Darnay out of prison
and takes his place on the execution block, while Madame Dafarge becomes a victim of
her own desire for violence after she is killed while struggling with Miss Pross. These
climaxes allow Darnay to achieve his goal of being fully liberated from his family
burden: after another man dies for his sins, he goes on to live a happy and peaceful life.
The falling action is largely revealed in Carton’s hypothetical final vision, showing the
Manette-Darnay family living happily together, and faithfully remembering the man who
gave up his life for them.