Name: DANIELA SADE

Teacher: SIR JUDY BALDEMOR

Subject: English
Activity: Home reading report

“A TALE OF TWO CITIES”

By: Charles Dickens

SUMMARY
It is 1775, when societal problems afflict both England and France. Tellson's Bank
oddball employee Jerry Cruncher stops the Dover mail bus and delivers a critical letter
for Jarvis Lorry. The message tells Lorry to wait for a young woman at Dover, to which
she replies cryptically, "Recalled to Life." At Dover, Lorry meets Lucie Manette, a young
orphan whose father, a renowned physician who was thought to be deceased, has been
found in France. Lorry takes Lucie to Paris with him, where they meet Doctor Manette's
former servant Defarge, who has been keeping Manette safe in a garret. Driven insane
by his eighteen years in the Bastille, Manette dedicates all of his time to his pastime of
shoemaking.

We are presently in 1780. It is said that Charles Darnay betrayed the English monarchy.
Darnay's case is argued by blustery attorney Stryver, but the court does not clear
Darnay until Sydney Carton, his inebriated, useless colleague, lends him support. Carton
concludes by pointing out that he himself has a striking likeness to the defendant,
undermining the prosecution's case that Darnay is the spy that the authorities have
clearly seen. After watching the court proceedings with Lucie and Doctor Manette,
Carton takes Darnay to a tavern where he inquires about what it's like to have a woman
like Lucie sympathize with him. Because Darnay reminds him of what he himself has
given up and might have been, Carton hates and resents him.
A plebian boy is driven over by the ruthless Marquis Évrémonde in France while riding
in his carriage. The Marquis exhibits a mindset that was common of the nobility of the
period toward the impoverished; instead of expressing regret, he blames the peasantry
and rushes back to his castle to wait for his nephew Darnay to arrive from England.
Upon his arrival later that evening, Darnay denounces the French nobility and his uncle
for their abhorrent treatment of the populace. He declares his plan to go back to
England and renounces his identification as an Évrémonde. The Marquis is killed that
evening, and the killer leaves a message with the French revolutionaries' alias,
"Jacques."

After a year, Darnay approaches Manette to get her approval to wed Lucie. He promises
to expose his true identity to Manette if Lucie accepts. Carton, on the other hand,
declares his love for Lucie and acknowledges that she has given him hope for a better,
more meaningful life despite the fact that his life is meaningless. Jerry Cruncher finds
himself entangled in the Roger Cly funeral procession while strolling through London's
streets. Later that evening, he shows off his skills as a "Resurrection-Man" by breaking
into the graveyard covertly in order to take Cly's body and sell it. Meanwhile, John
Barsad, another English spy, stops by Defarge's wine shop in Paris. Barsad wants to
uncover information on the growing revolution, which is still in its early phases of
clandestine operations. In the store, Madame Defarge is making a covert list of people
the revolution wants put to death. After returning to London, Darnay fulfills his promise
to Manette on the morning of their wedding by disclosing who he really is. That
evening, Manette returns to his former jail habit of manufacturing shoes. Nine days
later, Manette is back to normal and shortly goes on his honeymoon with the
newlyweds. Carton visits Darnay after his return and requests his friendship. Darnay
tells Carton that he is welcome in their house at all times.
We are presently in 1789. The French Revolution starts as the Parisian peasants seize
the Bastille. The man in charge of maintaining the Evrémonde estate, Gabelle, is
imprisoned while the revolutionaries kill nobles in the streets. He writes to Darnay
pleading to be saved three years later. Even if there is a serious risk to his safety,
Darnay leaves right away for France.

Darnay is detained as an immigrant by the French revolutionaries as soon as he lands in

Paris. In an attempt to save him, Lucie and Manette travel to Paris. It takes Darnay a
whole year and three months to have a trial while he is inside. Manette utilizes his
significant influence with the revolutionaries to assist rescue him, since they are
sympathetic to his situation having served time in the Bastille. Darnay is found not
guilty, but the same evening he is taken into custody once more. This time, Defarge
and his resentful wife are the ones making the accusations. Carton, armed with a plot
to save Darnay, travels to Paris and enlists the aid of John Barsad, who happens to be
Solomon Pross, the long-lost brother of Lucie Pross, her devoted servant.

Defarge presents a letter he found in Manette's former Bastille jail cell during Darnay's
trial. The letter provides an explanation for Manette's incarceration. The brothers
Evrémonde, who are Darnay's father and uncle, asked Manette to help with their
medical needs years ago. They asked him to care for a woman who had been sexually
assaulted by one of the brothers and her brother, who had been fatally killed by the
same brother. The Evrémondes had Manette jailed because they were afraid he would
expose their wrongdoings. After listening to this tale, the jury finds Darnay guilty of his
ancestors' misdeeds and sentences him to death in twenty-four hours.

Carton overhears Madame Defarge, who is the surviving sibling of the man and woman
killed by the Evrémondes, arranging to have Lucie and her daughter—also Darnay's
daughter—executed as well that evening at the Defarge's wine shop. Carton makes
plans for the Manettes to leave France right away. After tricking Darnay into changing
clothes with him and composing an explanatory letter, he visits the prisoner and gives
his companion a drug that renders him comatose. While Carton prepares to be
executed in his disguise as Darnay, Barsad transports Darnay—who is now hiding as
Carton—to a waiting coach. Madame Defarge shows up at Lucie's apartment with the
intention of arresting her as Darnay, Lucie, their kid, and Dr. Manette swiftly flee Paris.
She discovers Miss Pross, who is incredibly protective.

Characters

Charles Darnay
Born into aristocracy in France, Darnay decides to live in England because he cannot
bear to be connected to the heinous injustices that exist inside the French social
structure. When Darnay defies his uncle, the Marquis Évrémonde, and his arrogant and
hateful values, he demonstrates remarkable virtue. In choosing to disclose to Doctor
Manette that he is actually a member of the notorious Evrémonde family, he
demonstrates a commendable level of honesty. He also demonstrates his bravery by
choosing to put himself in danger and go back to Paris in order to free Gabelle, who is
imprisoned.

Sydney Carton

An drunken, callous, and impudent lawyer who represents Stryver. Carton doesn't
appear to be pursuing any opportunities in life and has none at all. He does, however,
genuinely love Lucie, and his affection for her ultimately makes him a very admirable
man. Carton is initially the complete opposite of Darnay, but in the end he exceeds the
man—whom he physically resembles—in terms of morality.Madame Sofronie.
Doctor Manette

Doctor Manette, Lucie's father and a gifted physician, was imprisoned in the Bastille for
eighteen years. Manette's only pastime at the beginning of the book is shoemaking,
which he took up as a way to escape the horrors of incarceration. But when he gets
over his history as a prisoner, he shows himself to be a kind, caring father who puts his
daughter's pleasure first.

Manette Lucie

Lucie, a young French woman raised in England, was brought up as a ward of Tellson's
Bank due to the assumption that her parents had passed away. Dickens presents Lucie
as a model of kindness. The book frequently refers to her as the "golden thread"
because of the ability of her love to unite her family and to change everyone around
her. As a result, her father is able to be "recalled to life," and Sydney Carton transforms
from a "jackal" into a hero.

Monsieur Defarge

Originally employed as a servant for Doctor Manette, Monsieur Defarge was a

revolutionary and owner of a wine business in the impoverished Saint Antoine
neighborhood of Paris. Defarge demonstrates that he is a natural leader and an astute
and dedicated revolutionary. He does show Manette some consideration, even though
his goal is still to improve society at all costs. Madame Defarge, his wife, sees this
regard for Manette as a vulnerability.

Madame Defarge

A ruthless revolutionary whose abhorrence of the nobility drives her ceaseless

campaign, Madame Defarge dedicates a significant portion of the book to compiling a
list of all those who must perish in order to forward the cause of revolution. She
exhibits unwavering bloodlust and an unquenchable need for vengeance, in contrast to
her spouse.
Jarvis Lorry

Mr. Lorry is an elderly businessman who works for Tellson's Bank. He is a bachelor who
is very focused on business and has a decent, honest heart. He demonstrates his
loyalty and dependability, and Doctor Manette and Lucie grow to cherish him as a close
friend.

Jerry Cruncher

Cruncher works as an odd man for Tellson's Bank and is stern, irritable, illiterate, and
superstitious. He works as a "Resurrection-Man," excavating corpses and selling them
to scientists, to augment his income.

Miss Pross

Miss Pross, the servant who reared Lucie, is harsh, hard, and ferociously devoted to her
mistress. She serves as the ideal counterbalance to Madame Defarge, who personifies
the violent anarchy of the revolution, as she personifies order and fidelity.

Countess St. Évrémonde

The Marquis Evrémonde, the uncle of Charles Darnay, is a French aristocrat who
personifies the brutally harsh caste system. He has no concern for human life at all and
wants to wipe out all of the world's peasants.

Mr. Stryver

Stryver is a driven attorney who aspires to move up the social scale. Stryver is blustery,
arrogant, and stupid, in contrast to Sydney Carton, his associate.

Barsad, John

John Barsad is a British spy who, like Roger Cly, claims that his main motivation is
patriotism. Barsad makes a fraudulent claim to be a good man with a sterling
reputation.
Roger Williams

Similar to John Barsad, Roger Cly is a British spy who claims that his actions are only
motivated by patriotism. Cly presents a front of integrity, but in reality, he is always
involved in cunning plans.

Gabelle

Gabelle, the man tasked with maintaining the Evrémonde estate following the Marquis's
passing, is imprisoned by the rebels. In an attempt to save him, Darnay travels to
France after learning of his detention.

Plot

The main struggle in A Tale of Two Cities is between Madame Defarge's and Charles
Darnay's ambitions to hold each other responsible for the horrific deeds of his father
and uncle. Charles wants to escape his family's heritage. This dispute encapsulates the
contradictory elements of the French Revolution as a whole: on the one hand, the
Revolution claimed the lives of a great number of individuals who had done nothing
wrong and were probably decent people overall. However, the Revolution was a
reaction to numerous documented injustices that had occurred over many centuries.
Similar to Darnay, a large number of French aristocrats may have been guilty by
association or as a result of making money off of exploitative practices. The Evremonde
brothers do a slew of violent and cruel acts against members of Madame Defarge's
family, setting up the story years before the novel's action starts. They then wrongfully
jail young Dr. Manette in order to cover up their misdeeds.
Although these episodes aren't revealed to readers until much later in the book, the
way they advance the plot is reminiscent of how history is written. The accumulation of
decades of unfair treatment and power abuses is what leads to the Revolution's
violence, which doesn't happen overnight. In a similar vein, crimes from centuries past
still stalk and threaten Dr. Manette, Darnay, and Lucie. Important occurrences like
Darnay establishing a successful job for himself in England, getting married, and
beginning a family appear to be bringing him closer to his goal of leading an upright life
free from injustice or exploitation.

Darnay eventually understands, though, that he hasn't truly settled the issue because
he has only ever escaped the pain his family has created and never accepted
responsibility for it. To fully fulfill his goal and sever all ties with a system he despises,
Darnay returns to France, acknowledging, "He knew very well that in his love for Lucie,
his renunciation of his social place... had been hurried and incomplete."

With Darnay's reappearance, the action swiftly approaches its conclusion. The tension
between Madame Defarge's determination to punish Darnay and his entire family and
Darnay's right to freedom grows when he is detained, released, and then arrested
again. The book ends this fight with two distinct climaxes: Madame Dafarge succumbs
to her own urge for violence after being slain while battling Miss Pross, and Sidney
Carton smuggles Darnay out of jail and places him on the execution block. With the
help of these climaxes, Darnay is able to fulfill his dream of being completely freed from
the burden of his family and leading a joyful, tranquil life following the death of another
man for his misdeeds. Carton's fictitious last vision, which depicts the Manette-Darnay
family living contentedly together and dutifully honoring the man who gave up his life
for them, reveals the majority of the falling action.

Climax
In the course of a legal proceeding, Defarge reads aloud a letter he has come across,
written by Manette while he was imprisoned in the Bastille and accusing Darnay of
being a descendant of the brutal aristocratic Evrémonde family (Book the Third,
Chapter 10). It becomes evident in this pivotal scene that Madame Defarge's excessive
animosity for Darnay can only result in death—either her own or his.