A Tale of Two Cities

In Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Sydney Carton's last act could be viewed as selfish. Just as he ascends to the guillotine, he says, It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have...

In many ways, Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities can be seen as a political parable. Great Britain in the late eighteenth century is presented largely as the epitome of political stability, enjoying as...

I must say, due to mwestwood's exquisite answer, there is not too much to add; however, I can give a couple different tidbits. Of course, the term "recalled to life" is the carrier's, Jerry...

In Chapter 13 of "A Tale of Two Cities," the reader sees Carton taking on a mythical aspect as he professes his willingness to sacrifice himself to save his friends. In addition, he is a...

Charles Darnay, one of the main characters of A Tale of Two Cities, is arrested three times in the course of the novel, each time on a different charge. He is first arrested in 1780, as a French...

Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, like most of his work, contains a number of complex and deeply drawn characters, including Sydney Carton. In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens creates and...

The title A Tale of Two Cities is literally true as the plot involves action in both London and Paris. However, it is also significant with respect to the motif of dualities in people and in...

The opening two paragraphs describe the condition in England and France in 1775, the year the novel begins, establishing this as a historical novel (it was published in 1859). Dickens points out...

In Chapter X of Book the Second of A Tale of Two Cities, Dr. Manette and Charles Darnay each make a promise to the others. Dr. Manette's promise A year after beginning his residence in England,...

Dr. Alexandre Manette was arrested on false charges after being lured from his home. The purpose of the arrest was to remove him from society in order to prevent his speaking out against the...

Love acts as a driving force in the narrative of A Tale of Two Cities. It is love that reunites Lucie Manette with a father she has never known. After Dr. Manette has been imprisoned in the...

On the morning of his marriage to Lucie Manette, Charles Darnay reveals to his father his true identity. Charles Darnay is a decendant of the Evremondes, an aristocratic family in France notorious...

There is very little actual humor in this novel because the topic is so serious and the consequences so deadly. Despite that, there are several characters and exchanges which provide some comic...

Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities as a sort of warning to Victorian England. After studying the French Revolution himself, Dickens saw much of the same rising contempt for the aristocracy...

John Barsad, real name Solomon Pross, is described as: Age, about forty years; height, about five feet nine; black hair; complexion dark; generally, rather handsome visage; eyes dark, face thin,...

With the significance of the wine shop owned by the Defarges well established in Chapter V of Book the First of A Tale of Two Cities, the gathering of the men known anonymously as "Jacques"...

To this day the Old Bailey (located on Bailey Street in London) is the site of two famous courts. Court One has been the scene of the trials of many infamous criminals; Court Two is a...

In Charles Dickens's monumental classic, A Tale of Two Cities, the employment of the personification of fate as the Woodman and death as the Farmer portends the future actions of the French...

In Chapter 9 of Book the Third, Sydney Carton walks to the chemists and as he does so, he recalls his conversation with the wood-sawyer and the man's proud answer that many were killed this day....

Charles Darnay’s secret is that his real name is Charles St. Evremonde and he is the heir to the title of Marquis St. Evremonde, the man who put Dr. Manette in prison. Charles Darnay did not want...

It is customary for authors to employ figurative language in their narratives as the prose is enlivened by such language. For, there is a vividness to the use of metaphor and the like as the...

London is presented as a stable place where tradition and honor hold sway. There is a strict class structure, but all the classes seem to get along by and large. Paris is the central place of the...

The character Vengeance is the personification of the retribution that the peasant revolutionaries exact from the French aristocracy under whose yoke they have suffered and starved. In Chapter XXII...

In A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Dickens outlines the duality and contrasts between England and France at the time. More specifically, he outlines the duality between Paris and London....

As in all great works of litearture, A Tale of Two Cities contains many figures of speech, not the least of which is metaphor. Here are some examples: In the opening chapter, Book the First,...

When Lucie marries, Carton confesses that her secretly loves her and would do anything for her. He basically tells her that he would give his life for someone she loves if that was necessary....

The echoing footsteps that Lucie hears ominously foreshadow the coming of the French Revolution, when hordes of starving, desperate people will take to the streets to demand radical political...

In A Tale of Two Cities, what's happening in and around Paris is the beginning of a revolution. It starts as an underground movement, very secretive and exclusive, centered at the Defarges' wine...

After Charles Darnay is acquitted at his trial for treason, Sidney Carton notices the way that Lucie Manette looks at Mr. Darnay, and he envies the man. At the end of the trial of Charles Darnay,...

The themes of this work include plenty of comparisons, contrasts, or doubles. We see this in the comparisons of England and France, two major countries. We also see the theme of doubles in the...

The chapters describe two different “fellows” and their feelings for Lucie Manette and manner of addressing her. The titles are ironic because the “fellow” discussed in the chapter is actually the...

Sydney Carton is a "man of good abilities and good emotions," but sadly, he is also "incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness." He lacks self-discipline...

Dr. Alexandre Manette, one of the central characters in A Tale of Two Cities (in fact, the character who sets the story in motion and gives it the greatest opportunity for social examination), was...

That Sydney Carton is certainly one of the great sentimental favorites in literature is indubitable. However, that Sydney is heroic in the true sense of word is somewhat questionable. For, there...

A juxtaposition of the scene of the wine spilling in Saint Antoine in Book the First, Chapter V, with that of the monseigneur having his morining chocolate in Book the Second, Chapter VII,...

The use of foreshadowing is key in Chapter 6 of Book II as on a Sunday afternoon, Charles Darnay tells Lucie that workmen have come upon the cell in which her father, Dr. Manette, has been...

Monsieur Defarge is hunting for any written evidence that Dr. Manette might have produced before he lost his mind and forgot completely what had occurred which resulted in his lengthy internment....

A Tale of Two Cities is a historical fiction classic written by Charles Dickens. The story is organized or split up into three "books," which span the time period 1775 in Book One to 1792 in Book...

This is something that we are only actually told in Book the Third, Chapter Ten, and this is one of the central questions that lurk behind the rest of the action of the novel. Let us remember that...

Mr. Lorry's initial introduction of himself as the representative of Tellson's Bank, a man who is merely a business "machine" impersonally obeying orders is ironic because he becomes intimately...

In the story by Charles Dickens about the French Revolution A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Darnay received a letter from a well-liked servant who was also a doctor, Gabelle, who is also the father...

Most likely, Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay, the two near-lookalikes, are the main characters of the book—although Doctor Manette; his daughter, Lucie; Madame Defarge; and Jarvis Lorry are also...

Dr. Manette makes shoes because he made shoes while he was in prison, and when he gets stressed he has a mental relapse and makes shoes. Dr. Manette was locked in the Bastille prison for 18 years...

The Cock Lane Ghost was a notorious hoax that captured the public's imagination in late-eighteenth century England. The supposed haunting was declared a fraud by a committee of notables, which...

Lucie Manette - A stereotypical Victorian heroine, Lucie represents "the golden thread" that connects to her father, her husband, her friends, and her children. She is blond and delicate, subject...

A metaphor is comparison that does not use the words "like" or "as." Dickens uses the sea as a metaphor for the mob. The sea is made up of innumerable drops of water that become one...

Flies have traditionally been symbolic of death and evil. At the trial of Charles Darnay, the flies buzz because there is evil intent in that courtroom, and a death sentence for treason hangs over...

Jerry Cruncher's secret nighttime activity is grave robbing. Under the cover of darkness, he digs up fresh corpses and sells them to medical schools so that the students can use them in their...

The reunion between Lucie and Dr. Manette is an emotional scene. Though Lucie does not remember her father, having been a young child when he was arrested, she is established in this scene as being...

Having been "recalled to life" after being locked up in a hole of a French prison, Dr. Manette has not completely been able to reclaim his former respectable position as a physician. Instead, he...