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A Tale of Two Cities
The dichotomy of London and Paris is a central element of the setting of the novel. From the first paragraph, Dickens shows that the two are completely different in their rulers, people, and...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In his highly structured A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens employs the motif of pairings and counterparts throughout his narrative. Certainly, the interactions among the families of the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The above quote is from the first chapter of A Tale of Two Cities, and it is what we call an allusion. An allusion is a literary device which references ideas or people with political, religious,...
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A Tale of Two Cities
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A Tale of Two Cities
The first chapter of A Tale of Two Cities begins with one of the most immortal opening phrases in English literature: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." The opening paragraph...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Love, in the form of great sacrifice, is more powerful than hate in A Tale of Two Cities. For example, Sydney Carton's great love for Lucie makes him sacrifice his own life to save her. Carton has...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, the main characters are the following: Sydney Carton Madame Defarge Jarvis Lorry Alexandre Manette Charles Darnay Lucie Manette 1....
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A Tale of Two Cities
The duality of Paris (the capital city of France) and London (the capital city of England), comparing and contrasting the nature of the two cities, presents a foundational theme of the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Dualities in A Tale of Two Cities serve to point to the similarities of internal problems in England and France as well as developing themes and characterization. From the opening of this classic...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens presents three very distinct groups of characters: the good, the bad, and the comic. Each is a caricature, rather than real-life characters. As far as the first two...
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A Tale of Two Cities
One of the moral themes of the story is that love involves sacrifice. Dr. Manette supports Lucie’s marriage to Charles Darnay despite his family history. Sydney Carton not only did not pursue...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Wars and matters of national interest notwithstanding, it is morally wrong for a person or persons to seek revenge against others, especially when it involves taking human life. Madame Defarge...
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A Tale of Two Cities
A duality in literature refers to two opposing parts of the same whole. For example, good and evil are the two opposing parts of human beings. There are several dualities in Dickens' A Tale of Two...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Contrasts are presented from the very first paragraph. Dickens gives several pairs of opposites (including “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”), showing the conflicts of the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Miss Pross is upset at Jarvis Lorry for telling Lucie Manette about her father, because it upset her. Dr. Manette has been locked in prison for political reasons for most of Lucie Manette’s...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Darnay protects his wife Lucie not only physically but emotionally. He does not tell her his real name, but he does this to protect her from the knowledge of his family’s vicious past. He...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Two groups are shown to use power for evil in the French Revolution as related in A Tale of Two Cities. The nobility is represented by the Marquis of Evrémonde, Charles Darnay’s uncle. His...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The three main female characters (Lucie Manette, Miss Pross, and Madame Defarge) have widely different functions. Lucie is the innocent “Madonna,” a static character who does not really change....
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A Tale of Two Cities
The beginning paragraph sets up the theme of doubles (“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times,” etc.). The family friends, the solicitor Mr. Stryver and Jarvis Lorry, are also...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In his novel that is replete with doubles, Charles Dickens frequently foreshadows the switch of Sydney Carton for Charles Darnay at the end of the narrative. This foreshadowing occurs in the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Sydney Carton is a 20-something “failure” in the eyes of well-bred British society. He proves a central impetus in the plot progression of A Tale of Two Cities. Despite his behind-the-scenes...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Mr. Stryver would not have been as successful without Sydney Carton. Primarily, Stryver does not have the eye for details that Carton does, as in his notice of his own similar appearance with that...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Perhaps the best example to support the question of individual interpretations of revenge and justice is in the relationship of Madame Therese Defarge and her husband, Ernest Defarge. In Chapter...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Tellson’s Bank is described as “very small, very dark, very ugly, very incommodious.” It is an old-fashioned place, and the bank managers are proud of that fact. All this is testimony of its...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In Volume II, Chapter 3, when Miss Manette testifies about the prisoner's line of work, this is what she says: "He told me that he was travelling on business of a delicate and difficult nature,...
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Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street
In Chapter 21 ("XXI,") as the men make their way to the cell known as "One Hundred and Five, North Tower," the mood is tense and spooky. They enter the room, and here's the narrator's direct...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The "thread" is a golden hair from Lucie's head that matches the golden hair which Dr. Manette has kept in a little rag around his neck during his eighteen-year imprisonment. It acts as a...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Darnay’s problem is that he comes from a horrible aristocratic family. Throughout the course of the novel, Charles Darnay has more than one problem, but they can all be summed up as...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Darnay needs an escort for his safe passage to Paris because he has been born a French aristocrat, and a particular one, at that. In Book the Third, Chapter I, Dickens depicts every village and...
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A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities Mr. Stryver, a London barrister who represents Charles Darnay, is described in Chapter IV, "Congratulatory," as a man a little over thirty who looks twenty years older....
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A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens makes use of the character of Lucie Manette as a foil to Madame Defarge in order to illuminate the frightening evil of the novel's antagonist, and to further the theme of Good vs....
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A Tale of Two Cities
In Book the Third, Chapter 4, Doctor Manette has just returned from visiting Charles Darnay in prison, where he was unable to secure the release of his son-in-law, despite his stature as a former...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Madame Defarge is constantly knitting, watching events and people go by her. Each knot represents another person who will face the wrath of the revolution when it comes. Symbolic of the knots on...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The revolutionaries and common people come from the same background—the peasant class. This was almost 95% of the French population, yet the government was controlled by the nobility and the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Sydney learned that Lucie and her daughter were to be condemned by the revolutionaries because of their association with a known aristocrat (Charles Darnay). He has pledged himself to Lucie to save...
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A Tale of Two Cities
On her wedding day, Mr. Lorry consoles Lucie, who is worried about leaving her fragile father, by assuring her that Dr. Manette will be closely looked after by him and Miss Pross. In Book the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Dickens is very specific about his view of the guillotine in the French Revolution. He considered the guillotine a terrible travesty of justice. Since he was about to send one of his main...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Lucie shows compassion for Sydney Carton by allowing him to come by her house and be a family friend even though he is pining for her. The love story of Sydney Carton and Lucie Manette is a love...
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A Tale of Two Cities
When Charles Darnay arrives in France, he is immediately arrested as an “émigré,” one of the nobility who abandoned their estates and went to England, hoping to find allies to put down the...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The two cities in the title are Paris and London, and the story involves both because the events that occur link both cities and Dickens is using the French Revolution as a cautionary tale....
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A Tale of Two Cities
Sydney Carton learned that Lucie and her daughter were also to be condemned by the tribunal and most likely be put to death, because of their relationship to Charles Darnay, who is on his way to...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In this chapter, Doctor Manette reads the confession and curse that he wrote many years before when he was imprisoned in the Bastille. This is the secret (the shadow) that he has carried all this...
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A Tale of Two Cities
Robert Cly and John Barsad are suspected (and later revealed) to be spies for the French government. This casts doubt on their reliability in their denunciation of Charles Darnay, who is on trial...
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A Tale of Two Cities
When the citizen of St. Antoine writes the word "Blood" on the wall with his finger dipped in the muddy wine of the street, his is a symbolic act. The wine symbolizes the bloodshed and foreshadows...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The mood of the ending of Book the Third is one of dread and suspense. The reader is aware of the situation in Paris, and can be certain of trouble for Charles. The compassion of Charles for his...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The statement that the Monsigneur, who is one of the powerful lords in the Royal Court, is able "to swallow a great many things with ease" is satiric as it mocks the powerful lord who is able to...
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A Tale of Two Cities
In Chapter Three, "The Night Shadows," after falling asleep on the way to Dover, Mr. Lorry dreams about Tellson Bank. As the dream develops, Mr. Lorry envisions a man who has been buried for...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The rider gets no help because no one wants to aid the aristocrats. The French Revolution was an intense class struggle. The peasants had been mistreated and taken advantage of for years, and they...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The French Revolution was an outgrowth of the Age of Enlightenment, when human reason took precedence over the teachings of the church and the power of the monarchy and nobility. Prior to this...
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A Tale of Two Cities
The doctor’s name is Alexandre Manette. Alexandre Manette was falsely imprisoned for political reasons. He served 18 years in prison in France. The reason Dr. Manette was sent to the Bastille...
