The setting of London is presented in shades of black and white. The area of Soho, where Doctor Manette and Lucie live after their return to England, is pictured as shadowed. It is also symbolic of the extremes of opposites that occur from the very first paragraph. The Manettes’ house is set off the street into a shady courtyard with a plane tree under which they often sit. The shadows become symbolic of the coming catastrophe of the French Revolution, lurking their way to the Manettes, planning to draw them into the darkness away from the light of their happy lives.

In Paris, red is a frequently used color, symbolizing the blood that will be shed by the revolutionaries. At the breaking of the wine cask in the street, Gaspard uses the red wine to write the word “Blood” on the wall. Defarge erases it with mud, warning Gaspard that the time for blood will come, but it is not now. The red of the rose in Madame Defarge’s turban also acts as a warning that the time for blood will come.