Dr Manette Is the Reason That Charles Is Released but Is Also the Reason That He Is Comdemned Again

1859 historical novel by Charles Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities

Cover of serial Vol. V, 1859
Author	Charles Dickens
Illustrator	Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)
Cover artist	Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz)
Country	United Kingdom
Linguistic communication	English
Genre	Historical novel
Set in	London and Paris, 1775–93
Published	Weekly serial April – November 1859 Volume 1859[1]
Publisher	London: Chapman & Hall
Dewey Decimal	823.viii
LC Class	PR4571 .A1
Preceded by	Piddling Dorrit
Followed by	Keen Expectations
Text	A Tale of Two Cities at Wikisource

A Tale of Two Cities is an 1859 historical novel past Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris earlier and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Physician Manette, his 18-yr-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set up against the conditions that led upwards to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In the Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Risk Fiction, critic Don D'Ammassa argues that information technology is an chance novel because the protagonists are in constant danger of being imprisoned or killed.^[2]

As Dickens'southward all-time-known piece of work of historical fiction, A Tale of Ii Cities is claimed to be one of the best-selling novels of all time.^{[3] [iv] [5]} In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll.^[vi] The novel has been adapted for film, television, radio, and the stage, and has connected to influence popular civilisation.

Synopsis [edit]

Volume the Offset: Recalled to Life [edit]

Opening lines [edit]

Dickens opens the novel with a sentence that has get famous:

Information technology was the all-time of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the flavour of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, nosotros had everything earlier united states of america, nosotros had nothing before us, we were all going directly to Heaven, nosotros were all going directly the other way—in brusque, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its existence received, for good or for evil, in the elevation caste of comparison but.^[7]

Plot of the showtime book [edit]

In 1775, a man flags downwardly the nightly mail service-coach en route from London to Dover. The man is Jerry Cruncher, an employee of Tellson'southward Bank in London; he carries a message for Jarvis Lorry, one of the banking concern'southward managers. Lorry sends Jerry back with the cryptic response "Recalled to Life", referring to Alexandre Manette, a French medico who has been released from the Bastille after an 18-twelvemonth imprisonment. On arrival in Dover, Lorry meets Dr Manette'southward daughter Lucie and her governess, Miss Pross. Believing her begetter to exist dead, Lucie faints at the news that he is alive. Lorry takes her to France for a reunion.

In the Paris neighbourhood of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Dr Manette has been given lodgings by his quondam retainer Ernest Defarge and his wife Therese, the owners of a wine shop. Lorry and Lucie observe him in a small garret where he spends much of his time distractedly and obsessively making shoes – a skill he learned in prison. Lorry and Lucie take him back to England.

Book the Second: The Golden Thread [edit]

"The Sea Still Rises", an illustration for Volume 2, Chapter 22 by "Phiz"

Plot of the 2d book [edit]

In 1780, French émigré Charles Darnay is on trial in London for treason against the British Crown. The key witnesses confronting him are 2 British spies, John Barsad and Roger Cly. Barsad claims that he would recognise Darnay anywhere, but Darnay'due south lawyer points out that his colleague in court, Sydney Carton, bears a stiff resemblance to the prisoner. With Barsad's testimony thus undermined, Darnay is acquitted.

In Paris, the hated and calumniating Marquis St. Evrémonde orders his carriage driven recklessly fast through the crowded streets, striking and killing a child. The Marquis throws a coin to the child'southward father, Gaspard, to compensate him for his loss; equally the Marquis drives on, a coin is flung dorsum into the carriage.

Arriving at his country château, the Marquis meets his nephew and heir, Darnay. Out of disgust with his aloof family unit, the nephew has shed his real surname (St. Evrémonde) and anglicised his mother's maiden name, D'Aulnais, to Darnay. He despises the Marquis' views that "Repression is the just lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fearfulness and slavery ... will proceed the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof [looking upward to it] shuts out the sky."^[eight] That night, Gaspard creeps into the château and stabs and kills the Marquis in his sleep. He avoids capture for nigh a yr, but is eventually hanged in the nearby village.

In London, Carton confesses his love to Lucie, merely quickly recognises that she cannot honey him in return. Carton nonetheless promises to "embrace any sacrifice for yous and for those dear to you".^[nine] Darnay asks for Dr Manette's permission to midweek Lucie, and he agrees. On the morn of the marriage, Darnay reveals his real name and lineage to Dr Manette, facts that Manette had asked him to withhold until that day. The unexpected revelation causes Dr Manette to revert to his obsessive shoemaking. He returns to sanity earlier their return from honeymoon, and the whole incident is kept secret from Lucie.

As the years pass, Lucie and Charles raise a family in England: a son (who dies in childhood) and a girl, little Lucie. Lorry finds a second home with them. Carton, though he seldom visits, is accustomed as a shut friend and becomes a special favourite of little Lucie.

In Paris in July 1789, the Defarges help to lead the storming of the Guardhouse, a symbol of imperial tyranny. Defarge enters Dr Manette's former jail cell, One Hundred and Five, North Tower, and searches information technology thoroughly. Throughout the countryside, local officials and other representatives of the aristocracy are slaughtered, and the St. Evrémonde château is burned to the basis.

In 1792, Lorry travels to France to save important documents stored at Tellson's Paris branch from the chaos of the French Revolution. Darnay receives a letter from Gabelle, one of his uncle's onetime servants who has been imprisoned past the revolutionaries, pleading for the Marquis to assist secure his release. Without telling his family or revealing his position as the new Marquis, Darnay likewise sets out for Paris.

Book the 3rd: The Track of a Storm [edit]

Plot of the tertiary volume [edit]

Shortly later on Darnay's arrival in Paris, he is denounced every bit an illegal emigrated aristocrat and jailed in La Forcefulness Prison. Hoping to exist able to salve him, Dr Manette, Lucie and her girl, Jerry, and Miss Pross all move to Paris and take up lodgings virtually those of Lorry.

Xv months later Darnay is finally tried, and Dr Manette – viewed as a popular hero later on his long imprisonment in the Bastille – testifies on his behalf. Darnay is acquitted and released, only is re-arrested afterward that 24-hour interval.

While running errands with Jerry, Miss Pross is amazed to meet her long-lost brother Solomon. At present posing equally a Frenchman, he is an employee of the revolutionary authorities and one of Darnay's gaolers. Carton likewise recognises him – equally Barsad, one of the spies who tried to frame Darnay at his trial in 1780. Solomon is desperate to keep his truthful identity subconscious, and by threatening to denounce him as an English spy Carton blackmails Solomon into helping with a plan.

Darnay's retrial the following day is based on new denunciations by the Defarges, and on a manuscript that Defarge had found when searching Dr Manette'south prison cell. Defarge reads the manuscript to the tribunal. In it, Dr Manette had recorded that his imprisonment was at the easily of the Evrémonde brothers (Darnay'south father and uncle) afterward he had tried to report their crimes. Darnay's uncle had kidnapped and raped a peasant girl. Her brother, outset hiding his remaining younger sister, had gone to confront the uncle, who ran him through with his sword. In spite of the best efforts of Dr Manette, both the elderberry sister and the blood brother died. Dr Manette's manuscript concludes by denouncing the Evrémondes, "them and their descendants, to the final of their race."^[10] The jury takes that as irrefutable proof of Darnay's guilt, and he is condemned to die by the guillotine the next afternoon.

In the Defarges' wine shop, Carton discovers that Madame Defarge was the surviving sister of the peasant family unit, and he overhears her planning to denounce both Lucie and her daughter. He visits Lorry and warns him that Lucie and her family must be ready to flee the side by side twenty-four hour period. He extracts a promise that Lorry and the family unit volition exist waiting for him in the wagon at 2 pm, ready to leave the very instant he returns.

Shortly before the executions are due to begin, Carton puts his plan into effect and, with Barsad'due south reluctant assistance, obtains access to Darnay'south prison house jail cell. Carton intends to be executed in Darnay's place. He drugs Darnay and trades clothes with him, so has Barsad carry Darnay out to the carriage where Lorry and the family unit are expecting Carton. They abscond to England with Darnay, who gradually regains consciousness during the journey.

Meanwhile, Madame Defarge goes to Lucie's lodgings, hoping to apprehend her and her daughter. There she finds Miss Pross, who is waiting for Jerry then they can follow the family out of Paris. The ii women struggle and Madame Defarge's pistol discharges, killing her outright and permanently deafening Miss Pross.

The seamstress and Carton, an illustration for Book iii, Chapter 15 by John McLenan (1859)

Every bit Carton waits to lath the tumbril that will take him to his execution, he is approached by another prisoner, a seamstress. Carton comforts her, telling her that their ends will be quick and that the worries of their lives will not follow them into "the better state where ... [they] will be mercifully sheltered." A last prophetic idea runs through his mind in which he visualises a ameliorate time to come for the family unit and their descendants.

Closing lines [edit]

Dickens closes with Carton's terminal prophetic vision as he contemplates the guillotine:^[11]

I see Barsad, and Cly, Defarge, The Vengeance [a lieutenant of Madame Defarge], the Juryman, the Guess, long ranks of the new oppressors who have risen on the devastation of the old, perishing by this retributive instrument, before it shall terminate out of its nowadays utilise. I meet a beautiful city and a brilliant people ascension from this completeness, and, in their struggles to exist truly complimentary, in their triumphs and defeats, through long years to come, I come across the evil of this time and of the previous time of which this is the natural birth, gradually making expiation for itself and wearing out.

I see the lives for which I lay downwards my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy, in that England which I shall see no more. I run into Her with a kid upon her bosom, who bears my proper name. I see her father, aged and aptitude, simply otherwise restored, and faithful to all men in his healing role, and at peace. I see the good quondam man [Lorry], so long their friend, in ten years' time enriching them with all he has, and passing tranquilly to his reward.

I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. I see her, an old woman, weeping for me on the anniversary of this twenty-four hour period. I see her and her husband, their course done, lying side by side in their last earthly bed, and I know that each was non more honoured and held sacred in the other'southward soul than I was in the souls of both.

I see that child who lay upon her bosom and who bore my proper noun, a homo winning his way up in that path of life which once was mine. I see him winning information technology so well, that my name is made illustrious there by the calorie-free of his. I meet the blots I threw upon it, faded away. I see him, fore-well-nigh of just judges and honoured men, bringing a boy of my name, with a forehead that I know and golden hair, to this place—then fair to look upon, with not a trace of this day's disfigurement—and I hear him tell the child my story, with a tender and a faltering vocalisation.

It is a far, far meliorate thing that I do, than I have always done; it is a far, far amend residual that I go to than I have ever known.

Characters [edit]

In order of appearance:

Book the First (November 1775) [edit]

Chapter 2

Illustration from a serialised edition of the story, showing 3 tricoteuses knitting, with the Vengeance standing in the eye.

• Jerry Cruncher: Porter and messenger for Tellson's Banking concern and undercover "Resurrection Man" (body-snatcher); though crude and abusive towards his married woman, he provides mettlesome service to the Manettes in Book the Third. His first proper name is short for Jeremiah; the latter name shares a meaning with the name of Jarvis Lorry.
• Jarvis Lorry: A manager at Tellson's Bank: "...a gentleman of lx ... Very orderly and methodical he looked ... He had a good leg, and was a little vain of information technology..." He is a dear friend of Dr Manette and serves as a sort of trustee and guardian of the Manette family. The bank places him in accuse of the Paris branch during the Revolution, putting him in position to provide life-saving service to the Manettes in Book the Third. The end of the volume reveals that he lives to be 88.

Chapter iv

• Lucie Manette: Daughter of Dr Manette; an platonic pre-Victorian lady, perfect in every style. Most 17 when the novel begins, she is described as short and slight with a "pretty effigy, a quantity of golden hair, a pair of blueish optics..." Although Sydney Carton is in love with her, he declares himself an unsuitable candidate for her hand in marriage and instead she marries Charles Darnay, with whom she is very much in love, and bears him a daughter. All the same, Lucie genuinely cares about Carton's welfare and defends him when he is criticised by others. She is the "golden thread" afterwards whom Book the Second is named, so called because she holds her father's and her family's lives together (and considering of her blonde hair similar her female parent'south). She also ties nearly every grapheme in the book together.^[12]

Affiliate 5

• Monsieur Defarge: Given proper name Ernest, he is the possessor of a Paris vino shop and leader of the Jacquerie. "A bull-necked, martial-looking man of xxx ... He was a dark man altogether, with good eyes and a good bold breadth between them." He is devoted to Dr Manette having been his retainer equally a youth. One of the key Revolutionary leaders, in which he is known as Jacques Four, he embraces the Revolution as a noble crusade, unlike many other revolutionaries. Though he truly believes in the principles of the Revolution, Defarge is far more moderate than some of the other participants (notably his married woman).
• Madame Defarge: Given name Thérèse; a vengeful female Revolutionary, she is arguably the novel's antagonist and is presented every bit a more extreme and bloodthirsty personality than her husband Ernest. "There were many women at that time, upon whom the time laid a dreadfully disfiguring manus; simply, there was not i amongst them more to be dreaded than this ruthless woman ... Of a strong and fearless character, of shrewd sense and readiness, of great determination, of that kind of beauty which not only seems to impart to its possessor compactness and animosity, just to strike into others an instinctive recognition of those qualities." The source of her implacable hatred of the Evrémonde family unit is revealed late in the novel to be the rape of her sister and killing of her brother when she was a child.
• Jacques 1, Two, and Three: Revolutionary compatriots of Ernest Defarge. Jacques Three is especially bloodthirsty and serves every bit a juryman on the Revolutionary Tribunals.

Affiliate 6

• Dr Alexandre Manette: Lucie's father; when the volume opens, he has just been released later on a ghastly 18 years as a prisoner in the Guardhouse. Weak, afraid of sudden noises, barely able to carry on a chat, he is taken in by his true-blue former retainer Defarge who then turns him over to Jarvis Lorry and the daughter he has never met. He achieves recovery and contentment with her, her eventual hubby Charles Darnay, and their little daughter. All his happiness is put at risk in Book the Tertiary when Madame Defarge resolves to send Evrémonde/Darnay to the guillotine, regardless of his having renounced the Evrémondes' wealth and cruelty. At the same time, the reader learns the cause of Dr Manette'southward imprisonment: he had rendered medical intendance to Madame Defarge'due south brother and sister following the injuries inflicted on them by the Evrémonde twins back in 1757; the Evrémondes decided he couldn't exist allowed to betrayal them.

Book the 2nd (V years later) [edit]

Chapter 1

• Mrs Cruncher: Wife of Jerry Cruncher. She is a very religious woman, only her husband, somewhat paranoid, claims she is praying (what he calls "flopping") against him, and that is why he does non oft succeed at piece of work. Jerry ofttimes verbally and, most as often, physically abuses her, but at the end of the story, he appears to experience somewhat guilty about this.
• Young Jerry Cruncher: Son of Jerry and Mrs Cruncher. Immature Jerry often follows his father around to his father'southward odd jobs, and at one indicate in the story, follows his father at night and discovers that his father is a Resurrection Man. Immature Jerry looks upward to his male parent as a role model and aspires to become a Resurrection Man himself when he grows up.

Affiliate ii

• Charles Darnay: A Frenchman of the noble Evrémonde family; "...a swain of about v-and-twenty, well-grown and well-looking, with a sunburnt cheek and a dark eye." When introduced, he is on trial for his life at the Former Bailey on charges of spying on behalf of the French crown. In disgust at the cruelty of his family to the French peasantry, he took on the name "Darnay" (after his female parent's maiden name, D'Aulnais) and left French republic for England.^[xiii] He and Lucie Manette fall deeply in love, they marry, and she gives birth to a daughter. He exhibits an admirable honesty in his decision to reveal to Dr Manette his true identity as a member of the infamous Evrémonde family. He puts his family's happiness at risk with his mettlesome decision to return to Paris to relieve the imprisoned Gabelle, who, unbeknownst to him, has been coerced into luring him there. Once in Paris, he is stunned to observe that, regardless of his rejection of his family unit's exploitative and abusive record, he is imprisoned incommunicado simply for being an aristocrat. Released subsequently the testimony of Dr Manette, he is re-arrested and sentenced to exist guillotined owing to Madame Defarge's undying hatred of all Evrémondes. This death sentence provides the pretext for the novel'due south climax.

Affiliate 3

• John Barsad (real name Solomon Pross): An informer in London and later employed by the Marquis St. Evrémonde. When introduced at Charles Darnay's trial, he is giving damning evidence against the defendant just information technology becomes clear to the reader that he is an oily, untrustworthy grapheme. Moving to Paris he takes service as a police force spy in the Saint Antoine district, under the French monarchy. Following the Revolution, he becomes an amanuensis for Revolutionary France (at which point he must hide his British identity). Although a man of low character, his position as a spy allows him to arrange for Sydney Carton's terminal heroic act (subsequently Carton blackmails him with revealing his duplicity).
• Roger Cly: Barsad's collaborator in spying and giving questionable testimony. Following his chaotic funeral procession in Book the Second, Chapter 14, his coffin is dug up past Jerry Cruncher and his boyfriend Resurrection Men. In Volume the Tertiary, Jerry Cruncher reveals that in fact the casket independent merely rocks and that Cly was clearly still alive and no doubt carrying on his spying activities.
• Mr Stryver: An aggressive barrister, senior partner to Sydney Carton.^[14] "... a man of little more than thirty, but looking twenty years older than he was, stout, loud, ruddy, barefaced, and free from whatsoever drawback of delicacy..."; he wants to marry Lucie Manette because he believes that she is attractive enough. All the same, he is not truly in love with her and in fact treats her condescendingly. Jarvis Lorry suggests that marrying Lucie would be unwise and Stryver, after thinking information technology over, talks himself out of information technology, later on marrying a rich widow instead.
• Sydney Carton: A quick-minded and highly intelligent merely depressed English barrister, referred to by Dickens as "The Jackal" because of his deference to Stryver. When introduced, he is a hard-drinking cynic, having watched Stryver advance while never taking advantage of his ain considerable gifts: Dickens writes that the sunday rose "upon no sadder sight than the homo of good abilities and expert emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own assist and his ain happiness, sensible to the blight on him, and resigning himself to permit it eat him away." In dear with Lucie Manette, she cares well-nigh him merely more than every bit a concerned female parent figure than a potential mate. He ultimately becomes a selfless hero, redeeming everything by sacrificing his life for a worthy crusade.

Chapter 6

• Miss Pross: Lucie Manette's governess since Lucie was x years old: "... one of those unselfish creatures—found only among women—who volition, for pure love and admiration, bind themselves willing slaves, to youth when they have lost it, to beauty that they never had..." She is fiercely loyal to Lucie and to England. She believes her long-lost blood brother Solomon, at present the spy and perjurer John Barsad, is "the one man worthy of Ladybird," ignoring the fact that he "was a heartless scoundrel who had stripped her of everything she possessed, as a stake to speculate with, and had abased her in her poverty for evermore..." She is not agape to physically fight those she believes are endangering the people she loves. She permanently loses her hearing when the fatal pistol shot goes off during her climactic fight with Madame Defarge.

Chapter 7

It took four men, all 4 a-blaze with gorgeous decoration, and the Chief of them unable to be with fewer than two gold watches in his pocket, emulative of the noble and celibate manner prepare past Monseigneur, to conduct the happy chocolate to Monseigneur's lips.

It was impossible for Monseigneur to manipulate with ane of these attendants on the chocolate and hold his high identify nether the admiring Heavens. Deep would take been the blot upon his escutcheon if his chocolate had been ignobly waited on past but three men; he must have died of ii.

And who among the company at Monseigneur's reception in that seventeen hundred and eightieth year of our Lord, could possibly doubt, that a system rooted in a frizzled hangman, powdered, gilded-laced, pumped, and white-silk stockinged, would run into the very stars out!

• "Monseigneur": An unnamed generic aristocrat whose extraordinary decadence and self-absorption, described in detail, are used by Dickens to characterise the ancien régime in general. "The leprosy of unreality disfigured every man creature in omnipresence upon Monseigneur." His fellow nobles also luxuriate in vast wealth, just this does non inoculate them from feeling envy and resentment: as the Marquis St. Evrémonde leaves Monseigneur's house "with his lid under his arm and his snuff-box in his paw", he turns to the latter'due south bedroom and quietly says, "I devote you ... to the Devil!" When the Revolution begins, Monseigneur puts on his cook's clothing and ignominiously flees, escaping with only his life.
• Marquis St. Evrémonde:^[fifteen] Uncle of Charles Darnay: "...a man of almost lx, amply dressed, haughty in mode, and with a face like a fine mask." Determined to preserve the traditional prerogatives of the nobility until the end of his life, he is the twin brother of Charles Darnay's late begetter; both men were uncommonly arrogant and cruel to peasants. Lamenting reforms which have imposed some restraints on the abusive powers of his class, the Marquis is out of favour at the majestic courtroom at the fourth dimension of his assassination. Murdered in his bed by the peasant Gaspard.
• Gaspard: A peasant whose child is run over and killed past the Marquis St. Evrémonde's carriage. He plunges a knife into Evrémonde'due south heart, pinning a note that reads, "Bulldoze him fast to his tomb," a reference to the careless speed that caused his little kid'south decease. Subsequently beingness in hiding for a yr, he is found, arrested, and executed.
• The Mender of Roads: A peasant who later works equally a woodsawyer; the Defarges bring him into a conspiracy confronting the aristocracy, where he is referred to every bit Jacques Five.

Chapter 8

• Théophile Gabelle: Gabelle is "the Postmaster, and another taxing functionary, united"^[16] for the tenants of the Marquis St. Evrémonde. Gabelle is imprisoned by the revolutionaries, and his beseeching letter brings Darnay to France. Gabelle is "named after the hated salt revenue enhancement".^[17]

Book the Third (Autumn 1792) [edit]

Chapter iii

• The Vengeance: A companion of Madame Defarge referred to as her "shadow" and lieutenant, a member of the sisterhood of women revolutionaries in Saint Antoine, and Revolutionary zealot. (Many Frenchmen and women did change their names to show their enthusiasm for the Revolution.^[18]) Carton predicts that the Vengeance, Defarge, Cly, and Barsad will exist consumed past the Revolution and terminate upwards on the guillotine.

Affiliate 13

• The Seamstress: "...a young woman, with a slight girlish form, a sugariness spare face in which there was no vestige of colour, and large widely opened patient optics..." Having been caught up in The Terror, she strikes up a conversation with the man she assumes is Evrémonde in the big room where the next solar day'southward guillotine victims are gathered. When she realises that another human being has taken Charles Darnay's place, she admires his sacrifice and asks if she can hold his mitt during their tumbril ride to the place of execution.

Sources [edit]

While performing in The Frozen Deep, Dickens was given a play to read called The Dead Heart by Watts Phillips which had the historical setting, the basic storyline, and the climax that Dickens used in A Tale of Ii Cities.^[19] The play was produced while A Tale of Two Cities was being serialised in All the Yr Round and led to talk of plagiarism.^[20]

Other sources are The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle (especially of import for the novel'due south rhetoric and symbolism);^[21] Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton; The Castle Spector by Matthew Lewis; Travels in France past Arthur Young; and Tableau de Paris by Louis-Sébastien Mercier. Dickens likewise used fabric from an account of imprisonment during the Terror by Beaumarchais, and records of the trial of a French spy published in The Annual Register.^[22]

Research published in The Dickensian in 1963 suggests that the house at ane Greek Street, now The House of St Barnabas, forms the footing for Dr Manette and Lucie's London house.^[23]

In a building at the back, attainable past a courtyard where a aeroplane tree rustled its light-green leaves, church organs claimed to be made, and as well gold to be beaten by some mysterious giant who had a golden arm starting out of the wall ... equally if he had browbeaten himself precious.^[24]

The "gold arm" (an arm-and-hammer symbol, an ancient sign of the gilded-beater's craft) is now housed at the Charles Dickens Museum, but a modern replica could be seen sticking out of the wall near the Pillars of Hercules pub at the western end of Manette Street (formerly Rose Street),^[25] until this edifice was demolished in 2017.

Publication history [edit]

The 45-affiliate novel was published in 31 weekly instalments in Dickens's new literary periodical titled All the Year Round. From April 1859 to November 1859, Dickens also republished the capacity every bit eight monthly sections in green covers. All but three of Dickens's previous novels had appeared as monthly instalments prior to publication as books. The first weekly instalment of A Tale of 2 Cities ran in the beginning outcome of All the Year Round on 30 April 1859. The last ran thirty weeks afterward, on 26 Nov.^[1]

The Telegraph and The Guardian merits that information technology is one of the acknowledged novels of all time.^{[3] [4] [26]} WorldCat listed i,529 editions of the work, including i,305 print editions.^[27]

Analysis [edit]

A Tale of Two Cities is one of only 2 works of historical fiction by Charles Dickens (the other existence Barnaby Rudge).^[28]

Dickens uses literal translations of French idioms for characters who cannot speak English language, such every bit "What the devil exercise you do in that galley in that location?!!" and "Where is my wife? … Here you see me."^[29] The Penguin Classics edition of the novel notes that "Not all readers have regarded the experiment as a success."^[29]

J. Fifty. Borges quipped: "Dickens lived in London. In his book A Tale of Two Cities, based on the French Revolution, we meet that he really could not write a tale of ii cities. He was a resident of just one metropolis: London."^[30]

Autobiographical material [edit]

Some have argued that in A Tale of Two Cities Dickens reflects on his recently begun matter with 18-yr-old actress Ellen Ternan, which was possibly platonic but certainly romantic. Lucie Manette has been noted every bit resembling Ternan physically.^[31]

After starring in a play by Wilkie Collins titled The Frozen Deep, Dickens was first inspired to write Two Cities. In the play, Dickens played the role of a man who sacrifices his ain life then that his rival may have the woman they both love; the love triangle in the play became the basis for the relationships amid Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, and Sydney Carton in Two Cities.^[32]

Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay may behave chiefly on Dickens's personal life. The plot hinges on the near-perfect resemblance betwixt Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay; the two look so alike that Carton twice saves Darnay through the inability of others to tell them apart. Carton is Darnay made bad. Carton suggests as much:

'Do you particularly similar the man [Darnay]?' he muttered, at his own epitome [which he is regarding in a mirror]; 'why should you particularly similar a man who resembles y'all? At that place is zippo in you to like; you know that. Ah, confound you! What a modify you have made in yourself! A good reason for talking to a homo, that he shows y'all what you lot have fallen abroad from and what you might accept been! Change places with him, and would you have been looked at by those blue eyes [belonging to Lucie Manette] as he was, and commiserated by that agitated face as he was? Come up on, and have information technology out in plain words! You detest the fellow.'^[33]

Many have felt that Carton and Darnay are doppelgängers, which Eric Rabkin defines equally a pair "of characters that together, represent 1 psychological persona in the narrative".^[34] If then, they would prefigure such works as Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Darnay is worthy and respectable only dull (at to the lowest degree to virtually mod readers), Carton disreputable simply magnetic.^{[ citation needed ]}

I can merely doubtable whose psychological persona information technology is that Carton and Darnay together embody (if they exercise), but it is often thought to be the psyche of Dickens. He might have been quite aware that between them, Carton and Darnay shared his own initials, a frequent property of his characters.^[35] Even so, he denied it when asked.

Dickens dedicated the book to the Whig and Liberal prime number government minister Lord John Russell: "In remembrance of many public services and private kindnesses."^[36]

Gimmicky criticisms [edit]

The reports published in the printing were divergent. Thomas Carlyle was enthusiastic, which made the author "heartily delighted".^[37] On the other hand, Mrs. Oliphant found "little of Dickens" in the novel.^[38] The critic James Fitzjames Stephen called it a "dish of puppy pie and stewed cat which is not bearded by the cooking" and "a disjointed framework for the display of the tawdry wares, which are Mr Dickens'due south stock-in-merchandise.^[39]

Adaptations [edit]

Films [edit]

• A Tale of Two Cities, a 1911 silent motion-picture show.
• A Tale of Two Cities, a 1917 silent film.
• A Tale of Ii Cities, a 1922 silent film.
• The Only Way, a 1927 silent British film directed by Herbert Wilcox.
• A Tale of Two Cities, a 1935 blackness-and-white film starring Ronald Colman, Elizabeth Allan, Reginald Owen, Basil Rathbone, and Edna May Oliver, nominated for the Academy Laurels for Best Picture.
• A Tale of Ii Cities, a 1958 version, starring Dirk Bogarde, Dorothy Tutin, Christopher Lee, Leo McKern, and Donald Pleasence.
• A Tale of Two Cities, a 1980 version, starring Chris Sarandon, Alice Krige and Kenneth More.

Radio [edit]

• Start on 8 April 1935, WCAE in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, presented A Tale of Ii Cities "in chapter sequence" on Mon nights.^[40]
• On 25 July 1938, The Mercury Theatre on the Air produced a radio accommodation starring Orson Welles. Welles also starred in a version broadcast on Lux Radio Theater on 26 March 1945.
• Ronald Colman recreated his 1935 motion picture role 3 times on radio: twice on the Lux Radio Theatre, commencement on 12 January 1942 with Edna Best and again on xviii March 1946 with Heather Angel, and once on the ix March 1948 circulate of Favorite Story (director Cecil B. DeMille's "favorite story").
• On 7 October 1943, a portion of the novel was adapted to the syndicated programme The Weird Circle every bit "Dr Manette'southward Manuscript."
• In 1950, the BBC broadcast a radio adaptation past Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud of their unproduced 1935 phase play.
• A one-half-hour version titled "Sydney Carton" was broadcast on 27 March 1954 on Theatre Royal hosted past and starring Laurence Olivier.
• In June 1989, BBC Radio 4 produced a seven-60 minutes drama adapted for radio by Nick McCarty and directed by Ian Cotterell. This accommodation has been occasionally repeated by BBC Radio vii and after BBC Radio 4 Extra (most recently in 2009). The cast included Charles Trip the light fantastic toe equally Sydney Carton, Maurice Denham as Dr Manette, Richard Pasco as Mr Lorry, John Moffatt every bit Marquis St. Evrémonde, Charlotte Attenborough every bit Lucie Manette, John Duttine every bit Darnay, Aubrey Forest as Mr Stryver and Barbara Leigh-Hunt as Miss Pross.
• In December 2011, as part of its special flavor on Charles Dickens's Bicentenerary,^[41] BBC Radio iv produced a new 5-part adaptation for radio past Mike Walker with original music by Lennert Busch and directed by Jessica Dromgoole and Jeremy Mortimer^[42] which won the 2012 Bronze Sony Radio Academy Accolade for Best Drama.^[43] The cast included Robert Lindsay as the vocalisation of Charles Dickens, Paul Ready as Sydney Carton, Karl Johnson as Dr Manette, Lydia Wilson as Lucie Manette, Jonathan Coy as Mr Lorry, Andrew Scott every bit Darnay, Alison Steadman as Miss Pross and Clive Merrison as Marquis St. Evrémonde.
• In 2018, A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and London, a three-function adaptation of the Dickens novel written by Ayeesha Menon and directed by Polly Thomas was circulate on BBC Radio 4, updating the story and characters to set it in modern-solar day London and war-torn Syria.^[44] The cast included Shaun Parker as Sid (Sydney Carton), Lara Sawalha as Lina (Lucie Manette), Fatima Adoum as Taghreed (Madame Defarge), Phil Davis as Jarvis (Mr Lorry), Khalid Abdalla equally Shwan Dahkurdi (Charles Darnay) and Nadim Sawalha as Dr Mahmoud (Dr Manette).

Tv set [edit]

• ABC produced a two-part mini-series in 1953.^[45]
• The BBC produced an eight-part mini-series in 1957 starring Peter Wyngarde as Sydney Carton, Edward de Souza as Charles Darnay and Wendy Hutchinson as Lucie Manette.
• The BBC produced a ten-part mini-series in 1965 starring John Forest as Carton, Nicholas Pennell every bit Charles Darnay, Kika Markham as Lucie Manette and Patrick Troughton equally Dr Manette.^[46]
• The BBC produced some other viii-part mini-serial in 1980 starring Paul Shelley as Carton/Darnay, Sally Osborne as Lucie Manette and Nigel Stock every bit Jarvis Lorry.
• A Tale of Two Cities, a 1984 Television receiver animated version by Burbank Blitheness Studios.^[47]
• ITV Granada produced a 2-role mini-serial in 1989 starting James Wilby equally Sydney Carton, Xavier Deluc equally Charles Darnay and Serena Gordon as Lucie Manette. The product likewise aired on Masterpiece Theatre on PBS in the The states.^{[48] [49]}

Stage productions [edit]

• Royal & Derngate Theatre produced an adaptation by Mike Poulton with original music by Rachel Portman, directed past James Dacre.
• The Regent'due south Park Open Air Theatre staged an adaptation by Matthew Dunster in 2017, directed by artistic director Timothy Sheader.

Phase musicals [edit]

Stage musical adaptations of the novel include:

• Two Cities, the Spectacular New Musical (1968), with music past Jeff Wayne, lyrics by Jerry Wayne and starring Edward Woodward.^[50]
• A Tale of Two Cities (1998), with music past David Pomeranz and volume by Steven David Horwich and David Soames. The musical was commissioned by Paul Nicholas and co-produced by Bill Kenwright ran at the New Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham during their 1998 Christmas season with Paul Nicholas every bit Sydney Carton.
• Two Cities (2006), a musical by Howard Goodall, which was set during the Russian Revolution, with the 2 cities being London and St. petersburg.
• A Tale of Two Cities, a musical by Jill Santoriello, which opened on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on xviii September 2008. The product starred James Barbour as Sydney Carton, Natalie Toro as Madame Defarge and Brandi Burkhardt equally Lucie Manette. The prove was directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle. Since Broadway, the show has been performed in the The states, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Nihon and Korea.^[51]

Opera [edit]

• Arthur Benjamin's operatic version of the novel, subtitled Romantic Melodrama in Six Scenes, premiered on 17 April 1953, conducted by the composer. It received its phase premiere at Sadler's Wells on 22 July 1957, under the baton of Leon Lovett.^[52]

Books [edit]

• Dav Pilkey wrote a comic titled Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties, loosely based on the novel.

Popular culture [edit]

At the 1984 Democratic National Convention in the Usa, the keynote speaker, Mario Cuomo of New York, delivered a scathing criticism of so-President Ronald Reagan's comparison of the U.s. to a "shining metropolis on a hill" with an allusion to Dickens's novel, proverb: "Mr President, you ought to know that this nation is more a Tale of Two Cities than information technology is just a 'Shining City on a Loma'."^{[53] [54]}

A Tale of Ii Cities served every bit an inspiration to the 2012 Batman film The Dark Knight Rises by Christopher Nolan. The character of Bane is in function inspired by Dickens's Madame Defarge: He organises kangaroo court trials confronting the ruling elite of the metropolis of Gotham and is seen knitting in one of the trial scenes like Madame Defarge. There are other hints to Dickens's novel, such as Talia al Ghul being obsessed with revenge and having a shut relationship to the hero, and Blight's catchphrase "the fire rises" as an ode to i of the volume's chapters.^[55] Bane's associate Barsard is named after a supporting character in the novel. In the film's final scene, Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) reads aloud the endmost lines of Sydney Carton's inner monologue—"Information technology'south a far far better thing I exercise than I have always done, information technology's a far far better rest I go to than I have always known"—directly from the novel.^[56]

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Facsimile of the original 1st publication of "A Tale of 2 Cities" in All the yr round". S4ulanguages.com. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
2. ^ Done D'Ammassa, Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction. Facts on File Library of Globe Literature, Infobase Publishing, 2009. pp. vii–viii.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Charles Dickens novel inscribed to George Eliot upwardly for sale". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 September 2019.
4. ^ ^{a b} "A Tale of Ii Cities, Male monarch's Caput, review". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on xi Jan 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
5. ^ "TLSWikipedia all-acquisition – The TLS". 26 May 2016. Archived from the original on 26 May 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
6. ^ "The Big Read". BBC. April 2003. Retrieved 26 July 2019
7. ^ Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Volume the Offset, Affiliate I.
8. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 128 (Book 2, Affiliate 9). This statement^{[ citation needed ]} (nearly the roof) is truer than the Marquis knows, and another example of foreshadowing: the Evrémonde château is burned downwards by revolting peasants in Book 2, Affiliate 23.
9. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 159 (Book 2, Chapter 14)
10. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 344 (Book 3, Chapter 10)
11. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 390 (Book 3, Chapter xv)
12. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 83 (Volume 2, Chapter iv)
13. ^ After Dr Manette'southward alphabetic character is read, Darnay says that "Information technology was the always-vain attempt to discharge my poor mother's trust, that first brought my fatal presence almost yous." (Dickens 2003, p. 347 [Book 3, Chapter 11].) Darnay seems to exist referring to the time when his mother brought him, still a child, to her meeting with Dr Manette in Book 3, Chapter 10. But some readers also feel that Darnay is explaining why he changed his name and travelled to England in the first place: to discharge his family unit's debt to Dr Manette without fully revealing his identity. (Meet note to the Penguin Classics edition: Dickens 2003, p. 486.)
14. ^ Stryver, like Carton, is a barrister and not a solicitor; Dickens 2003, p. xi
15. ^ Also chosen "The Younger", having inherited the title at "the Elder"'s expiry, the Marquis is sometimes referred to as "Monseigneur the Marquis St. Evrémonde". He is not and then called in this commodity because the title "Monseigneur" applies to whoever amidst a group is of the highest condition; thus, this title sometimes applies to the Marquis and other times does not.
16. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 120 (Book 2, Chapter 8)
17. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 462
18. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 470
19. ^ Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; Harper Collins, 1990, p. 777
20. ^ Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; Harper Collins, 1990, p. 859
21. ^ Dickens, Charles (1970) [1859]. Woodcock, George (ed.). A tale of Two Cities. Illust. by Hablot Fifty. Browne. Penguin Books. pp. 408, 410; due north. 30, 41. ISBN0140430547.
22. ^ Dickens by Peter Ackroyd; Harper Collins, 1990, pp. 858–862
23. ^ Chesters & Hampshire, Graeme & David (2013). London's Surreptitious Places. Bath, England: Survival Books. pp. 22–23.
24. ^ A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
25. ^ Richard Jones. Walking Dickensian London. New Holland Publishers, 2004. ISBN 9781843304838. p. 88.
26. ^ Thonemann, Peter (25 May 2016). "The all-acquisition Wikipedia?". the-tls.co.uk . Retrieved 29 May 2016. This figure of 200 meg is – to state the obvious – pure fiction. Its ultimate source is unknown: perhaps a hyperbolic 2005 printing release for a Broadway musical adaptation of Dickens' novel. But the presence of this canard on Wikipedia had, and continues to have, a startling influence. Since 2008, the claim has been recycled repeatedly…
27. ^ http://world wide web.worldcat.org/search?q=ti%3AA+Tale+of+Two+Cities+au%3ACharles+Dickens&dblist=638&fq=ap%3A%22dickens%2C+charles%22&qt=facet_ap%3A
28. ^ "www.dickensfellowship.org, 'Dickens as a Fiction Writer'". Retrieved ane January 2015.
29. ^ ^{a b} Dickens, Charles (2003). A Tale of Ii Cities (Revised ed.). London: Penguin Books Ltd. pp. 31, 55. ISBN978-0-141-43960-0.
30. ^ Borges, Jorge Luis (31 July 2013). Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature . New Directions Publishing. p. 159 – via Cyberspace Annal.
31. ^ Dickens 2003, p. xxi
32. ^ "Context of A Tale of Two Cities". Retrieved 3 Baronial 2009.
33. ^ Dickens 2003, p. 89 (Book 2, Chapter 4) p. 89
34. ^ Rabkin 2007, form booklet p. 48
35. ^ Schlicke 2008, p. 53
36. ^ Dickens, Charles (1866), A Tale of 2 Cities (Starting time ed.), London: Chapman and Hall, p. 3, retrieved six July 2019
37. ^ Charles Dickens, Letters, "Letter to Thomas Carlyle, 30 October 1859.
38. ^ Margaret Oliphant," Review of A Tale of Two Cities, Blackwood's, No. 109, 1871.
39. ^ James Fitzjames Stephen, Saturday Review, 17 Dec 1859.
40. ^ Hamilton, Jane (8 April 1935). "Dickens Radio Revival Tale of Two Cities WCAE Presentation". Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph. p. xvi. Retrieved 9 May 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
41. ^ "Dickens on Radio iv".
42. ^ Dromgoole, Jessica. "A Tale of Two Cities on BBC Radio four. And a podcast too!".
43. ^ "Sony Radio Academy Honour Winners". The Guardian. xv May 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
44. ^ "A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and London". BBC. Retrieved 30 April 2020
45. ^ chasmilt777 (ten August 2006). ""The Plymouth Playhouse" A Tale of Two Cities: Part 1 (TV Episode 1953)". IMDb.
46. ^ "A Tale of 2 Cities: Episode 1". xi April 1965. p. 17 – via BBC Genome.
47. ^ IMDb
48. ^ New York Magazine, 23 Sep 1991, p. 176, at Google Books
49. ^ Jack Goldstein and Isabella Reese 101 Amazing Facts well-nigh Charles Dickens, p. eleven, at Google Books
50. ^ The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre, Book ane. Schirmer Books. 1994. p. 358.
51. ^ BWW News Desk. "A Tale of Two Cities Adds 2 Performances at Birdland". BroadwayWorld.com . Retrieved 23 December 2018.
52. ^ "A Tale of 2 Cities (1949–50)". Boosey & Hawkes . Retrieved 12 March 2014.
53. ^ Duffy, Bernard One thousand.; Leeman, Richard W. (2005). American Voices: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Orators. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 100. ISBN9780313327902.
54. ^ Shesol, Jeff (two January 2015). "Mario Cuomo's Finest Moment". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
55. ^ "Christopher Nolan on The Dark Knight Rises ' Literary Inspiration". ComingSoon.net. viii July 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
56. ^ "The Dark Knight Rises". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 30 April 2020.

Works cited [edit]

• A Tale of Two Cities Shmoop: Written report Guides & Teacher Resources. Spider web. 12 March 2014.
• Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism. New York: Height (1994) ISBN 978-0-452-01118-2
• Dickens, Charles. A Tale of Two Cities. Edited and with an introduction and notes past Richard Maxwell. London: Penguin Classics (2003) ISBN 978-0-fourteen-143960-0
• Drabble, Margaret, ed. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press (1985) ISBN 0-19-866130-4
• Forster, E. Chiliad. Aspects of the Novel (1927). 2005 reprint: London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-144169-6
• Orwell, George. "Charles Dickens". In A Collection of Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1946) ISBN 0-15-618600-4
• Rabkin, Eric. Masterpieces of the Imaginative Heed: Literature'south Most Fantastic Works. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company (2007)
• Schlicke, Paul. Coffee With Dickens. London: Duncan Baird Publishers (2008) ISBN 978-1-84483-608-6
• A Tale of Ii Cities: Character List SparkNotes: Today'southward Most Popular Study Guides. Web. eleven April 2011.
• Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. London: HarperCollins (1990). ISBN 0-06-016602-9.

Farther reading [edit]

• Alleyn, Susanne. The Annotated A Tale of Two Cities. Albany, New York: Spyderwort Press (2014) ISBN 978-1535397438
• Glancy, Ruth. Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: A Sourcebook. London: Routledge (2006) ISBN 978-0-415-28760-9
• Sanders, Andrew. The Companion to A Tale of Two Cities. London: Unwin Hyman (1989) ISBN 978-0-04-800050-seven Out of print.

External links [edit]

• A Tale of Ii Cities read online at Bookwise
• A Tale of Two Cities at Standard Ebooks
• A Tale of Two Cities at Cyberspace Archive.
• A Tale of Two Cities at Project Gutenberg
• A Tale of 2 Cities – The original manuscript of the novel, held past the Victoria and Albert Museum (requires Adobe Wink).
• 'Dickens: A Tale of 2 Cities', lecture past Dr. Tony Williams on the writing of the book, at Gresham College on 3 July 2007 (with video and audio files bachelor for download, as well as the transcript).
• A Tale of 2 Cities summary, Charles Dickens
• A Tale of Ii Cities public domain audiobook at LibriVox
• Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities on Lit React

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities

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