Talk:A Tale of Two Cities
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[edit] Summary
Found this summary on the page pertaining to Joan Cusack; don't know how it got there. If anyone wants to incorporate this content, it belongs here.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Dickens writes in the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities as he paints a picture of life in England and France. The year is late 1775, and Jarvis Lorry travels from London to Paris on a secret mission for his employer, Tellson’s Bank. Joining him on his journey is Lucie Manette, a 17-year-old woman who is stunned to learn that her father, Doctor Alexandre Manette, is alive and has recently been released after having been secretly imprisoned in Paris for 18 years.
When Mr. Lorry and Lucie arrive in Paris, they find the Doctor’s former servant, Ernest Defarge, caring for the him. Defarge now runs a wine-shop with his wife in the poverty-stricken quarter of Saint Antoine. Defarge takes Mr. Lorry and Lucie to the garret room where he is keeping Doctor Manette, warning them that the Doctor’s years in prison have greatly changed him. Thin and pale, Doctor Manette sits at a shoemaker’s bench intently making shoes. He barely responds to questions from Defarge and Mr. Lorry, but when Lucie approaches him, he remembers his wife and begins to weep. Lucie comforts him, and that night Mr. Lorry and Lucie take him to England.
Five years later, the porter for Tellson’s Bank, Jerry Cruncher, takes a message to Mr. Lorry who is at a courthouse. Mr. Lorry has been called as a witness for the trial of Charles Darnay, a Frenchman accused of being a spy for France and the United States. Also at the trial are Doctor Manette and Lucie, who are witnesses for the prosecution. Doctor Manette has fully recovered and has formed a close bond with his daughter.
If found guilty of treason, Darnay will suffer a gruesome death, and the testimony of an acquaintance, John Barsad, and a former servant, Roger Cly, seems sure to result in a guilty verdict. Questions from Darnay’s attorney, Mr. Stryver, indicate that Cly and Barsad are the real spies, but the turning point in the trial occurs when Sydney Carton, Stryver’s assistant, points out that Carton and Darnay look alike enough to be doubles. This revelation throws into doubt a positive identification of Darnay as the person seen passing secrets, and the court acquits Darnay.
After the trial, Darnay, Carton, and Stryver begin spending time at the Manette home, obviously attracted to Lucie’s beauty and kind nature. Stryver decides to propose to her, but is dissuaded by Mr. Lorry. Carton confesses his love to Lucie, but does not propose, knowing that his drunken and apathetic way of life is not worthy of her. However, he vows that he would gladly give his life to save a life she loved, and Lucie is moved by his sincerity and devotion. Eventually, it is Darnay whose love Lucie returns, and the two marry with Doctor Manette’s uneasy blessing. While the couple is on their honeymoon, the Doctor suffers a nine-day relapse of his mental incapacity and believes he is making shoes in prison again.
Meanwhile, the situation in France grows worse. Signs of unrest become evident when Darnay’s cruel and unfeeling uncle, the Marquis St. Evrémonde, is murdered in his bed after running down a child with his carriage in the Paris streets. Although Darnay inherits the title and the estate, he has renounced all ties to his brutal family and works instead in England as a tutor of French language and literature.
The revolution erupts with full force in July 1789 with the storming of the Bastille. The Defarges are at the center of the revolutionary movement and lead the people in a wave of violence and destruction.By 1792, the revolutionaries have taken control of France and are imprisoning and killing anyone they view as an enemy of the state. Darnay receives a letter from the Evrémonde steward, who has been captured and who begs Darnay to come to France to save him. Feeling a sense of duty to his servant and not fully realizing the danger awaiting him, Darnay departs for France. Once he reaches Paris, though, revolutionaries take him to La Force prison “in secret,” with no way of contacting anyone and with little hope of a trial.
Doctor Manette, Lucie, and Lucie’s daughter soon arrive in Paris and join Mr. Lorry who is at Tellson’s Paris office. Doctor Manette’s status as a former prisoner of the Bastille gives him a heroic status with the revolutionaries and enables him to find out what has happened to his son-in-law. He uses his influence to get a trial for Darnay, and Doctor Manette’s powerful testimony at the trial frees his son-in-law. Hours after being reunited with his wife and daughter, however, the revolutionaries again arrest Darnay, based on the accusations of the Defarges.
The next day, Darnay is tried again. This time, the Defarges produce a letter written years earlier by Doctor Manette in prison condemning all Evrémondes for the murder of Madame Defarge’s family and for imprisoning the Doctor. Based on this evidence, the court sentences Darnay to death and Doctor Manette, devastated by what has happened, reverts to his prior state of dementia.
Unknown to the Manette and Darnay family, Sydney Carton has arrived in Paris and learns of Darnay’s fate. He also hears of a plot contrived to send Lucie and her daughter to the guillotine. Determined to save their lives, he enlists the help of a prison spy to enter the prison where the revolutionaries are holding Darnay. He enters Darnay’s cell, changes clothes with him, drugs him, and has Darnay taken out of the prison in his place. No one questions either man’s identity because of the similarities in their features. As Mr. Lorry shepherds Doctor Manette, Darnay, Lucie, and young Lucie out of France, Carton goes to the guillotine, strengthened and comforted by the knowledge that his sacrifice has saved the woman he loves and her family.
[edit] Rewrite
I've slightly re-written the opening sentence of the second book's description to include that five years have passed. Maybe somebody could word it a little better than I did? Darkmeerkat 15:46, 29 April 2006 (UTC)
I do believe That this novel have three books: "Recalled to Life", "The Golden Thread", and "The Track of a Storm". Please Add the third book into the page. A.K.F.
The closing line of the book, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." is also equally famous as the opening line. Binand
I would concur. I'll add it in. john k 22:47, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Sorry to be nitpicking, but Sidney Carton doesn't actually speak those words. If you read the last chapter carefully ([Dickens Online]), you will realise that the mood of the chapter is that had he spoken or written down his last thoughts, then he'd probably have said or penned this line (and most of the chapter as well). Binand
I agree, but how do you put that in the article without making it a "Rosebud"-type spoiler? Ellsworth 22:04, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
The last line may well be famous, but nowhere near as much as the opening line. People who have never heard of A Tale of Two Cities or even Charles Dickens can recite it, which is not the case with the closing. I have made an amendment.Tellkel 14:18, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
"The novel covers a period in history between 1757 and 1793, from the Seven Years War until the middle period of the French Revolution." Yet the first chapter cleary tells us that "It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five." Countmippipopolous
Right, but the way it is now, you get the historical backdrop of the novel. If you just write "1795", some people might not know that it was during the Revolution. Peaceman 29 June 2005 03:48 (UTC)
- No, the fellow with the long name is correct - the novel starts in 1775 (as Dickens alludes to the American Revolution and other such events). By the way, you can sign your name with ~~~, or use ~~~~ to sign and date - like this. 140.247.23.18 1 July 2005 23:10 (UTC)
- In the Penguin Classics edition, there is a useful timeline. While the narration begins in 1775, the first event mentioned in the novel (in what we would today call a "flashback") is when the Evremonde brothers hire Dr. Manette--this occurs on December 22, 1757.DiderotWasRight (talk) 01:53, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
- And someone needs to finish the article - as it is now, it seems like the book ends on a massive cliffhanger (he's put into jail... and then...?) :-). I would suggest not quite spoiling the ending - stop the summary before you know who does you know what :-). 140.247.23.18 1 July 2005 23:11 (UTC)
Is "like a true Dickensian patsy" properly neutral language? Orbst 02:36, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
I am removing references to "Ms." Manette, as the title Ms. was not invented until the 20th century; until then, women were either "Miss" (if unmarried) or "Mrs." (if married).DiderotWasRight (talk) 01:58, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Note about text removal
I should have mentioned this earlier, but I decided to remove the incident about Jerry Cruncher attempting to dig up Roger Cly's body and about him later confronting John Barsad (Solomon Pross) for having removed it, as these events are not crucial to the outcome of the story. - Conrad Devonshire 02:40, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
I don't think you guys have noticed, but the article got ... owned. Just a heads up. --A faithful Wikipedian.
i have a question is it possible to get a list of the characters in this novel and what chapters they get introduced —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.226.175.30 (talk) 00:48, 27 February 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Analysis
Is the novel really balanced? It may depict the atrocities of both 'sides', but it's also a classic case of a British depiction of all French being psychos. 163.1.99.26 11:43, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I diagree. The novel does not target the French in particular, but humankind in general: I suggest you read Chapter 1, paying attention to the paragraph about England.Reimtus (talk) 20:57, 14 February 2008 (UTC)
Yes; Charles Dickens shows how the human spirit can thirst for revenge so much that they sink to and below the level of those they take revenge against. Fooglemaster (talk) 15:48, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
- The critic Ruth Glancy makes an argument that convinced me to the effect that France and England are seen as equivalently bad at the beginning of the novel, but as the novel progresses, the British look better and better in comparison to the French.--DiderotWasRight (talk) 05:37, 16 May 2008 (UTC)
Not exactly England as much as the English characters. But remember that both Darnay and Lucie, important protaganists, are of French descent. While the French do look worse, it doesn't mean to belittle the country: rather, it is to portray the atrocities of the time. Also, note that the majority of the novel after Book One takes place in France; we are not updated of the affairs of the British. So technically they could be equally bad, just not explained in the novel. 71.193.160.181 (talk) 02:02, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
[edit] EDIT
Afterwards, he goes back into his shop and talks to a group of fellow revolutionaries, who call each other (for anonymity) "Jacques"
changed to
Afterwards, he goes back into his shop and talks to a group of fellow revolutionaries, who call each other "Jacques"
Them being called Jacques is Dickens' way of emphasising the collective...it's not really for anonymity.
- It is a matter of opinion (not fact) what Dickens's intention was here; I'd say it's both for anonymity and to underline the collective, but I do not believe this can be proved either way. --DiderotWasRight (talk) 01:48, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
[edit] More Detail on characters, Please
I don't think Jarvis Lorry has a satisfactory amount of information about asforesaid character within this article. Ciao. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Racooon (talk • contribs) 19:25, 13 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Note: Some text has been removed from the page
It seems that some text may have been removed from the original article. In the section marked Analysis and then under the sub-category, Language, the section ends in mid-sentence.
[edit] Bias
It seems that some of the article has opinions or bias in certain areas. -kirby145
- Unless you can point out specific problems, I'm removing the NPOV tag on the article. - JasonAQuest (talk) 14:42, 20 May 2008 (UTC)
