A Tale Of Two Cities

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Plot summary
Book the First: Recalled to Life
“ | It was the best 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 season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we hadeverything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. | ” |
—Opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities[3] |
The first book of thenovel takes place in 1775. Mr. Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellson's Bank, is travelling from England to France to bring Dr. Alexandre Manette to London on his return trip. Before crossing into France, he meets 17-year-old Miss Manette at Dover, and reveals to her that her father, Monsieur Manette, is not dead, as she had been told; instead, he was a prisoner in the Bastille, for eighteen years.Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Miss Manette travel to Saint Antoine, a suburb of Paris and meet Monsieur Defarge and Madame Defarge. The Defarges operate a wine shop they use to lead aclandestine band of revolutionaries; they refer to each other by the codename "Jacques," which Charles Dickens drew from the Jacobins, an actual French revolutionary group.
Monsieur Defarge was Monsieur Manette's servantbefore his incarceration, and now has care of him, and he takes them to see the doctor. Because of his long imprisonment, Monsieur Manette entered a form of psychosis and has become obsessed with making shoes, a trade he had learned whilst he was incarcerated. At first, he does not recognize his daughter; but he eventually compares her long golden hair with her mother's, which he found on his sleevewhen he was incarcerated and kept, and notices their identical blue eye colour. Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Miss Manette then take him back to England.
Book the Second: The Golden Thread
"The Golden Thread" redirects here. For the legal judgement, see Golden thread (law).
Five years later, two British spies, Mr. Barsad and Roger Cly, are trying to frame French émigré Charles Darnay for their own gain;and Charles Darnay is on trial for treason at the Old Bailey. They claim, falsely, that Darnay gave information about British troops in North America to the French. Charles Darnay is acquitted when a witness who claims he would be able to recognize Darnay anywhere cannot tell Darnay apart from a barrister present in court, Sydney Carton, who looks almost identical to him.
In Paris, the despisedMonsieur the Marquis, Charles Darnay's uncle, runs over and kills the son of the peasant Gaspard and throws a coin to Gaspard to compensate him for his loss. Monsieur Defarge comforts Gaspard. As the Marquis's coach drives off, Defarge throws the coin back into the coach, enraging the Marquis.
Arriving at his château, the Marquis meets with his nephew and heir Charles Evrémonde, now known asCharles Darnay. (Out of disgust with his family, Darnay shed his real surname and adopted an Anglicised version of his mother's maiden name, D'Aulnais.[4]) They argue: Darnay has sympathy for the peasantry, while the Marquis is cruel and heartless:
"Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend," observed the Marquis, "will keep the dogs obedient to thewhip, as long as this roof," looking up to it, "shuts out the sky."[5]
That night, Gaspard, who followed the Marquis to his château, hanging under his coach, murders the Marquis in his sleep. He leaves a note saying, "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from JACQUES."[6] He is later executed above the village's fountain, poisoning its water, which angers the peasants greatly.
In London, Darnay...