A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, 1859

   In 1875 Lucie Manette travels with her father's solicitor from England to France to find her father, long thought dead. After eighteen years in the Bastille Doctor Manette has gone crazy and his solicitor convinces Lucie that she can bring him back.
     Five years later Charles Darnay is on trial for treason. His lawyer is getting nowhere until one of the firm's assistants, Sydney Carton, cites his own similarities to Darnay as the reason the man could not have been the spy he is accused of. Carton notices Lucie and Doctor Manette in the courtroom and invites Darnay to a tavern to discuss the beautiful young woman who comes to show her sympathy. Carton is jealous of Lucie's attention, as her attentions remind him of everything he's abandoned.
     Back in France the Marquis Evremonde awaits his nephew's arrival. He shows a disconcern for the general populace which characterizes the French Revolution until Darnay arrives and despises his uncle's estate and contemporaries. The Marquis is murdered, seemingly by revolutionaries and Darnay renounces his family name to return to England.
     After a year, Darnay asks Manette for Lucie's hand. He promises himself to reveal his past to his future father-in-law, but hesitates from bringing the darkness into Lucie's life. He views her as all that is bright and good in the world, inspiring him to be a better man. Upon returning from their honeymoon Carton comes to Darnay to ask his friendship and Darnay assures the man he will always be welcome in Lucie and Charles Darnay's home.
     In France the revolution is still in its secretive phase and Madame Defarge knits the names of people to be executed into a pattern from the front porch of her tavern. Several years later, in 1889 the French Revolution breaks into chaos. After the initial years the Evremonde steward asks Darnay's help breaking from prison and Charles Darnay goes to his kinsman, despite his own danger.
     When Charles Darnay is captured for his title and his family's misdeeds Doctor Manette, Lucie, Sydney Carton, and the rest of the cast are drawn into his drama. The French Revolution's senseless violence abound throughout the story, and Dickens' dry narration stands in contrast to the vivid and gruesome scenes he describes. A Tale of Two Cities is a classic and considered required reading throughout high school curricula.