A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens THE EMC MASTERPIECE SERIES Access Editions SERIES EDITOR Robert D. Sheperd EMC/Paradigm Publishing St. Paul, Minnesota
Staff Credits: EMC/Paradigm Publishing, St. Paul, Minnesota Laurie Skiba Editor Shannon O Donnell Taylor Associate Editor Eileen Slater Editorial Consultant Jennifer J. Anderson Assistant Editor Penobscot School Publishing, Inc., Danvers, Massachusetts Editorial Robert D. Shepherd President, Executive Editor Christina E. Kolb Managing Editor Sara Hyry Editor Allyson Stanford Editor Sharon Salinger Copyeditor Marilyn Murphy Shepherd Editorial Advisor Design and Production Charles Q. Bent Production Manager Diane Castro Compositor Janet Stebbings Compositor ISBN 0-8219-1651-3 Copyright 1998 by EMC Corporation All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be adapted, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission from the publishers. Published by EMC/Paradigm Publishing 875 Montreal Way St. Paul, Minnesota 55102 Printed in the United States of America. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 xxx 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
Table of Contents The Life and Works of Charles Dickens............... v Time Line of Dickens s Life....................... viii The Historical Context of A Tale of Two Cities............ x Characters in A Tale of Two Cities................... xv Echoes....................................... xvii Illustration................................... xviii BOOK THE FIRST Chapter 1...................................... 1 Chapter 2...................................... 4 Chapter 3..................................... 10 Chapter 4..................................... 15 Chapter 5..................................... 27 Chapter 6..................................... 39 BOOK THE SECOND Chapter 1..................................... 52 Chapter 2..................................... 59 Chapter 3..................................... 66 Chapter 4..................................... 80 Chapter 5..................................... 87 Chapter 6..................................... 94 Chapter 7.................................... 109 Chapter 8.................................... 119 Chapter 9.................................... 125 Chapter 10.................................... 136 Chapter 11.................................... 144 Chapter 12.................................... 148 Chapter 13.................................... 155 Chapter 14.................................... 163 Chapter 15.................................... 174 Chapter 16.................................... 186 Chapter 17.................................... 197 Chapter 18.................................... 202 Chapter 19.................................... 209
Chapter 20.................................... 217 Chapter 21.................................... 223 Chapter 22.................................... 235 Chapter 23.................................... 241 Chapter 24.................................... 249 BOOK THE THIRD Chapter 1.................................... 264 Chapter 2.................................... 276 Chapter 3.................................... 283 Chapter 4.................................... 288 Chapter 5.................................... 294 Chapter 6.................................... 300 Chapter 7.................................... 310 Chapter 8.................................... 316 Chapter 9.................................... 329 Chapter 10.................................... 341 Chapter 11.................................... 356 Chapter 12.................................... 364 Chapter 13.................................... 373 Chapter 14.................................... 385 Chapter 15.................................... 397 Plot Analysis of A Tale of Two Cities................ 406 Creative Writing Activities....................... 409 Critical Writing Activities........................ 411 Projects....................................... 413 Glossary...................................... 415 Handbook of Literary Terms...................... 433 iv A TALE OF TWO CITIES
THE LIFE AND WORKS OF Charles Dickens Charles Dickens. (1812-1870). Charles Dickens was born at Portsea near Portsmouth, England, the second of eight children. His early childhood seems to have been a happy one, especially when the family lived in Chatham and Charles devoted himself to his studies, reading his father s collection of classic novels and plays and attending a school run by a minister who appreciated Charles s scholastic abilities. Charles Dickens s father, however, liked to live beyond his means; soon after the family moved to London when Charles was eleven, his father landed in debtor s prison. Charles had to leave school and support himself with a factory job labeling bottles for four months before his father was released and the family reunited. Afterward, Charles Dickens never spoke of this experience, but the pain of it shaped Dickens s writing, particularly in his descriptions of the sufferings of poor children, orphans, and other victims of injustice. This experience also created within Dickens a grim determination to succeed. After leaving school again at age fifteen, Dickens worked as a clerk in the law firm of Ellis and Blackmore at Gray s Inn. There, Dickens diligently studied court matters and shorthand, knowledge that Dickens soon used to launch a journalistic career, starting as a court reporter. By 1832 he was a general reporter for the True Sun and a parliamentary reporter for the Mirror of Parliament. On the side, he began to write short fictional character sketches, which he published in various magazines under the pseudonym Boz. Having attracted considerable attention for their lively humor, these early writings were published in book form in 1836 as Sketches by Boz. The year that followed proved to be pivotal for Dickens. Just weeks after Sketches by Boz was issued, the first monthly installment of his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was published, and Dickens married Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of a fellow journalist. Dickens s sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, came to live with the young couple, and Dickens developed a romantic fixation on his wife s vivacious younger sister. Mary, however, contracted a sudden illness and died in Charles s arms. Critics have suggested that several of Dickens s female characters, including Lucie, the heroine of A Tale of Two Cities, may have been modeled at least in part on Mary Hogarth. Charles Dickens THE LIFE AND WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS v
Nearly all of Dickens s major works of fiction were first published in serial form, appearing in weekly or monthly magazines, sometimes with hundreds of thousands of readers waiting eagerly for each new installment. The Pickwick Papers had a slow start but quickly became a publishing phenomenon, and Dickens enjoyed a lavish social life and friendships with many celebrities of the day. Nevertheless, success did not keep him from writing prodigiously. In the following twelve years, his major works included Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, and Dombey and Son. During this time, Dickens moved from humor to increasingly complex social criticism of a world that was ruled by business interests rather than human feeling, one which was suddenly dominated by the new machines of the industrial revolution. David Copperfield, published in 1849, is Dickens s most autobiographical novel; it marks the point at which he had come to a full understanding of himself and society. In the next decade, he published some of his greatest works, including Hard Times, Bleak House, and A Tale of Two Cities. During this time Dickens also founded and edited Household, which was succeeded by All the Year Round, weekly magazines in which he serialized some of his own works. In 1859, after years of increasing marital tensions, Dickens separated from his wife and moved with most of his ten children to a country house at Gad s Hill, near his childhood home in Chatham. There he wrote Our Mutual Friend and Great Expectations. In 1867 he left England for a successful reading tour of the United States, but the traveling took a tremendous toll on him and he returned to England the following year in declining health. Even so, he insisted on making a tour of England in 1869, and a physical collapse that forced him to suspend the tour did not keep him from giving a farewell series of readings in London in the winter of 1870. On June 8, after a full day of work on his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens had a fatal stroke and died the following day. In addition to working on novels and working as an editor, Dickens loved the theater, and led an amateur company for many years. As you will read in The Historical Context of A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens wrote this novel after being inspired by a play his theater company produced, in which he himself starred. Dickens s theatrical work also contributed to the success of his reading tours in England and the United States. vi A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Dickens did more than write: he also worked hard to rectify many of the social injustices he described in his novels, involving himself in welfare projects including slum clearance, schools for poor children, and homes for unwed mothers. Dickens s social concerns emerge as an important theme in A Tale of Two Cities, especially in the descriptions of the disparity between the lives of the wealthy French nobility and the impoverished and oppressed French peasantry. While Dickens s writings are a powerful call for social reform, Dickens s works are not only about society s ills but about humanity and human society as a whole. Several generations of readers have admired Dickens s insight into human nature and the human capacity for both good and evil as well as his gently humorous approach to human eccentricity and frailty. The most popular author of his day, Dickens created enduring works of literature that still win the affection and admiration of readers today. THE LIFE AND WORKS OF CHARLES DICKENS vii
Time Line of Dickens s Life Feb. 7, 1812 1817 1821 1822 1824 1827 1828 1834 1833 1836 1836 1837 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1841 1842 Charles Dickens is born in Portsea near Portsmouth, England, to John and Elizabeth Dickens. Family resides at Chatham, Kent; Dickens reads voraciously and flourishes in quiet country setting. Dickens s family moves to London. Dickens s father jailed for bad debts. Dickens takes a factory job for four months before his father is released from prison. Dickens leaves school again to work for Ellis and Blackmore, a Gray s Inn law firm. Dickens begins work as a freelance court reporter. Dickens begins publishing popular series of character studies in magazines under the title Sketches by Boz. Dickens begins work for the Morning Chronicle as a reporter. Dickens marries Catherine Hogarth. Dickens s first novel, The Pickwick Papers, is published in serial form and quickly finds unprecedented success. Oliver Twist is published. Dickens s sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth, dies suddenly at age seventeen. Nicholas Nickleby is published. The Old Curiosity Shop sells 100,000 copies. Barnaby Rudge is Dickens s first commercial failure. Dickens travels in the United States for six months; despite the popularity of his reading tour, he leaves disillusioned by American democracy and appalled by the practice of slavery. viii A TALE OF TWO CITIES
A Christmas Carol is published. Dombey and Son is published. David Copperfield, Dickens s most autobiographical novel, is published. In 1850, he founds Household, a weekly magazine which he also edits. Bleak House is published. Dickens publishes Hard Times in Household. Little Dorrit is published. Dickens produces and stars in a Wilkie Collins play to benefit charity. His role in this play helps to inspire A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens publishes A Tale of Two Cities in All Year Round, which he founds in the same year to succeed Household. After years of marital problems, Dickens separates from his wife and moves with his younger children to his country house at Gad s Hill in Kent. Dickens publishes Great Expectations. Our Mutual Friend, the last of Dickens s fourteen major novels, is published. Dickens makes a successful but physically exhausting American reading tour. His health never returns. Despite poor health, Dickens insists on making a literary tour of England. Dickens begins his last novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but never completes it. Dickens dies of a stroke at Gad s Hill. 1843 1846 1848 1849 1850 1852 1853 1854 1855 1857 1857 1859 1860 1861 1864 1865 1867 1868 1869 1870 June 9, 1870 TIME LINE OF DICKENS S LIFE ix
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF A Tale of Two Cities The Inspiration for A Tale of Two Cities Critics have had mixed reactions to the historical novel A Tale of Two Cities; some point out that it is the least Dickensian of Dickens s works, others label it as one of Dickens s more mediocre novels, and still others praise it as his finest, most fully realized work. While critics may never concur on their verdict of the novel, readers have A Tale of Two Cities was wildly popular in its own day and remains one of Dickens s most popular works among readers today. Dickens himself would have been pleased with the novel s enduring popularity because it was one of his own favorites. Dickens s preface to the first edition of the book, published in 1859, reveals that the main idea for A Tale of Two Cities struck Dickens while he was acting in a Wilkie Collins play called The Frozen Deep. Dickens and Collins were friends, and both became interested in the expeditions to the Arctic that took place in their day. As Collins wrote The Frozen Deep, a play set in the frozen north, he consulted Dickens for advice. When the play was staged, Dickens performed the role of a romantic hero named Richard who struggles to return to civilization from a polar expedition. He is accompanied by a man named Frank, who is Richard s enemy and rival because he has won the affection of a woman named Clara whom both men love. Richard, however, sacrifices himself to preserve Frank s life because he knows his beloved Clara loves Frank. The idea of working with a character who makes such a sacrifice seized Dickens. Perhaps partly because of his concern with social issues, Dickens set his novel during the French Revolution an event that inspired much thought about tensions between different social classes. Dickens may have also been moved to link such a romantic theme with an event commonly associated with the dawning of the Romantic period of art and literature. Dickens s primary source of information on the French Revolution, simply titled The French Revolution, was a work by Thomas Carlyle, a man whom he had met and deeply admired. Dickens was both fascinated and horrified by the violence of the French commoners uprising against the nobility and their institutions, and his descriptions of the Parisian mobs are among the novel s most x A TALE OF TWO CITIES
vivid and dramatic passages. However, as the title reveals, A Tale of Two Cities is not the tale of Paris or France alone; the greatness of this novel stems, in part, from its dual focus on Paris, France, and London, England. In this novel, Dickens reveals a critical attitude toward English society and anxiety about England s future. By juxtaposing the two nations, Dickens invites the reader to compare and contrast them; thus, familiarizing yourself with the political and social climate of both France and England at the end of the eighteenth century will make the novel more meaningful to you. The French Revolution The French Revolution is one of the pivotal events of European history. In overturning the monarchy that had ruled since the Middle Ages, the people of France created the first constitutional democracy in Europe. The Revolution is usually dated from July 14, 1789, when an angry mob besieged and captured the notorious Bastille prison. Nevertheless, as Dickens s novel shows, the causes of the revolution go back many years before this uprising. During the eighteenth century, the gap between the rich and the poor in France widened dramatically, and the government, which could not force the powerful aristocrats and wealthy church officials to pay their share of taxes, resorted to increasingly heavy taxation of the poor. Agricultural production could not match the surge in population, and hunger reached epidemic proportions. The majority of the wealthy aristocracy was notoriously insensitive to the plight of the starving populace. One popular story about the French queen, Marie Antoinette, is that upon being told that her people had no bread, she responded, Qu ils mangent de la brioche, or Let them eat cake. Whether the queen s remark expressed flippant and callous indifference or whether she was completely unaware of the extreme poverty that denied even the staples of existence for her people, the remark is indicative of the French nobility s attitude toward French commoners as a whole. Although the refinements of French culture, language, and thought became central to the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, the fabric of French society itself was quickly disintegrating. When the government s fiscal crisis became grave, King Louis XVI was forced to turn to a noble parlement of advisers for help. While Louis and his chief financial adviser urged the nobles of the parlement to accept economic and tax reforms, these aristocratic advisers refused to give up any of their ancient economic and social privileges. In 1789, under THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF A TALE OF TWO CITIES xi
pressure by the parlement, Louis was forced to call the Estates General, an elected body with whom he would have to share power. The Estates General, which had not been called since 1626, was a ruling body made up of three parts, called estates. The First Estate was composed of clergy members, many of them younger sons of noble families; the Second Estate was composed of members of the nobility; and the Third Estate was made up of bourgeois representatives of the common people. When the Estates General met to make decisions, the Third Estate was constantly outvoted by the aristocratic members of the First and Second Estates. Enraged that their voices were not heard, commoners began a popular movement to give the Third Estate more power; some members of the First Estate, mostly poor parish priests, joined the movement. In May, a coalition of commoners, progressive clergy members, and enlightened nobles declared themselves a National Assembly and, against the wishes of the king and a vast majority of the nobles, voted to ban taxes, give France a written constitution, and reorganize the government into a constitutional monarchy. In July, the king dispersed the Assembly, sparking three days of riots in Paris that culminated in the storming of the Bastille on the fourteenth. Amid a wave of mounting violence known as The Fear, Louis was forced to acknowledge the Assembly, and in August, it passed reforms that abolished the feudal system and ended many taxes on the poor; it also passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The king was forced to sign this legislation in October. In 1790, the Assembly abolished the ancient economic and social privileges of the nobility and dispossessed the church of much of its property and institutions; this action created many enemies of the Assembly both inside and outside France. In 1791, the king was suspended from office after allegedly attempting to escape from Paris to lead a loyal army against the new government. Distrust of the king led to the first popular calls for a republic to replace France s monarchy, but the Assembly s constitution was passed and the king restored to office. Nevertheless, war broke out in 1792, and when the king was accused of conspiring with the enemies of the revolution, he was again suspended and hundreds of suspected traitors were massacred by revolutionary leaders and their long-oppressed followers, the impoverished populace. A new National Convention was elected in September of 1792 resulting in two opposing parties, the radical Montagnards and the more moderate Girondists. Led by Georges Jacques Danton and Maximillien Robespierre, and supported by the Paris Commune, the Montagnards xii A TALE OF TWO CITIES
prevailed and called for the execution of the king, who was beheaded by the guillotine on January 21, 1793. Marie Antoinette met the same fate on October 16, 1793. With the execution of Louis XVI, most of Europe joined, along with discontented factions within the country, against revolutionary France. To combat the resulting political and military chaos, the National Convention was forced to shelve the new democratic Constitution of 1793 and instead instituted a police state that became known as the Reign of Terror. The Terror resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of more than 120,000 people without trial. Revolutionary courts, including the infamous Tribunal of Paris, ordered the immediate execution of as many as 40,000 more. At first, the Terror claimed the lives of rebels and political enemies of the Montagnards; then dissident factions within the party, including Danton, were executed; finally, the merciless Robespierre and his supporters became the victims of the Terror they had created. By the end of 1794, the Terror was over, leaving France deeply divided and the new government weak and unstable. In much of the country, despite great economic and social reforms, poverty and hardship continued to prevail. Finally, in 1799, a young general named Napoléon Bonaparte was recruited by a group of moderate politicians to lead a coup d etat, a military takeover of the government intended to allow the formation of a stronger parliamentary government. Instead, Napoléon wrote his own constitution and legal code, becoming a virtual dictator. In 1804, he crowned himself emperor, initiating a series of wars that would embroil all of Europe. Although short-lived, the French Revolution marked the end of the old regime and the beginning of the modern era in European politics and social thought. The French Revolution and its aftermath were so overwhelming that only a few contemporary artists, such as Jacques Louis David, a revolutionary who was involved in the Reign of Terror and who painted such subjects as Danton, sought to capture the French Revolution in art and literature. The majority of the artists of that period did not use the French Revolution as subject matter. Many artists, however, were inspired by certain ideals of the revolution, a fascination which emerged in a literary movement known as Romanticism; these artists often turned to a semi-mythical medieval past or to nature for inspiration, while expressing ideals such as individualism over society, emotion over reason, freedom over authority, and common people over aristocrats that were hallmarks of revolutionary thought. It was only later that writers turned to THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF A TALE OF TWO CITIES xiii
the French Revolution and its aftermath for literary subject matter, including, in addition to Dickens s A Tale of Two Cities, Georg Büchner s play about one of the Montagnards who became a victim of the Terror, Danton s Death; and Leo Tolstoy s classic novel about the Napoleonic wars, War and Peace. English Social Reform In contrast to the turbulence of French politics in this period, social and political reforms in England took a slower, more peaceful course. While experiencing similar pressures caused by government corruption, an aloof upper class, and the first tremors of the industrial revolution, the British were horrified by the endless atrocities of the French Revolution, and the threat of a French invasion produced near hysteria. Witnessing the chaos so close to their own borders had a profound effect on English policy and public opinion. Despite the English share of riots, strikes, local uprisings, parliamentary turmoil, and other social ills, the Terror convinced most of England that armed rebellion was not the solution. Another reason for England s moderation was that the country had undergone its own period of turmoil during the civil war of the 1660s. Once England s revolutionary sentiment was quenched, a constitutional monarchy emerged that has proved stable to this day. Dickens s work as a whole reflects the moderate political climate in which English social reforms took place from the end of the eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century despite the nearly continuous tumult on the Continent. Thus, in a characteristically English fashion, Dickens manages to have it both ways in his writing he is both fervent liberal and staunch conservative, a tireless reformer and a comfortable member of the middle class. On the one hand, as an ardent reformer, Dickens s depictions of the hardships of poverty serve as a powerful call to action; on the other, Dickens s writing expresses criticism, ridicule, and an underlying fearfulness of armed revolution that a majority of his readers shared. Some critics have insisted that Dickens was a revolutionary at heart; on the contrary, while Dickens was passionate about social reform, he abhorred and feared the notion of any sort of popular, violent uprising to demand social justice. Many of Dickens s heroes are, like Mr. Lorry of Tellson s Bank, quiet representatives of the great financial and legal institutions at the heart of England s stability and prosperity. xiv A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Main Characters Characters in A Tale of Two Cities Jarvis Lorry. Mr. Lorry is a faithful employee of Tellson s Bank in London. Despite his dedication to his business, he has a sympathetic heart and becomes a close and loyal friend to Dr. Manette and his daughter, Lucie. Lucie Manette (later Lucie Darnay). Lucie is a young woman often described as having golden hair and a sympathetic expression upon her forehead. Once she is reunited with her father, Lucie becomes a loving and devoted daughter to Dr. Manette, and she later becomes Charles Darnay s wife. Dr. Alexandre Manette. Dr. Manette, Lucie s father, was unjustly imprisoned for many years in the Bastille. He has suffered mentally during his imprisonment, and, upon his release, Lucie serves as his chief comfort. Ernest Defarge. Monsieur Defarge is Dr. Manette s former servant who now owns a wine shop in Saint Antoine. He and his wife become key figures in the French Revolution. Thérèse Defarge. Madame Defarge is Ernest Defarge s wife and the driving force behind much of the action of the revolution. She is often associated with her knitting. Charles Darnay. Charles Darnay is a French citizen who has chosen to live in England. He marries Lucie Manette, and much of the action of the story centers around his trials. Sydney Carton. Most people consider Sydney Carton to be a drunken, lackluster lawyer; however, he can be bright and hardworking, and despite all appearances, he possesses a noble nature. Jerry Cruncher. Jerry Cruncher performs odd jobs for Tellson s Bank. He has a very religious wife and a son named after him. He also practices an unsavory second job late at night. Miss Pross. Miss Pross is Lucie Manette s red-haired, faithful servant. CHARACTERS IN A TALE OF TWO CITIES xv
Minor Characters Mrs. Cruncher. Mrs. Cruncher is a religious woman who prays for her husband. Her husband is annoyed by her praying and beats her. Young Jerry Cruncher. The Crunchers son idolizes his father and treats his mother poorly. Mr. Stryver. Mr. Stryver is an egotistical lawyer who works with Sydney Carton. John Barsad. John Barsad offers false testimony against Charles Darnay in England and later becomes a spy in France. Roger Cly. Roger Cly is Barsad s partner who also offers evidence against Charles Darnay. Marquis d Evrémonde. The marquis is Darnay s uncle and a cruel, selfish aristocrat. Gabelle. Gabelle is the tax and rent collector for the marquis. The Mender of Roads (later called the Wood Sawyer). The Defarges train this poor, uneducated man to be a brutal, bloodthirsty revolutionary. The Vengeance. The Vengeance is the nickname of a grocer s wife and a friend of Madame Defarge who becomes known for her cruelty during the revolution. Young Lucie Darnay. Young Lucie is Lucie and Charles s daughter. She is sympathetic to Sydney Carton. xvi A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Echoes: Quotations from Charles Dickens There are strings, said Mr. Tappertit,... in the human heart that had better not be wibrated. Barnaby Rudge This is a London particular... A fog, miss. Bleak House It is a melancholy truth that even great men have their poor relations. Bleak House God bless us every one! said Tiny Tim, the last of all. A Christmas Carol It was as true, said Mr. Barkis,... as taxes is. And nothing s truer than them. David Copperfield With affection beaming in one eye, and calculation shining out of the other. Martin Chuzzlewit Oliver Twist has asked for more! Oliver Twist He had used the word in its Pickwickian sense.... He had merely considered him a humbug in a Pickwickian point of view. Pickwick Papers I am ruminating, said Mr. Pickwick, on the strange mutability of human affairs. Ah, I see in at the palace door one day, out at the window the next. Philosopher, sir? An observer of human nature, sir, said Mr. Pickwick. Pickwick Papers 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 had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.... A Tale of Two Cities 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. A Tale of Two Cities ECHOES xvii
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Book the First Recalled to Life CHAPTER 1 The Period 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 had everything 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. There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France. 1 In both countries it was clearer than crystal to the lords of the state preserves of loaves and fishes, that things in general were settled forever. It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Spiritual revelations were conceded to England at that favored period, as at this. Mrs. Southcott 2 had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards 3 had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing that arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster. Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen of years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs. Mere messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the English Crown What is the chief characteristic of the period when this tale begins? To what other period does the narrator compare it? What did the leaders of France and England believe about the stability of their countries? 1. There were a king... France. George III and Charlotte Sophia were king and queen of England; Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were king and queen of France. 2. Mrs. Southcott. Joanna Southcott (1750 1814), popular psychic of the time 3. Life Guards. Two regiments of cavalry in the British army, making up part of the king s bodyguard in cre du li ty (in krə do o lə tē) n., skepticism sub lime (sə bl m ) adj., inspiring awe or admiration through grandeur or beauty BOOK THE FIRST, CHAPTER 1 1
What crime did this youth commit? What punishment does the youth suffer? Why does the narrator call the punishment humane? What has Fate marked? What has Death set apart? and People, from a congress of British subjects in America: 4 which, strange to relate, have proved more important to the human race than any communications yet received through any of the chickens of the Cock-lane brood. France, less favored on the whole as to matters spiritual than her sister of the shield and trident, rolled with exceeding smoothness downhill, making paper money and spending it. Under the guidance of her Christian pastors, she entertained herself, besides, with such humane achievements as sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off, his tongue torn out with pincers, and his body burned alive, because he had not kneeled down in the rain to do honor to a dirty procession of monks which passed within his view, at a distance of some fifty or sixty yards. It is likely enough that, rooted in the woods of France and Norway, there were growing trees, when that sufferer was put to death, already marked by the Woodman, Fate, to come down and be sawn into boards, to make a certain movable framework 5 with a sack and a knife in it, terrible in history. It is likely enough that in the rough outhouses of some tillers of the heavy lands adjacent to Paris, there were sheltered from the weather that very day, rude carts, bespattered with rustic mire, snuffed about by pigs, and roosted in by poultry, which the Farmer, Death, had already set apart to be his tumbrils 6 of the Revolution. But that Woodman and that Farmer, though they work unceasingly, work silently, and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread: the rather, forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake, was to be atheistical and traitorous. In England, there was scarcely an amount of order and protection to justify much national boasting. Daring burglaries by armed men, and highway robberies, took place in the capital itself every night; families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town without removing their furniture to upholsterers warehouses for security; the highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light, and, being recognized and 4. messages... in America. In 1774, the Continental Congress began petitioning for rights, calling for boycotts, and organizing military action that would lead to the American Revolution. 5. framework. Refers to the guillotine 6. tumbrils. Common horse-drawn carts, used during the French Revolution to carry condemned prisoners to the guillotine pin cers (pin sərz) pl. n., tool with two parts for gripping mire (m r) n., mud or slush a the is ti cal (ā thē is tə kəl) adj., denying the existence of God or gods 2 A TALE OF TWO CITIES
challenged by his fellow tradesman whom he stopped in his character of the Captain, gallantly shot him through the head and rode away; the mall was waylaid by seven robbers, and the guard shot three dead, and then got shot dead himself by the other four, in consequence of the failure of his ammunition: after which the mall was robbed in peace; that magnificent potentate, the Lord Mayor of London, was made to stand and deliver on Turnham Green, by one highwayman, who despoiled the illustrious creature in sight of all his retinue; prisoners in London jails fought battles with their turnkeys, 7 and the majesty of the law fired blunderbusses 8 in among them, loaded with rounds of shot and ball; thieves snipped off diamond crosses from the necks of noble lords at Court drawing rooms; musketeers went into St. Giles s, 9 to search for contraband goods, 10 and the mob fired on the musketeers, and the musketeers fired on the mob, and nobody thought any of these occurrences much out of the common way. In the midst of them, the hangman, ever busy and ever worse than useless, was in constant requisition; now, stringing up long rows of miscellaneous criminals; now, hanging a housebreaker on Saturday who had been taken on Tuesday; now, burning people in the hand at Newgate 11 by the dozen, and now burning pamphlets at the door of Westminster Hall; today, taking the life of an atrocious murderer, and tomorrow of a wretched pilferer who had robbed a farmer s boy of sixpence. All these things, and a thousand like them, came to pass in and close upon the dear old year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. Environed by them, while the Woodman and the Farmer worked unheeded, those two of the large jaws, and those other two of the plain and the fair faces, trod with stir enough, and carried their divine rights with a high hand. Thus did the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five conduct their Greatnesses, and myriads of small creatures the creatures of this chronicle among the rest along the roads that lay before them. What kinds of criminals does the hangman punish? What does his schedule suggest about social conditions in England? 7. turnkeys. Persons in charge of the keys of a prison 8. blunderbusses. Short muskets with flared muzzles to scatter shot 9. St. Giles s. Church dedicated to St. Giles, a semilegendary Athenian hermit who lived in southern Gaul during the seventh century AD 10. contraband goods. Goods forbidden by law to be imported or exported 11. Newgate. London s chief prison, destroyed by a mob in 1780 way lay (wā lā ) vt., ambush po ten tate (pōt n tāt ) n., person having great power de spoil (dē spoil ) vt., deprive by force il lus tri ous (i lus trē əs) adj., very distinguished or outstanding ret i nue (ret n yo o ) n., body of assistants, followers, or servants BOOK THE FIRST, CHAPTER 1 3
CHAPTER 2 The Mail Why are the passengers of the mail coach walking? It was the Dover road 1 that lay, on a Friday night late in November, before the first of the persons with whom this history has business. The Dover road lay, as to him, beyond the Dover mail, as it lumbered up Shooter s Hill. He walked uphill in the mire by the side of the mail, as the rest of the passengers did; not because they had the least relish for walking exercise, under the circumstances, but because the hill, and the harness, and the mud, and the mail, were all so heavy, that the horses had three times already come to a stop, besides once drawing the coach across the road, with the mutinous intent of taking it back to Blackheath. Reins and whip and coachman and guard, however, in combination, had read that article of war which forbade a purpose otherwise strongly in favor of the argument, that some brute animals are endued with reason; and the team had capitulated and returned to their duty. With drooping heads and tremulous tails, they mashed their way through the thick mud, floundering and stumbling between whiles, as if they were falling to pieces at the larger joints. As often as the driver rested them and brought them to a stand, with a wary Wo-ho! so-ho- then! the near leader violently shook his head and everything upon it like an unusually emphatic horse, denying that the coach could be got up the hill. Whenever the leader made this rattle, the passenger started, as a nervous passenger might, and was disturbed in mind. There was a steaming mist in all the hollows, and it had roamed in its forlornness up the hill, like an evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none. A clammy and intensely cold mist, it made its slow way through the air in ripples that visibly followed and overspread one another, as the waves of an unwholesome sea might do. It was dense enough to shut out everything from the light of the coach lamps but these its own workings, and a few yards of road; and the reek of the laboring horses steamed into it, as if they had made it all. 1. Dover road. Road to Dover, chief English port for ships sailing to and from France mu ti nous (myo o t n əs) adj., of resistance or inclined to revolt en due (en do o ) vt., endow; provide ca pit u late (kə pich yo o lāt ) vi., give up; surrender em phat ic (em fat ik) adj., forcible for lorn ness (fôr lôrn nes) n., desperation; hopelessness 4 A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Two other passengers, besides the one, were plodding up the hill by the side of the mail. All three were wrapped to the cheekbones and over the ears, and wore jackboots. 2 Not one of the three could have said, from anything he saw, what either of the other two was like; and each was hidden under almost as many wrappers 3 from the eyes of the mind, as from the eyes of the body, of his two companions. In those days, travelers were very shy of being confidential on a short notice, for anybody on the road might be a robber or in league with robbers. As to the latter, when every posting house 4 and alehouse could produce somebody in the Captain s pay, ranging from the landlord to the lowest stable nondescript, it was the likeliest thing upon the cards. So the guard of the Dover mail thought to himself, that Friday night in November, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, lumbering up Shooter s Hill, as he stood on his own particular perch behind the mail, beating his feet, and keeping an eye and a hand on the armchest before him, where a loaded blunderbuss lay at the top of six or eight loaded horse pistols, 5 deposited on a substratum of cutlass. 6 The Dover mail was in its usual genial position that the guard suspected the passengers, the passengers suspected one another and the guard, they all suspected everybody else, and the coachman was sure of nothing but the horses; as to which cattle he could with a clear conscience have taken his oath on the two Testaments 7 that they were not fit for the journey. Wo-ho! said the coachman. So, then! One more pull and you re at the top and be damned to you, for I have had trouble enough to get you to it! Joe! Halloa! the guard replied. What o clock do you make it, Joe? Ten minutes, good, past eleven. My blood! ejaculated the vexed coachman, and not atop of Shooter s yet! Tst! Yah! Get on with you! Why are the passengers and the guards suspicious of one another? 2. jackboots. Sturdy military boots that reach above the knee 3. wrappers. Loose-fitting outer garments like a shawl or mantle 4. posting house. Station where people making a journey stop to change horses 5. horse pistols. Large firearms carried by horsemen 6. cutlass. Short, thick curving sword with a single cutting edge 7. two Testaments. The two parts of the Christian Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament non de script (nän di skript ) adj., hard to classify or describe; unrecognizable sub stra tum (sub strāt əm) n., foundation gen i al (jēn yəl) adj., cheerful, friendly, and sympathetic BOOK THE FIRST, CHAPTER 2 5
What do the guard and the coachman hear? How do they react? What sounds can be heard in the stillness of the night? To what mood do these sounds contribute? The emphatic horse, cut short by the whip in a most decided negative, made a decided scramble for it, and the three other horses followed suit. Once more, the Dover mail struggled on, with the jackboots of its passengers squashing along by its side. They had stopped when the coach stopped, and they kept close company with it. If any one of the three had had the hardihood to propose to another to walk on a little ahead into the mist and darkness, he would have put himself in a fair way of getting shot instantly as a highwayman. The last burst carried the mail to the summit of the hill. The horses stopped to breathe again, and the guard got down to skid the wheel 8 for the descent, and open the coach door to let the passengers in. Tst! Joe! cried the coachman in a warning voice, looking down from his box. What do you say, Tom? They both listened. I say a horse at a canter coming up, Joe. I say a horse at a gallop, Tom, returned the guard, leaving his hold of the door, and mounting nimbly to his place. Gentlemen! In the kings name, all of you! With this hurried adjuration, he cocked his blunderbuss, and stood on the offensive. The passenger booked by this history, was on the coach step, getting in; the two other passengers were close behind him, and about to follow. He remained on the step, half in the coach and half out of; they remained in the road below him. They all looked from the coachman to the guard, and from the guard to the coachman, and listened. The coachman looked back and the guard looked back, and even the emphatic leader pricked up his ears and looked back, without contradicting. The stillness consequent on the cessation of the rumbling and laboring of the coach, added to the stillness of the night, made it very quiet indeed. The panting of the horses communicated a tremulous motion to the coach, as if it were in a state of agitation. The hearts of the passengers beat loud enough perhaps to be heard; but at any rate, the quiet pause was audibly expressive of people out of breath, and holding the breath, and having the pulses quickened by expectation. 8. skid the wheel. Apply a handbrake to slow the cart har di hood (här dē hood ) n., boldness sum mit (sum it) n., highest point can ter (kant ər) n., moderate gallop nim bly (nim blē) adv., in a quick and light manner ad ju ra tion (aj o o rā shən) n., solemn charge or command 6 A TALE OF TWO CITIES
The sound of a horse at a gallop came fast and furiously up the hill. So-ho! the guard sang out, as loud as he could roar. Yo there! Stand! I shall fire! The pace was suddenly checked, and, with much splashing and floundering, a man s voice called from the mist, Is that the Dover mail? Never you mind what it is! the guard retorted. What are you? Is that the Dover mail? Why do you want to know? I want a passenger, if it is. What passenger? Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Our booked passenger showed in a moment that it was his name. The guard, the coachman, and the two other passengers eyed him distrustfully. Keep where you are, the guard called to the voice in the mist, because, if I should make a mistake, it could never be set right in your lifetime. Gentleman of the name of Lorry answer straight. 9 What is the matter? asked the passenger, then, with mildly quavering speech. Who wants me? Is it Jerry? ( I don t like Jerry s voice, if it is Jerry, growled the guard to himself. He s hoarser than suits me, is Jerry. ) Yes, Mr. Lorry. What is the matter? A despatch sent after you from over yonder. T. and Co. I know this messenger, guard, said Mr. Lorry, getting down into the road assisted from behind more swiftly than politely by the other two passengers, who immediately scrambled into the coach, shut the door, and pulled up the window. He may come close; there s nothing wrong. I hope there ain t, but I can t make so Nation 10 sure of that, said the guard, in gruff soliloquy. Hallo you! Well! And hallo you! said Jerry, more hoarsely than before. Come on at a footpace! d ye mind me? And if you ve got holsters to that saddle o yourn, don t let me see your hand Whom does the rider seek? What do the guard, coachman, and other passengers think about his quest? What mistake might the guard make? 9. straight. Immediately 10. Nation. Slang, short for damnation floun der (floun dər) vi., struggle awkwardly to move qua ver ing (kwā vər iŋ) adj., shaking or trembling so lil o quy (sə lil ə kwē) n., act of talking to oneself BOOK THE FIRST, CHAPTER 2 7
What details tell you that the rider s message is important? What does Mr. Lorry say to the guard? What do his words and actions tell you about Mr. Lorry? What does Jerry s message tell Mr. Lorry to do? What response does Mr. Lorry send? go nigh em. I m a devil at a quick mistake, and when I make one it takes the form of Lead. So now let s look at you. The figures of a horse and rider came slowly through the eddying mist, and came to the side of the mail, where the passenger stood. The rider stooped, and, casting up his eyes at the guard, handed the passenger a small folded paper. The rider s horse was blown, 11 and both horse and rider were covered with mud, from the hoofs of the horse to the hat of the man. Guard! said the passenger, in a tone of quiet business confidence. The watchful guard, with his right hand at the stock of his raised blunderbuss, his left at the barrel, and his eye on the horseman, answered curtly, Sir. There is nothing to apprehend. I belong to Tellson s Bank. You must know Tellson s Bank in London. I am going to Paris on business. A crown 12 to drink. I may read this? If so be as you re quick, sir. He opened it in the light of the coach lamp on that side, and read first to himself and then aloud: Wait at Dover for Mam selle. It s not long, you see, guard. Jerry, say that my answer was, RECALLED TO LIFE. Jerry started in his saddle. That s a blazing strange answer, too, said he, at his hoarsest. Take that message back, and they will know that I received this, as well as if I wrote. Make the best of your way. Good night. With those words the passenger opened the coach door and got in; not at all assisted by his fellow-passengers, who had expeditiously secreted their watches and purses in their boots, and were now making a general pretense of being asleep. With no more definite purpose than to escape the hazard of originating any other kind of action. The coach lumbered on again, with heavier wreaths of mist closing round it as it began the descent. The guard soon replaced his blunderbuss in his armchest, and, having looked to the rest of its contents, and having looked to the supplementary pistols that he wore in his belt, looked to a smaller chest beneath his seat, in which there were a few smith s 13 11. blown. Out of breath; exhausted 12. crown. Gold coin worth five shillings; a shilling is worth twelve pence 13. smith s. Of or belonging to a person who makes or repairs metal objects ed dy ing (ed ē iŋ) adj., moving in a circular motion ex pe di tious ly (eks pə dish əs lē) adv., speedily pre tense (prē tens ) n., act or instance of pretending sup ple men ta ry (sup lə men tər ē) adj., additional 8 A TALE OF TWO CITIES