Plot

1. Introduction
“A Tale of Two Cities” (1859) is one of the Dickens most popular novels what makes it
really interesting is not so much the story of the private individuals in it, except of course
the final escape of Lucie and other and the supreme self-sacrifice of Sydney Carton, as the
episodes and incidents of the French Revolution and the character of Monsieur and
Madame Defarge. The Scenes of French Revolution remains in our minds long after we
have put aside the novel and the portrayal of Madame Defarge. With her all seeing and
vigilant eyes and her sinister knitting is unforgettable.

2. Discussion
“A Tale of Two Cities” is essentially the story of a group of private individuals but the
story has been told against the background of the French revolution (1789-93). A number
of scenes and episodes in the novel relate to the French Revolution and are therefore
historical in character. Dickens’s real skill in the writing of this novel consist in the
manner in which he has closely interwoven the domestic life of private individuals with
the terrible events of the great convulsion known as the French revolution.
The private individuals with whom the story largely deals are Dr. Alexandre Manette,
Lucie, Charles, Evremonde, Sydney Carton and Mr. Jarvis Lorry. The characters who
belong to French Revolution are Monsieur Defarge and his wife, Gaspard and the furious
revolution of France the story moves like this: In starting Mr. Lorry and Miss Lucie
Manette go to Paris where they find Lucie’s father Alexandre Manette released from the
Bastille jail, the circumstances of Dr. Manette’s imprisonment, Evremonde brothers were
responsible for his imprisonment , Dr. recall to his wife and with his daughter Lucie settled
in London, Darnay’s trial at old Bailly, Carton’s promise to Lucie that he will remain
faithful to her at anytime in future but Lucie married to Darnay, conditions deteriorating in
France, Lucie’s vague fears and on the other hand Monsieur Defarge and Madame in the
Paris and result the storming of the Bastille and the governor of the Bastille murdered by
Madame Defarge and the hanging fallen who was the enemy of the people, Mr. Lorry send
to Paris by his bank to handle the accounts of French customers and London dwellers,
Darnay’s departure for Paris and his arrest then we find Dr. Manette and Lucie followed
him in Paris and received warmly by the revolutionary crowd, Darnay sentenced to death at
his second trial because his father was responsible for Dr. Manette’s imprisonment and
everyone family was monsterly tyrant but in last Carton’s substitution for Darnay surprises
the all readers, Madame Defarge killed by a bullet from her own pistol and in last we can
see the self – sacrifice of Carton.
So, from the above passage we can imagine that the lives of private individuals are mingled
with French revolution scene. Both stories are mingled because the wrongs done by the
Evremonde brothers. Dr. Manette had been thrown into a cell of Bastille in a most arbitrary
and unjust manner. He had reported to the authorities the grave murder and extreme cruelty
of two Evremonde brothers towards the young daughter, and young daughter and young
son of the tenant families on their land. The two brothers had their own seized Dr. Manette.
Ironically enough, the man who married with Dr. Manette’s daughter turns out to be the
son and nephew of the very Evremonde brothers who had turned Dr’s life into hell.
Charles Darnay’s father having died, his uncle becomes Marquis Evremonde and the owner
of the family and property in the French countryside. He was also very haughty and callous.
His killed a child in the Paris, so he is murdered in his sleep by the father of the child so the
Evremonde property now belongs to Charles Darnay. On the other hand the people in
France have been growing under the oppressive rule of the government of King Louis XVI
and forced by their poverty and hunger to organise themselves against the government to
seek freedom. The time for action comes soon and one day in the July of 1789, an armed
mob led by the Defarge couple, makes an assault upon the, releases the prisoners, murders
the governor of the prison and several other officials and takes possession of the notorious
prison which had become a symbol of cruelty by the Aristocracy. By circumstances Darnay
pays a visit to Paris but by chance revolutionary arrested him because of his father and
uncle’s barbarous behaviour. But it was the deep devotion of Carton to Lucie that he
substitutes himself in place of Darnay. So, lastly we find the private of the characters in the
story merging with the political event which are taking place around them. We feel no
discontinuity at all because the connection between private and political events is shown to
be very close. It’s very tragic that because of revolutionary accesses Darnay has to remain
for fifteen months in prison and hundreds of noble men have already been executed in
France. It is but natural for Madame Defarge with her vindictive nature to try to have Lucie
and her child also sentenced to death, though she fails in this effort Geoffrey Thurley gives
his views on the theme of the merger of public and private in “A Tale of Two Cities”. Both
themes are affected by means of a series interlocking equivocations, ambiguities, and
ambivalences.
According to John Forster, “The interviewing of domestic life with a great public event by
Dickens is fantastic though there are excellent traits and towhees all through the
revolutionary scenes, Dickens speaks of his design to make impressive the dignity of
Carton’s death and by doing this he succeeded beyond his imagination. Every incident of
the story is beautifully told by the writer. Ernest A Baker praises the terror, suspense and
sensational events in the novel. G. Robert Strange highlight the theme of imprisonment
that runs darkly in the whole novel.
Charles Dickens fame was not confined to continent as in his home country. He received
admiration and applause in America, Russia, Italy and Germany. Dickens possessed
creative imagination of a high order and that accounted for the popularity of his novels.
The plots of Dickens’s novels are incoherent and lack unity. They are marked with
discursiveness and diffuseness. His novels are “often like shapeless bags in which all
manner of different objects of varying shapes and sizes have been ruthlessly crammed. But
in “A Tale of two cities” he develops something like coherent plots. As a narrator of his
tales Dickens is admirable David Cecil says, “He may construct the story well, but he tells
it admirably”. “A Tale of two cities” has proved to be one of his most popular stories.
Undoubtedly the story of this novel is convincing and realistic. The novel has a well
constructed plot which doesn’t suffer from any interruptions or digressions. The author has
shown a remarkable capacity for condensing his material, so that the narration of the story
is marked by an economy which gives to the plot a remarkable compactness. The novel
contains a single plot without any sub-plot. The novel is free from prolixity and from
diffuseness which often match the novels to Thackeray. The story of this novel concerns a
group of private individuals who are somehow drawn in the whirlpool of a great public
and political event “French Revolution”. Two dominant themes of the novel are
 resurrection and renunciation. Resurrection implies death and rebirth. For example: - Dr.
Manette, “Recall to life” from his prolonged imprisonment in the Bostille and soon he
recovers his sanity also. Thus there is a double resurrection in the case of this man who
from the physical point of view had been buried alive in prison cell and from the mental
point of view had lost his sanity. Then there is resurrection in the case of Darnay who is
saved from impending death as many as three times in the course of the novel. Next
example is Carton that does not escape death, is to be imagined as having passed to
another world to lead a new life. Darnay’s relinquishment of his ancestral property and
Carton’s sacrifice of his life for the sake of Lucie whom he loved constitute the theme of
renunciation in the story.
The real skill of the author in constructing the plot of this novel lies in the manner in which
he has interviewing private life in public events. According to John Foster, “the domestic
life of a few simple private people in the novel is such a manner knitted and interweaving
without break of a terrible of public event our curiosity about what will happen next is
always kept on edge. The very beginning of the story mystifies us we are rushing along the
road to Dover, in the dead of night, to what distant event we don’t know. There are some
questions and suspense in the novel for example: - why was Dr. Manette imprisoned? Who
is Charles Darnay? Why Dr. Manette does feels so disturbed by something in Darnay’s
appearance and manvers? Whose are the footsteps that echo in Lucie’s ears? What did
Defarge find in his search of cell no. 105?
Dickens in his novels generally makes use of three ingredients to maintain: Melodrama,
pathos, humour. There is a fantastic shifting of London to Paris and Paris to London. The
elements of sentimentality here for example: - Lucie Manette’s Heart – rending union with
the father she has never known is simply not prepared for;
“And if, When I shall tell you to my name, and of my father who is living, and of my
mother who is dead, you learn that I have to kneel Tomy, honoured father, and implore his
pardon for having never for his sake striven all day end lain, awake and wept all night,
because the love of my poor mother hide her torture from me, weep for it, weep for it!”
The illustrious analogue here is the re–union of Cardelia and Lear, but to define the
differences between the two scenes is merely to become impatient with Dickens.
The climax of this novel is prepared for and built up in a more conscious fashion
than in any other story by Dickens. The last three chapters are chronologically
adjusted for this effect. In chapter 13, Carton substitutes himself for Darnay and
the drugged man is hurried away from the city by Mr. Lorry, Lucie and Dr.
Manette. Chapter – 14 describes the death of Madame Defarge during her tussle
with Miss Prose, and then goes on to show that she and Jerry escape too. In chapter
-15, Carton goes to the Guillotine and that is the end. An important feature of the
plot of the novel is the use of parallelism or doubling. Charls Darnay and Carton
are doubles. They closely resemble each other in physical appearance and they
loved the same Madame. The use of symbolic imagery in the novel is significant.
For eg: - The spilling of wine outside Defarge’s shop is an incident which prepares
us for the subsequent spilling of blood in the streets of revolutionary France. The
Bastille jail is symbol of Tyranny. The “Echoing foot – steps” which Lucie hears in
her house symbolize the misfortunes and dangers which are in store for her family.
Madame Defarge is also a symbol of hatered and evil. Vilkie Collins was not
satisfied with the way in which Dickens handled his plot. William H. Marshall
admires the parallelism is plot construction. Taylor Stochr thinks the importance of
concrete objects and physical settings.
1. Conclusions
To conclude, we can say that Charles Dickens has integrated the personal lives of
his characters with the wider pattern of history. The lives of both Dr. Manette and
Sydney Carton are parables of the Revolution and of social re-generation through
suffering and sacrifice. In the broadest sense, at the end of the novel Dickens
foresees a resurrected social order in France, sizing from the ashes of the old one.
The novel concludes with the guillotining of Sydney Carton. As he is waiting to
board the tumbrel, he is approached by a seamstress, also condemned to death,
which mistakes him for Darnay but, upon getting close, realises the truth. Awed by
his unselfish courage and sacrifice, she asks to stay close to him and he agrees. So,
we say that Dickens is the creator of realistic novel and his style of writing is of the
18th century picaresque novels. His style of writing is marked by a profuse
linguistic creativity.