A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

 

The opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities are so well known they are currently being parodied in a radio advert.

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….

Screen versions of Dickens have made Scrooge, the miserable miser and Oliver Twist, the hungry orphan, equally well known. The latest adaptation of Great Expectations has reincarnated Pip, Magwitch & Estelle for modern viewers. Dickens is grist to the film makers mill, with his compelling characters and rags to riches stories, but he deserves far more than easy viewing for tired millennials; he deserves to be read and read again, and what better place to dive into Dickens than A Tale of Two Cities.  

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this epic novel centres on the lives of Doctor Manette, his daughter Lucie, and the two very different men who love her - Charles Darnay a French aristocrat and Sydney Carton a dissolute lawyer. Dr Manette has been released from The Bastille and is being cared for by M. Ddefarge, the owner of a wine shop. Lucie travels to Paris to bring him back to London where he regains his health. Lucie marries Charles Darnay who is lured back to Paris as the Revolution rages through the streets. Lucie, her father and her child follow him. 

As the cauldron of revolution reaches boiling point, the wine shop of M. Defarge takes centre stage. Behind the counter Mme. Defarge knits and knits: “What do you make, madame?” “Many things.” “For instance—”. “For instance,” returned Madame Defarge, composedly, “shrouds.”

The anger of the poor erupts in the storming of the Bastille and the Reign of Terror begins. As the armed mob surges through the streets, knives are sharpened on the grindstone, prisons are filled, courts condemn the innocent, and the lives of the Manette family hang by a thread. The novel builds to its climax and Dickens’ descriptive powers are in full flow.

Every day, through the stony streets, the tumbrils now jolted heavily, filled with Condemned. Lovely girls; bright women, brown-haired, black-haired, and grey; youths; stalwart men and old; gentle born and peasant born; all red wine for La Guillotine, all daily brought into light from the dark cellars of the loathsome prisons and carried to her through the streets to slake her devouring thirst. Liberty, equality, fraternity, or death; — the last, much the easiest to bestow, O Guillotine!

Dickens is a supreme storyteller, and the action moves along at a rapid pace, much like modern TV soaps, with characters, plotlines, and mysteries all combining to draw the reader on. Why was Dr. Manette imprisoned? What is Charles Darnay’s aristocratic past? Why does Defarge demand to see Dr. Manette’s cell in the Bastille?

Aside from these mysteries, Dickens raises larger questions. How far should retribution go? Does the tyranny of death by starvation justify the tyranny of death by guillotine? Should a man pay for the crimes committed by his cruel, aristocratic family, a family which he has renounced and rejected? At the end of the book, a man and woman face their final moments before the guillotine, and Dickens confronts the reader with the ultimate question - Is death the end of all hope?

The last line of this great novel is as memorable as the first.

“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 is a magnificent read. It tops the list of bestselling novels with over 200 million sales. Time to get your copy and dive into Dickens.