UrdulikUrdulik › Classic Novels › A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens · 1859
A Tale of Two Cities
The story of Charles Dickens’s novel in a few minutes: what happens, who is who, what it means, and its most famous lines.
- Author
- Charles Dickens
- Published
- 1859
- Setting
- London and Paris, before and during the French Revolution
- Genre
- Historical novel
Summary
Dr Manette is freed after eighteen years in the Bastille and brought to London by his daughter Lucie. There Charles Darnay, a French aristocrat who has given up his cruel family’s title, is tried as a spy and saved when his lawyer points out how much he looks like another lawyer in the court, the brilliant but drunken Sydney Carton. Both men love Lucie; she marries Darnay, while Carton promises to give his life for her happiness if ever he can.
The French Revolution breaks out. Darnay goes to Paris to help a servant and is arrested as an aristocrat, and is condemned to death, partly through the hatred of Madame Defarge. Carton, who looks like him, gets into the prison, changes places with Darnay, and goes to the guillotine in his place, so that Lucie and her family can escape.
Main characters
| Sydney Carton | the wasted lawyer who finds meaning in sacrifice |
| Charles Darnay | a French nobleman who rejects his family |
| Lucie Manette | loved by both men |
| Dr Manette | Lucie’s father, a former prisoner of the Bastille |
| Madame Defarge | a revolutionary bent on revenge |
Themes
- Sacrifice and resurrection
- Revolution, violence and justice
- The two cities, London and Paris
Read it free
A Tale of Two Cities is out of copyright. The whole novel can be read or downloaded free from Project Gutenberg.
Quotes
Famous quotes from A Tale of Two Cities
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
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.
Questions
About the novel
What is A Tale of Two Cities about?
Love and sacrifice during the French Revolution, between London and Paris.
Who dies at the end?
Sydney Carton, who takes Charles Darnay’s place at the guillotine.
What is the famous first line?
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”