A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities

In the novel A Tale of Two Cities there were three strands of people: the

Manettes, the Everemonds and the revolutionists. These three strands became

critically entangled at one point in the book. Everyone of the strands became

involved when Charles Darnay was found guilty at his trial and sentenced to death.

Charles was currently involved with the Manette family when the revolutionists

imprisoned him for being an Evremonde. Of course there were many events

leading up to Darnay’s conviction.

The first event occurred when Dr. Manette was locked up in the Bastille by the

Evremonde family. He was called upon to care for Madame Defarge’s sister and

brother, but when they died he was imprisoned so he could not tell anyone of their

murder. Madame Defarge became very angry with the loss of her family and

planned revenge against all the Evremondes. Dr. Manette stayed in the Bastille for

eighteen years. During his time in there he wrote a diary of what went on. He also

lost his identity and became a shoe cobbler. When he finally got out of prison he

had no recollection of his early life.

The second event was when Charles Darnay asked to marry Lucie Manette.

Dr. Manette, who had be reunited with his daughter, saw no problem with the

marriage until Charles revealed his real identity to everyone on the wedding day.

Charles’s last name was really Evremonde. His father was the man who put Dr.

Manette in the Bastille for all those years. Manette forgave Charles because he was

not like his evil father or his uncle, the Marquis St. Evremonde. Charles and Lucie

got married as they planned to.

The last event occurred when Madame Defarge planned revenge against all

the Evremondes. She was a revolutionist and knitted a list of names for her people to

murder. Charles Darnay was added when she found out his real identity as an

Evremonde. Also the names of his wife, Lucie Manette, and his newly born

daughter, Little Lucie, were added to her murder list. Charles and his family were

now in the middle of the three strands differences.

Charles Dickens showed the relationship between the Evremondes, the

Manettes and the revolutionists all through the one character, Charles Darnay. He

was closely related to all these groups in many ways. Each part of the story was

connected and related to each other so without the three events leading up to

Darnay’s trial, the outcome of the story would of been different.

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