A Tale of Two Cities

Chapter Summaries Chart

Chapter Summary

The Period:
Summary
In 1775, as in the 1850s, England and France can only be described in "the superlative
degree of comparison," such as "best" and "worst." Both are ruled by "a king with a large
jaw"; England's queen is "plain," and France's is "fair." England is fascinated by
spiritualism, and her American colonies are causing trouble. France is dealing with
economic problems. Both countries are facing social problems. In England, no one is safe
on the roads, everyone suspects everyone else of plotting to steal from them, and a
warning is issued to families to store their furniture when they leave their houses so that
they will not be robbed while they're gone. Both countries employ capital punishment to
discourage crime and quell unrest. In France, a youth doesn't kneel for monks passing 60
Book 1, Chapter 1 yards away; as a punishment, his hands are cut off, his tongue is torn out, and he is burnt
alive.
All the while trees are growing that will be made into guillotines, and French farmers are
using carts that will become the tumbrils that carry the condemned to their deaths.

Analysis
A Tale of Two Cities opens with the oft-quoted line, "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." This litany of contrasts is one of the most famous
first sentences in literature. It is made memorable by the extensive use of anaphora—
repetition of the first part of the sentence—and antithesis—placing opposite ideas in the
same sentence to contrast them.
The first chapter describes the environment in 1775 in both England and France, where
 the events in the novel will take place, without introducing any of the characters or
beginning the plot.
The narrator makes clear that neither country is safe for the common people. People in
England have to think about how to keep themselves safe from crime, constantly looking
over their shoulders and defending themselves against theft. The hangman is kept busy
but is "ever worse than useless"; crime continues to thrive everywhere in England. In
France, however, commoners are in danger from the authorities, who punish them
unreasonably and cruelly for the smallest crimes. The narrator gives the example of the
torture and death of a young boy simply for not recognizing authority from afar. In 1775,
French peasants and other working-class people are treated like animals, with no respect
for their basic human needs. This context helps explain the intense pressure to act in
extreme ways that characterized the popular uprising, which is essential to the plot of the
novel. It also introduces the themes of violence and injustice.

The Mail:
Summary
The chapter opens with a description of just how tenuous one's safety is on any
given road in England in 1775. Several passengers are on a mail carriage going
from London to Dover, and everyone suspects everyone else of being a thief. The
coachman and the guard hear the galloping hooves of a horse behind them and
are prepared to fight, but the person on the horse is a messenger from Tellson's
Book 1, Chapter 2
Bank in London, asking for a Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Mr. Lorry is in the carriage, and the
messenger, Jerry, hands him a note. The note reads, "Wait at Dover for
Mam'selle." Lorry tells Jerry to take back the message "Recalled to Life." Jerry is
thoroughly confused, but agrees to take the message back to the bank.

Analysis
In this chapter, the reader is introduced to Jarvis Lorry, a banker, and Jerry
Cruncher, his messenger. Lorry's demeanor, as the coach is stopped for Jerry, is
 calm, though everyone else in the carriage is terrified that they're going to be
robbed. Jerry's demeanor is blustery and befuddled by the message he has to
carry back to the bank, but he does it anyway, showing that he's a loyal
employee.

Usually, if there is a message passed to a character in a novel and the message

doesn't make a lot of sense, readers can safely assume that this message is
going to resurface later. It may even become a very important part of the novel.
Through the message that Jerry takes back to the bank, the narrator alludes to a
major event that begins the novel's plot: A client of Lorry's has been released
from prison after a very long time. The note also introduces the theme of
resurrection—coming back to life, in the metaphorical sense. This theme will later
resurface in related subplots. In this chapter, it is Lorry's client who is being
recalled to life after having been gone from it for so long.

The wording of the note is mysterious, rousing curiosity in the reader. Referred to
as a cliffhanger because it leaves out important details to heighten suspense, this
well-known technique was used by Dickens and other writers of his time to get
people to purchase the next installment of their novels. Most novels in Dickens's
era were serialized chapter by chapter in magazines or pamphlets, so writers had
to keep their readers coming back for more. Because each chapter ended with a
little mystery, the reader bought the next chapter to find out what happened.

The Night Shadows:

Summary
Stopping at various pubs along the way, Jerry Cruncher considers the message he carries
Book 1, Chapter 3 and finds himself "perplexed" by it. Jerry suspects Mr. Jarvis Lorry may have been
drinking. As he returns to Tellson's Bank that night, his uneasiness over the message has
him jumping at shadows.
Meanwhile, Lorry is dozing in the mail carriage, dreaming throughout the night that he is
speaking to a 45-year-old man who has been imprisoned for 18 years. The face changes in
each dream, but each time it is a man in some stage of despair and lethargic confusion.
 Lorry asks the man, "I hope you care to live?" and the answer is always "I can't say." The
reader is told that Lorry is going to dig up a prisoner who has been "buried alive" for 18
years.

Analysis
In the first paragraph, Dickens breaks through to address readers directly with a reflection
on the separateness of individuals and how each is a mystery to the others. He uses the
first person:
 A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly
clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its
own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in
some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!

Such an interruption in the narration is known as authorial intrusion and was typical of

Dickens's style.
This chapter gives the reader insight into what it must be like to be held prisoner in the
late 18th century, not only separated from one's family, but locked up so securely that it's
like stepping into a grave. The emotional wear and tear that such a long prison term
inflicts on the prisoner makes him question whether he even wants to live. But this
particular prisoner is about to be freed from the "grave" of his prison cell, bringing back
the theme of resurrection from the dead. Because he has been gone for 18 years, it is
possible that people in his life will have assumed he's dead. After all, prisons in France at
the time were not places where people were well taken care of, and it was not unusual for
prisoners to die in their cells.
Jarvis Lorry's dreams about this prisoner reveal a little more about his character.
Supposedly all business, he still can't stop thinking about what it will be like to go rescue
a man who has been "buried alive for 18 years." By describing his fitful dreams, the
narrator shows the reader that Lorry has a caring heart underneath his stuffy banker
exterior.

Book 1, Chapter 4
The Preparation:
Summary
Mr. Jarvis Lorry arrives in Dover, where he takes a hotel room and orders one for a young
lady arriving sometime that day. Over breakfast, he talks with the waiter about Tellson's
Bank, which has had flourishing offices in London and Paris for about 150 years. He says,
"It is fifteen years since we—since I—came last from France."
In the evening, Miss Lucie Manette, a pretty, blonde 17-year-old who believes herself an
orphan, arrives from London, and "with an air of stolid desperation," Lorry goes to meet
her. Lucie has received a letter from Tellson's mentioning a discovery regarding her
father's property and advising her to meet with their representative. Lorry admits he is that
man and, so as not to shock her, explains he was the adviser and trustee for a French
doctor from Beauvais—like Lucie's father—and the doctor's English wife. Lorry makes an
effort to distance himself emotionally from the story by insisting it is simply business, that
he is "a mere machine." But he can't bring himself to tell Lucie directly that her father is
alive. As he speaks, Lucie recognizes him as the man who accompanied her
to England after her mother's death 15 years earlier. Despite his protestations of
indifference, he tenderly kisses her hand. Resuming his story about the anonymous
"Doctor of Beauvais," Lorry describes how the man was untraceably locked away in
prison by a powerful enemy, leaving his wife to plead unsuccessfully with the king and
queen for information about her husband. She then had a daughter and, to spare her
daughter pain, said the doctor was dead. Lucie falls on her knees, begging him for the
truth. Finally, he explains her father has been found, "Greatly changed, it is too probable;
almost a wreck, it is possible; though we will hope the best. Still, alive." The doctor is at
the home of his former servant in Paris. He is using a different name, and they must take
him out of France secretly without asking questions.
Lucie is in shock, and Lorry calls for assistance. A ruddy, masculine woman rushes in,
shoves him aside, and tenderly helps Lucie lie down. Lorry asks the woman if she will be
coming with them to France.

Analysis
The reader learns that Tellson's Bank provides services for many people who are in the
same situation that Lucie Manette's parents were in: her mother was English, and her
father, French. In order to have a trustee who could handle the financial affairs of both the
husband's and the wife's family, it was necessary for such couples to work with a bank
that had offices in both countries. Tellson's has an office in London and an office in Paris,
 so it has many clients with financial ties in both countries.
Readers see once again how kind-hearted Jarvis Lorry is. Having been the trustee for the
family and taken care of Lucie's needs since she was small, he finds it hard to transmit
information she will find difficult to hear. He tries to make up a story, but she
immediately realizes he's saying her father is alive. Lorry can barely keep his composure
as he tells her that her father has been found. Without getting emotional, Lorry is also
unable to tell Lucie her father has been changed by his long ordeal in prison. Lorry may
be insisting to Lucie that this interaction will be all business, but his reactions reveal that
he has a very personal connection with Dr. Manette. It's impossible for him to remain
neutral. The more the narrator reveals about Lorry, the more he seems like a softy rather
than a tough, businesslike banker.
The theme of resurrection comes up again in this chapter, and for Lucie it seems like a
true resurrection from the dead. Because she is 17 and Dr. Manette has been in prison for
18 years, she has never actually met her father. Lucie believes he is dead—she says her
mother survived her father "only two years"—so she feels like she is about to meet a
ghost. She isn't far from wrong. Lorry tells her that Dr. Manette has changed a great deal,
and may, in fact, be "almost a wreck." Her shock is palpable, and her protective and
doting governess, who swoops in to take care of her, is extremely angry that Lorry has
upset her.

The Wine-Shop:
Summary
A cask of red wine has been broken outside a wine shop, and people have rushed to the
scene to drink the spilled wine. It stains the street and the hands and faces of the people
Book 1, Chapter 5 drinking it. A tall man dips his finger in the muddied wine and writes "blood" on a wall.
The narrator comments, "The time was to come, when that wine too would be spilled on
the street-stones, and when the stain of it would be red upon many there." He goes on to
describe the conditions of the people who live there: hunger, filth, and despair. But, he
says, despite all the signs that something bad was coming, "the birds, fine of song and
feather, took no warning."
Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Lucie Manette have come to the wine shop of Monsieur Defarge and
his wife. They note that the owner and others call one another Jacques. Lorry introduces
himself, and Defarge immediately takes him and Lucie out of the shop, into a courtyard,
and through an entryway into a building with five floors. The courtyard is filled with
refuse and waste, and the stairway is even worse, as each person with a room in the house
leaves their trash and the contents of their chamber pots either on the landing or tosses
them out their windows. Lucie can barely breathe, and she is so nervous about meeting
her father that Monsieur Defarge and Lorry each have to take an arm so she doesn't fall
down.
Three men named Jacques are in the hallway, peeking through a door. Lorry asks if
Monsieur Defarge is making a show of the poor doctor. Monsieur Defarge says he shows
the doctor to people for whom it will do some good, and because Lorry is English, he
wouldn't understand. He clears the men away, pulls out a key, and opens the door. Lucie
is terrified. Lorry, who has up until this time been repeating the word "business" to keep
himself and Lucie from being emotionally overwrought, suddenly has wet cheeks and
becomes emotional. When they open the door, there is Dr. Manette, making shoes.

Analysis
In this chapter, the reader is introduced to Monsieur and Madame Defarge, the owners of
the wine shop. Monsieur Defarge is Dr. Manette's former servant, who has taken him in
after his release from prison. The reader is also introduced to the method by which this
band of revolutionaries are able to spread information without incriminating themselves;
they all refer to each other as "Jacques" and speak in a code that only they understand.
(Dickens most likely used this code name to reference the Jacobin Club, which would
become the best-known French revolutionary group, characterized by its adherence to the
principle of equality but also its extreme violence.) Madame Defarge says nothing; her
strongest reaction is to raise an eyebrow. She just keeps watching and knitting, but
remains a noticeable presence.
In this chapter, too, readers first meet Gaspard, the "tall joker" who writes the word
"blood" on the wall. All too soon, Gaspard will have his own encounter with blood and
become an early casualty of the class war in France.
The poverty and terrible conditions of the peasants are described right down to the smells,
so the reader gains an understanding of what it is like to be poor in 18th-century France
before the revolution. Dickens is known for his vivid descriptions of poverty in cities,
having experienced it himself, and he also did his research on revolutionary-era France to
 make sure that he got the setting and the place right. By understanding the reprehensible
way the poor are treated and the squalor in which they live, readers will also be able to
understand why, later in the novel, these same people turn to violence in their revolt
against the aristocracy.

There is obviously some connection between the three Jacques and Dr. Manette that is
decidedly French and only understandable by those who know what's happening in the
streets. It is as if Dr. Manette is some kind of celebrity. Because Dr. Manette was in prison
and it seems he's a hero with these commoners, readers may infer he was imprisoned by
the aristocracy.

Poor Mr. Lorry reveals through his actions that he is, in fact, emotionally involved with
this family. He tries to keep calm and hold Lucie up, but he is unable to control his tears
when he sees the place where his friend and client is being kept. When he begins to
understand what a shell of his former self Dr. Manette has become, there is "a moisture
that [is] not of business shining on his cheek."

The Shoemaker:
Summary
Dr. Manette is a ragged, gaunt old man, with crazy white hair and a choppy white beard,
huddled over the work of making a lady's shoe. Monsieur Defarge asks him about his
shoemaking, and the doctor says he asked to be allowed to teach himself and has been
Book 1, Chapter 6 making shoes ever since. Defarge points out he has visitors, but Dr. Manette has a hard
time pulling himself away from his shoemaking. Monsieur Defarge asks him his name,
but the doctor gives the location of his cell instead: "One Hundred and Five, North
Tower."
Mr. Jarvis Lorry asks Dr. Manette if he recognizes him and if he knows that Defarge is his
old servant. Dr. Manette exhibits fleeting recognition, but goes back to making the shoe.
Suddenly, he sees the bottom of Lucie Manette's skirt and looks up to see her face. He is
shocked. As she sits down next to him, he pulls out a scrap of cloth on a string around his
neck. He has been allowed to carry with him a few long golden hairs from his wife's head
that he found on his shirt the day he was imprisoned. He compares it to Lucie's hair, and it
is the same. He asks her who she is, and she won't tell him, but holds him and promises
she will take him to London and take care of him. She orders everyone out of the room to
prepare food, clothing, and transportation out of France. Once her father has been fed and
all has been prepared, Lucie, Lorry, and Dr. Manette get into their coach. Dr. Manette
calls "for his shoemaking tools and the unfinished shoes," and Madame Defarge fetches
them. They leave for London, and Lorry again hears the question "I hope you care to be
recalled to life?" and the familiar answer "I can't say."

Analysis
At the beginning of the chapter, readers receive their first impression of Dr. Manette. He
is doing complicated handiwork in the dark, oblivious to the fact that people have entered
his room. Why is he in darkness? Why doesn't he keep the doors open to let in some light?
He may be so used to being in darkness in his cell that he can't tolerate any other
environment. His garret duplicates a prison-like atmosphere: a tiny space with almost no
light. He is also unused to seeing people and has lost the ability to react normally when
people come into the room. The reader receives a clear picture of just how emotionally
damaged a person can be by spending so many years in prison.
Dickens would likely have read the works of Charles Lucas, who was the inspector
general of French prisons from 1830 to 1865. Lucas was an advocate of abolishing the
death penalty, as well as a proponent of using solitary confinement only for prisoners who
were waiting for trial or whose sentences were a year or less in duration. He wrote more
than 100 works on the prison systems in Europe and the United States. Lucas knew that
prisoners in earlier times who were put in solitary confinement for their entire sentences,
like Dr. Manette, would lose their sanity, having nothing to do and no one to talk to.
Guards in French prisons were also corrupt and would use corporal punishment at random
on prisoners. The reaction of prisoners to long sentences was often insanity or suicide, or
both. In addition, sanitary conditions in prisons were not optimal, and prisoners were
likely to catch any number of infectious diseases and die before they could be released.
Despite her earlier fears, as soon as she meets her father, Lucie Manette takes charge. She
has a calming effect on the old doctor, and her sudden change from a fainting flower to a
strong, confident woman is remarkable. She has always been taken care of and sheltered
by her governess, but now she has someone to take care of and assumes the role quite
easily. Dr. Manette's fragile state is a perfect foil for Lucie's newfound strength.
 Five Years Later:
Summary
The time is "Anno Domini" 1780, or as Jerry Cruncher, the odd-jobs man for Tellson's
Bank says, Anna Dominoes. Cruncher is at home with his wife and his son, Young Jerry,
described as a "grisly urchin" who looks very much like his father. Cruncher is yelling at
his wife for praying for him, convinced that she is trying to destroy his livelihood. She
protests that she is just saying a blessing. He even yells at her for saying grace over
breakfast. After breakfast, Jerry heads to Tellson's Bank where he learns they need a
porter right away, so he goes off to do the job. Young Jerry holds his father's place outside
Tellson's, wondering why his father's fingers are always rusty.

Analysis
In this chapter, the narrator gives the reader a clear picture of Jerry Cruncher's personality
(as well as his remarkable ability to mistake one phrase for another). Jerry is portrayed as
Book 2, Chapter 1 a man with little education who is not well off financially, and takes out his dissatisfaction
on his wife. Jerry's malapropisms lighten what is otherwise a fairly bleak story.
Contemporary critics of A Tale of Two Cities complained that the novel did not
contain Dickens's usual sense of humor and tendency to have at least a few comical
characters in his stories. Jerry and Miss Pross, Lucie Manette's blustery governess,
provide the only comic relief in the novel.
The narrator also portrays Jerry as a person who, though difficult at home, is reliable in
his job. Dickens uses vivid descriptions of characters' faults as well as their finer points,
especially characters who are working class or poor, to give readers a complete picture of
each character. In this novel, the graphic turns of phrase he uses in his character
descriptions are exemplified by the phrase "grisly urchin" that he uses to describe Jerry's
son, a mini-Jerry.

Dickens also tends to use names that reflect the personalities of characters, especially the
funny ones. The name Cruncher conjures up someone who does physical work and doesn't
give up until the job is done. However, it also conjures up a person who might possibly
break things, which is how he behaves at home. How will Jerry's job connect with the
story of the Manette family? As the only person Mr. Lorry trusts to take messages to
people and otherwise do as he is told, Jerry will certainly play a part.
Book 2, Chapter 2
A Sight:
Summary
Jerry Cruncher is given the task of going to the Old Bailey, the courthouse where Charles
Darnay is being tried for treason. The courtyard in front of the Old Bailey is filled with
violence, crime, and disease, and the courtroom itself is packed with people straining to
see the accused. The inside of the court has been fumigated with herbs and vinegar to
prevent disease from spreading, but despite such precautions it was quite common for
even the judge to contract a disease in court and die from it.
Jerry must give a note to the doorman for Mr. Jarvis Lorry, who is in the courtroom, and
wait until Lorry needs him. He finds out that everyone's waiting to see the prisoner hung,
drawn, and quartered, which means to be half-hanged, then sliced open alive, see his
insides drawn out and burned, and finally be decapitated and cut into four quarters. The
more hideous the punishment, the bigger the crowd. Jerry sees Darnay looking around the
room, fully aware that all the people there are imagining him undergoing this exact
punishment. Among the crowd are Lucie Manette and her father; they stand out among
the crowd, both handsome and well-dressed. Word reaches Jerry that they are in the
courtroom to provide evidence against the prisoner.
Jerry, who is thoroughly overwhelmed by the legal language, stands on the sidelines,
sucking his fingers and hearing only about half of what is going on.

Analysis
Dickens spends a lot of time in A Tale of Two Cities telling the reader about horrific
punishments for seemingly innocuous crimes. Treason is not an innocuous crime, but
drawing and quartering goes far beyond straightforward capital punishment. Even Jerry
Cruncher reacts vehemently: "Barbarous!" he calls it. Dickens wants the reader to know
not only how inhumane punishment was during this time, but how the crowd went along
with it and saw the death of another human being as entertainment.
It is interesting to note that the Manettes are in the courtroom to testify against Charles
Darnay. This gives the reader another tidbit of information about Dr. Manette's backstory
and another question to add to his mystery. Lucie Manette feels terrible about testifying
 against Darnay, which is the first sign that she has fallen for him—although, of course,
Lucie is portrayed as such a flawlessly good character that she would feel bad testifying
against almost anyone.
Their appearance in court also foreshadows events at Darnay's next court date in France,
which will be even more dramatic and dangerous and far less successful. Because he is an
aristocrat, there is almost no way that he can get out of being imprisoned by the
revolutionaries when he dares to go back to France. Dr. Manette will prove to be the one
person who can save Darnay from prison and death the first time he is imprisoned in
France. But it will also be Dr. Manette's unwitting (and unwilling) testimony that will
afterward seal Darnay's fate.

Book 2, Chapter 3
A Disappointment:
Summary
Charles Darnay is on trial for treason at the Old Bailey, and testimony begins with a so-
called patriot, John Barsad, who says he can prove the prisoner has been making lists of
the Crown's troops and movements for five years to give to the French monarchy. Barsad
swears he is not a spy and has never done anything wrong. His servant, Roger Cly, also
swears everything Barsad has said is true, and that the lists in his possession were found in
Darnay's desk.
Mr. Jarvis Lorry testifies that Darnay did take the midnight ferry with him and was the
only other passenger except for Lorry's companions, Lucie and Dr. Manette. Lucie
Manette is compelled to say what she knows, having taken the same ferry and spoken
with Darnay about why he was there, but she feels she is doing Darnay a disservice by
speaking about it and is very distraught. She says he was on perilous confidential business
that took him back and forth from France. Dr. Manette also testifies, but does not
remember anything Darnay said because the doctor had just been released from prison.
Mr. Stryver, Darnay's attorney, then tears into Barsad's testimony, calling him a spy and a
scoundrel. A wigged gentleman in the courtroom tosses him a note, and Stryver changes
his direction a bit, saying it is impossible that Barsad could identify Darnay as the only
person who could have made the lists because he can't identify Darnay by appearance.
Stryver points out that his colleague, Sydney Carton, looks remarkably like Darnay and
tells the jury that they cannot trust Barsad's judgment. In addition, he says, Barsad's
servant Cly assisted him in his nefarious acts, and Barsad picked Darnay as a likely victim
because of his family connections in France. Lucie's testimony, he says, has been twisted
by Barsad and is actually just a report of the types of conversation anyone would have
with a stranger traveling on the ferry.
The jury retires to make a decision. Lucie begins to faint, and her father takes her outside.
Lorry checks on the Manettes, and then tells Jerry to make sure he is there for the jury's
announcement. Jerry lets Darnay know that Miss Manette is much better now, and Darnay
asks him to pass on the message that he is deeply sorry she has suffered through this trial.
Sydney Carton asks Darnay what he thinks will happen, and Darnay is convinced he will
die. But later, Lorry thrusts a paper at Jerry with the word "Acquitted" on it to take to
Tellson's Bank. Jerry mutters that if the message had been "Returned to Life," this time he
would have understood it.

Analysis
This is the first time Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay see each other, and their physical
resemblance is remarkable. This fact saves Darnay's life by casting doubt on Barsad's
judgment, and Dickens uses this twist in the plot to foreshadow later events in the novel.
Darnay will need saving again when he is in France. The theme of resurrection is brought
back here, because if Darnay had been convicted of treason, he would have been put to
death, and for this particular crime, the punishment is a very long and painful death rather
than a simple hanging or beheading.
It is also interesting to note that Sydney Carton could have been dragged into this case,
because he looks like Darnay. Barsad didn't try to implicate him, but Carton was risking
his own safety by pointing out that he looks just like a prisoner who has been accused of
treason. Carton may be a wreck in his personal life, but he has a self-sacrificing streak that
becomes a theme whenever he is in the picture.

In addition, the connection between Darnay and the Manettes has now been forged: a
connection that will prove extremely important. Again, Lucie Manette is portrayed as a
woman who doesn't want to get the prisoner in trouble, which is due partly to her innate
goodness and partly to an instant attraction between her and Darnay.
The theme of injustice is also explored in this chapter, as Barsad and Cly try to frame
Darnay, using his position as a French aristocrat to make him vulnerable to accusations of
spying. It deflects attention from their own spying activities, which are, according to
Stryver, significant and treasonous; he accuses them of fabricating the evidence against
 his client, calling them "forgers and false swearers."

Finally, the atmosphere in the courtroom is somewhat quieter than one would expect at a
public hearing, introducing England once again as a symbol of relative stability. In
England, the executions are public, as are the hearings for prisoners such as this one, and
people place their natural curiosity for the macabre above their good sense as fellow
human beings by attending these events as if they are entertainment. But when the
attorney general finishes his presentation of evidence and his questioning of Barsad, a
"buzz" of chatter ensues that quiets down as soon as Stryver begins to question the
witness. Later in the novel, readers will find out what courtrooms in France were like in
these types of cases during the revolution, and the difference in noise level alone will be
notable, illustrating a difference in the views of the public on how much influence they
have, or should have, in the legal system.

Book 2, Chapter 4
Congratulatory:
Summary
Charles Darnay has been acquitted of treason and is surrounded by Mr. Jarvis Lorry, Mr.
Stryver, Lucie Manette, and Dr. Manette, who congratulate him. Darnay kisses Lucie's
hand and takes Stryver's hand, as he owes him his life. Dr. Manette looks at Darnay as if
he recognizes something in him, and Lorry suggests that the Manettes go home to rest.
Sydney Carton shows up to speak with Darnay, which annoys Lorry, who feels Carton has
no place in the conversation. He isn't aware of the part Carton played in Darnay's
acquittal. Carton is also a little drunk and is not wearing his barrister's robes, which
doesn't give a good impression. Lorry goes off to Tellson's Bank, and Carton ends up
having dinner with Darnay. He mentions Lucie and seems to have decided he doesn't
really like Darnay. He tells Darnay he's a "disappointed drudge" and has no one in his life.
Darnay makes an effort to part on good terms despite Carton's efforts to get him to
express dislike. When Darnay leaves, Carton reveals he hates Darnay because, although
he looks almost exactly like Carton, he has succeeded in life and attracted Lucie's
attention, thus embodying everything Carton has lost by drinking too much and staying
alone.
 Analysis
Charles Darnay becomes enamored of Lucie Manette, and who wouldn't? She's beautiful,
composed, and gentle, and showed in the courtroom that it pained her to harm Darnay. Dr.
Manette, however, has an interesting and disturbing reaction to Darnay. What does he see
in Darnay's face that makes him suddenly turn distrustful and full of fear? Could it be that
Darnay reminds him of people who were determined to hurt him in France? Darnay is
portrayed as an aristocrat from France who has business there, and it is possible that Dr.
Manette recognizes him. If so, it is natural that he not only becomes distrustful, but that he
was unable to remember anything Darnay said when he testified against him in court. This
imbalance of feelings, both admiring and fearful, will periodically come back to Dr.
Manette.
Sydney Carton's interaction with Darnay is also telling. Carton is unhappy with the way
his life has turned out, but he only has himself to blame. He appears to want someone like
Lucie to care for him, although he says to Darnay he has never cared for anyone and no
one cares for him. But he knows his lifestyle—staying alone, living in a tiny room, and
drinking himself to sleep every night—has ruined every opportunity for a better life, and
he has no ambition to move up in his career. Still, looking at Darnay is like looking in a
mirror and seeing what he could have been. Carton's envy is inevitable, but the reader also
gets the sense he admires Darnay, especially because it's clear that Lucie admires him,
too.
Readers may wonder what is happening when Mr. Jarvis Lorry suddenly calls out, "Chair
there!" after bidding Darnay "good night" in the middle of the chapter. The next line gives
a clue: "Lorry bustled into the chair, and was carried off to Tellson's." A sedan chair had
been an important mode of transport in England since Elizabethan times. It was a
lightweight chair with a strong frame suspended on two long poles. Depending on the size
and weight of the chair, it might be carried by as many as four men, but was usually
carried by two. Many of the London "chairmen" were Irish immigrants. By the end of the
18th century, the sedan chair was falling out of use in London, as hackney coaches
became the transport of choice.

Book 2, Chapter 5
The Jackal:
Summary
Sydney Carton works hard in Mr. Stryver's law office, but when it comes to doing what it
takes to improve himself, he has never been able to persist. His moods have always been
up and down, and he is prone to depression. Stryver, however, has always achieved
whatever he put his mind to. The narrator calls Sydney Carton a "good jackal" but not "a
lion."
Carton and Stryver talk about their school days, which depresses Carton, so Stryver
proposes a toast to Lucie Manette to lighten the mood. This just makes Carton more
depressed. He even denies that Lucie is beautiful, and as he walks home he suddenly has a
fleeting vision of what he could be if he followed his ambitions, persevered, and stopped
carousing. He heads for his room, his "neglected bed," and bursts into tears. He is a good
person with strong abilities and talent, and yet he can't seem to harness it and move
forward. He is slowly being destroyed by his depression, unable to help himself.

Analysis
Dickens uses his infamously detailed description style to portray the character of Sydney
Carton for the reader. Carton's attitude is further explained by his current place in life. The
narrator likens him to a jackal (a small doglike animal that may hunt in packs but
frequently scavenges instead of hunting) rather than a lion: He is never the one who
initiates action; he simply shows up to clean up the mess. He is always there to back up
Stryver, but he's also always there to drink whatever Stryver is buying.
Carton is an interesting mix of self-sacrifice and desire to be a better person (although he
denies it) alongside an inability to see how he could better himself or even attempt to
better himself this late in life. He rues his youth, having wasted his time and energy on
frivolous things instead of making a name for himself, and finds talk of that era
depressing.

Dickens's description of Carton's depression is surprisingly modern. Instead of saying that

Carton refuses to help himself, the narrator says that Carton is "incapable" of helping
himself. The narrator sympathizes with Carton, describing the sight of Carton returning to
his state of caring for nothing and no one, sobbing on his bed, as "no sadder sight." Even
 the sun rises sadly on Sydney Carton. His word choice is telling: Carton can't pull himself
out of his despair. Dickens's understanding of Carton's condition is rooted in his own
experiences with depression. He suffered from bipolar disorder, but as he grew older, this
manifested itself increasingly as depression.

Despite his struggles with depression, alcoholism, and poor self-esteem, Carton is perhaps
the greatest hero in the novel. It remains to be seen how he will live up to this role; in this
chapter, it certainly seems an unlikely one for him.

Book 2, Chapter 6
Hundreds of People:
Summary
Four months after the trial, the Manettes are living in Soho, a quiet, still somewhat rural
area of London, where Dr. Manette has set up his practice. Mr. Jarvis Lorry has become a
regular visitor. One Sunday afternoon, he arrives to find that the Manettes are out, and
strolls through the rooms. In the doctor's bedroom, he notices "the disused shoemaker's
bench and tray of tools" and wonders "that [the doctor] keeps that reminder of his
sufferings about him."
He is interrupted by the brusque Miss Pross, who tells Lorry she is worried that dozens of
people might look in on her "Ladybird"—the nickname she uses for Lucie Manette—none
of whom are worth Lucie's attention. Then she upgrades that statement to "hundreds."
Eventually, Miss Pross confides that "There never was, nor will be, but one man worthy
of Ladybird, ... my brother Solomon, if he hadn't made a mistake in life." Lorry knows,
though, that Solomon stole everything from his sister and gambled it away; her continuing
devotion fuels his good opinion of her. Lorry asks Miss Pross if Dr. Manette has given up
his shoemaking obsession. Miss Pross says she believes he has but that he thinks of it
often. Lorry wonders whether the doctor "has any theory ... relative to the cause of his
being so oppressed; perhaps, even to the name of his oppressor." Miss Pross confides that
Lucie "thinks he has," but that she herself believes "he is afraid of the whole subject." She
says he "lost himself" in prison and might not regain his sanity if he does anything that
reminds him of his incarceration.
The doctor and Lucie return, and the four of them sit down to eat a delicious dinner
prepared by Miss Pross. After dinner, as they are drinking wine in the garden, rather than
the predicted "hundreds," only Charles Darnay arrives. He tells a story about a prisoner in
the Tower of London. The prisoner had scratched the word "DIG" on the stone in his cell;
workmen dug up the floor and found the ashes of a letter and of a small bag. The prisoner
had buried whatever he burned so that no one would find it while he was there. The doctor
suddenly looks very ill. He claims a sudden rain has startled him, and they go inside.
Sidney Carton arrives, and they all sit by the open windows, listening to raindrops on the
pavement. Darnay says that the sounds bring to mind the echoes of footsteps. Because
they live in a secluded corner, they can hear the footsteps of people running to get out of
the rain but can't see anyone. Lucie suggests they might "be the echoes of all the footsteps
that are coming ... into our lives." Carton says in that case, "there is a great crowd
coming."

At 1:00 a.m., Jerry Cruncher arrives to walk Lorry home, and Lorry says it has been a
night "to bring the dead out of their graves." Jerry claims never to have seen a night that
would do that. Lorry bids goodnight to Darnay and Carton, wondering if they will "ever
see such a night again, together." The narrator comments, "Perhaps, see the great crowd of
people with its rush and roar, bearing down upon them, too."

Analysis
From Dr. Manette's expression, it seems he has knowledge—or at least a suspicion—
about Charles Darnay that no one else has. His extreme reaction to Darnay's story hints at
the notion that something belonging to Dr. Manette, some piece of writing, may be found
in his own cell later in the novel. The doctor was compelling enough to get someone to
give him implements to make shoes in prison, so it's not a stretch to imagine that he also
kept a written record of his thoughts in prison and perhaps of the reasons he is there.
Because he was under guard all the time, he would have had to hide anything he wrote, or
it would have been confiscated and his punishment perhaps increased.
The talk of crowds of people is also an interesting turn of events. Dickens suggests what
will happen later in the novel by saying that crowds of people might swoop in to bear
down on the Manettes, Darnay, Carton, and Lorry. He has the narrator wonder if a "great
crowd of people with its rush and roar" would descend upon them. Who might that crowd
be? In revolutionary France, it can only be one group of people: the revolutionaries
themselves, who have become bloodthirsty in their misery and desperation.
 Mr. Jarvis Lorry's words to Jerry Cruncher that it has been a night "to bring the dead out
of their graves" returns to the theme of resurrection. Jerry is a bit taken aback by this idea,
which seems to allude to his nighttime activities: As the reader learns later, he moonlights
as a body snatcher, digging bodies out of fresh graves. If the dead did come out of their
graves, Jerry would be out of a job, and he certainly doesn't want to contemplate that
possibility.

Book 2, Chapter 7
Monseigneur in Town
Summary
Every two weeks, the powerful lord known only as the Monseigneur holds a reception at a
hotel in Paris. On this night, he indulges in a cup of hot chocolate, a treat requiring no less
than four attendants. His excesses were impoverishing the Monseigneur, so he took his
sister out of a convent and married her off to a very rich Farmer-General. It is imperative
that he and everyone around him dress well, keeping up the appearance that everything is
under control. The Monseigneur prefers lavish dinners and receptions over actually
thinking of the needs of the French people. Because of his position in the Court, no one
around him will tell him anything he doesn't want to hear, and everything is fine as long
as the Monseigneur always gets his way.

The last to leave the reception is the Marquis St. Evrémonde. Just as he likes, "his man"
drives the carriage as quickly as possible so that the Marquis can "see the common people
dispersed before his horses." Suddenly, the carriage stops, and people gather. A tall man
—Gaspard—is wailing and crying over a bundle. The Marquis asks what all the fuss is
about and is told that the carriage has hit and killed a child. The Marquis says that people
should be more careful with their children—they're always in his way—and is more
worried that his horses might be hurt. He tosses a gold coin at Gaspard for his
trouble. Monsieur Defarge tries to comfort Gaspard, saying that at least the child died
quickly and knew no pain, escaping what would probably be a terrible life as an adult.
The Marquis hears him and calls him a philosopher, tossing him a coin as well. As the
carriage begins to drive away, someone throws one of the coins back into the carriage.
The Marquis demands to know who threw the coin. He looks to see if Monsieur Defarge
is there, but all he sees is Gaspard hovering over his child and Madame Defarge next to
him, silently knitting. He calls the peasants dogs, and says he would willingly exterminate
all of them, especially the person who threw the coin. No one says anything against him
because they know he has power over them. He speeds off.
The rest of the guests at the reception drive by as well, all members of the wealthy class
and the aristocracy, while the commoners watch the procession like rats peeking out of
their holes. Meanwhile, Madame Defarge keeps knitting.

Analysis
The Marquis appears for the first time in this chapter. He is a guest at the Monseigneur's
reception. The Monseigneur himself is described as a powerful man who is vain, easily
swayed, and self-obsessed. But the Marquis is something else entirely. At 60 he is well
dressed, "haughty," and has "a face like a fine mask"—a thin-lipped, narrow-eyed face
that changes only in a flare, pulse, or reddening of the nostrils. The narrator says he has "a
look of treachery, and cruelty." At the reception, few people speak with the Marquis; he is
mostly alone. Even the Monseigneur does not greet him warmly. Readers can glean from
this that he is not well liked—probably because he is not likable—and that he may well
feel resentful of how he has been treated. This suspicion is borne out by his actions in the
rest of the chapter.

This chapter also reveals how the aristocracy may appear to the lower classes, providing
insight into the resentment that spawned the revolution. The Monseigneur values his own
comforts above all else, and has even sacrificed his sister's vocation and happiness in
order to continue living in the style he enjoys. Later, the Marquis feels that a gold coin is
sufficient compensation for the loss of a child—as if the child were "some common thing"
he has "accidentally broke[n]." The aristocracy doesn't view the lower classes as human;
the Marquis calls them dogs to their faces. Through the narrator, Dickens likens them to
rats, who have to scrounge for whatever they can find and hide in order not to be
exterminated.
The Marquis's treatment of Gaspard is another example of the themes of injustice and
violence. Later, readers will learn about the Marquis's sexual abuse of a peasant woman,
her death, and the deaths of her family members—events that are connected to Dr.
Manette and his imprisonment.
The actions and attitudes of the supercilious Monseigneur and the scornful Marquis
represent how many among the aristocracy act toward the populace. It is not surprising
that the popular uprising turns into a bloodbath in which the aristocrats are the first to
 suffer

Book 2, Chapter 8
Monseigneur in the Country:
Summary
The Marquis drives through a small, poor village to his chateau. In the countryside, he is
considered the Monseigneur. The people of the village are desperately poor because of all
of the taxes they pay, including taxes to the Marquis. They are reduced to eating grass,
leaves, and sometimes dirt. There are no dogs and few children. The Marquis sees one of
them staring at his carriage and stops to ask what he's looking at. He is a mender of roads,
who says that someone was hanging under the carriage on its chain, covered in dust, but
isn't there anymore. The Marquis asks his servant, Gabelle, to find the person who ran
away and drives on.

As his carriage slows beside a graveyard, a woman stops him with a petition about her
husband. He responds, "What of your husband, the forester? ... He cannot pay
something?" She tells him her husband is dead. "Well! He is quiet. Can I restore him to
you?" She explains that he is dead, that like so many others he has "die[d] of want."
"Again, well?" replies the Marquis, "Can I feed them?" The woman begs him for a morsel
of wood or stone to mark her husband's grave so she can tell where he is buried when she
comes back to mourn him. The Marquis drives on.

Arriving at his chateau, the Marquis asks his servant, who opens the door, whether
"Monsieur Charles" has "arrived from England" yet, but learns he has not.

Analysis
This chapter continues to reveal to the reader the despicable character of the Marquis. He
is truly uncaring and hateful toward the poor and acts as if it is their fault they have so
little. By telling the story of the poor woman who just wants to mark her grave so she can
find her dead husband again, Dickens elicits sympathy from the reader for the working
poor and brings back the theme of injustice. The peasants have been suffering and dying
 for years under landowners like the Marquis and will exact their revenge in kind later in
the novel.
There is also the matter of the man hanging from the bottom of the carriage. The reader
doesn't know who it is, but may speculate that he means to do the Marquis harm.

Finally, readers learn "Charles" is coming to see the Marquis. Because he is coming
from England, readers may guess this is Charles Darnay. This revelation explains one
reason Darnay has been so secretive about his comings and goings to France. It's hard to
believe that anyone as decent and respectable as Darnay would want to admit that he is
associated with—perhaps even related to—this horrible man. As usual, Dickens leaves out
a few details, like Darnay's name and relationship to the Marquis so that the reader will
want to read the next chapter in order to learn more.

Book 2, Chapter 9
The Gorgon's Head | Summary
Summary
The table has been set for a late supper for two in a tower room at the chateau, but the
Marquis's nephew has not yet arrived. The Marquis thinks he sees something outside, but
when the servant opens the blinds, he can see nothing. Not expecting his nephew to arrive
so late, the Marquis begins eating alone. Halfway through his meal, the young man
arrives. It is Charles Darnay. There is tension between the two men: Darnay suspects his
uncle of adding to the evidence against him—an allegation the Marquis denies.
Darnay says their family has done great harm to the peasantry and to France in general
but, as his mother would have wanted, he is committed to being merciful. The Marquis
admits that things are changing in France: "Our not-remote ancestors held the right of life
and death over the surrounding vulgar. From this room, many such dogs have been taken
out to be hanged; in ... my bedroom ... one fellow ... was poniarded on the spot for
professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter ... We have lost many
privileges; ... the assertion of our station ... might ... cause us real inconvenience." But he
also says he "will die, perpetuating the system under which [he has] lived." He
recommends that Charles "accept [his] natural destiny." But Charles renounces his
inheritance (the chateau and lands) and France: "If it passed to me from you, to-morrow ...
I would abandon it, and live otherwise and elsewhere. It is little to relinquish. What is it
but a wilderness of misery and ruin!" The Marquis wants to know where Darnay is going
to support himself with his new peaceful attitude and no money. Darnay tells him he will
go to England and stay there, having found refuge with a French doctor and his daughter.
The two say goodnight. The Marquis sends his servant with Darnay to light the way,
adding under his breath, "And burn Monsieur my nephew in his bed, if you will."
The Marquis goes to bed, thinking about the death of the child at the fountain. The night
passes quietly. The next morning, the chateau bell begins ringing, and Gabelle gallops off
on a horse. The mender of roads dashes to join the villagers who stand whispering at the
village fountain, wondering what has happened. The Marquis is still in his bed, with a
knife pinning this note to his chest: "Drive him fast to his tomb. This, from Jacques."

Analysis
This chapter reveals Charles Darnay's reasons for fleeing to England, the most important
of which is his unwillingness to continue being part of a family that oppresses and kills
people. He is also suspicious that his uncle might be pleased to see him locked away in
prison. The Marquis doesn't take any of this very seriously, but he should have, because
by the end of this chapter, he is dead, an event that is foreshadowed in their supper
conversation, when the Marquis talks about dying "perpetuating the system" he has
always known, and later when they talk about the inheritance Darnay is renouncing.
Their supper conversation also adds two more specific crimes to the Marquis's record. Not
only did he run down the child in Paris with his carriage, but he also had a man killed "for
professing some insolent delicacy respecting his daughter" and most likely raped the
man's daughter. Readers will learn more about these crimes later. In the same
conversation, the Marquis shows an interest in Dr. Manette. By placing the Marquis's
mention of the father–daughter incident in the same conversation with his nephew's
mention of a French doctor, Dickens links them in the reader's mind. The reason for this
will become clear as the novel progresses.
The title of the chapter relates to the stone statues in the courtyard of the Marquis's house.
At the end of the chapter, the narrator says that it is as if the Gorgon had stared at
someone and "added the one stone face wanting": the Marquis, who is stone cold in his
bed. Dickens usually gave his chapters titles that subtly referenced a metaphor or mythical
allusion in the chapter. In this way, he could let readers know what was happening in the
chapter, and because each chapter was an installment in a magazine, each one had to have
its own title.
 The reader doesn't know yet who killed the Marquis, but the note from "Jacques" reveals
that it's a revolutionary, not Charles Darnay. Darnay hates his family, but he hasn't joined
the band of revolutionaries calling themselves "Jacques." There are a lot of people who
want to see the Marquis dead, but Dickens referred to Gaspard earlier as a tall figure, a
clue that Gaspard may have taken revenge for the death of his child. But Defarge was with
Gaspard when the child was killed. He might well have sent one of the Jacques or even
committed the deed himself. Again, the theme of violence resurfaces: The solution to any
problem in France seems to be violent death.

Book 2, Chapter 10
Two Promises | Summary
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Summary
It is a year later. Charles Darnay teaches French at Cambridge but spends time in London
whenever possible. One day he arrives at the Manettes' London home to find Lucie
Manette is running errands. He speaks privately to Dr. Manette about his love for Lucie,
assuring the doctor he knows how dearly the doctor and Lucie love one another. Darnay
starts to say the doctor has known love before, but the older man cries out as if in pain.
Throughout their conversation, Dr. Manette has been very uncomfortable, but Darnay
makes a concerted effort to let the doctor know that his love for Lucie extends to love and
support for the doctor as well. They discuss the two other suitors who might be hoping to
win Lucie's heart—Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver, who often visit. Darnay does not ask
the doctor to speak for him, but only not to stand in his way if Lucie should ever say she
loves Darnay. The doctor promises.
Darnay is moved to admit who he really is, but as soon as he begins, the doctor becomes
extremely agitated and—called by the narrator "the doctor of Beauvais"—orders him to
"Stop!" The doctor makes Darnay promise that if Lucie accepts his proposal, he will not
speak of his true identity until the morning of their wedding.

Dr. Manette retires to his room, and when Lucie returns, she is horrified to hear the sound
of hammering there, a sure sign her father is slipping back into his prison-era madness.
The hammering stops, though, and when she looks into the room later, he is sleeping, and
 "his tray of shoemaking tools, and his old unfinished work, [are] all as usual."

Analysis
Dickens uses foreshadowing in several places in this chapter. One very important reaction
foreshadowing Charles Darnay's pain at being separated from his wife is Dr. Manette's
outcry when Darnay speaks of his having known true love. It is too painful for the doctor
to contemplate the loss of his beloved wife because, in addition to being a painful loss in
itself, it is tied up with his long imprisonment and suffering. The doctor never speaks of
Lucie's mother, and this is another of the mysteries in the novel that need resolution.
Another example of foreshadowing is the doctor's reassurance that he will not hold his
family name against Darnay; but others will judge Darnay based on his name later in the
novel. Because the doctor says that whatever reasons there may be in his mind to be wary
of Darnay are not Darnay's fault, the reader begins to understand that the doctor knows
exactly who Darnay is. This action brings up the theme of self-sacrifice: The doctor is
willing to set aside his very real fears of an evil legacy for his daughter's happiness. Dr.
Manette says that if Lucie loves Darnay, the reasons for his wariness will disappear. This
declaration foreshadows the devotion the doctor will show toward Darnay once he has
become a part of the family.

The hammering shows that Dr. Manette has not completely overcome his illness and
foreshadows the extreme agitation he will feel once Darnay actually reveals his name.
Readers suspect the Marquis, who was alert to his nephew's association with a doctor and
his daughter, is somehow responsible for the doctor's imprisonment and his resulting
obsession with shoemaking.

Book 2, Chapter 11
A Companion Picture:
Summary
It is 5 a.m. and Sydney Carton and Mr. Stryver have been working late every night
preparing for the long vacation. Carton has been drinking punch and suffering from a
headache. Stryver tells Carton he acts morose when they visit the Manettes and he should
learn to present himself better so as not to make Stryver ashamed of him. Carton replies
that as a lawyer it's probably a good thing for him to cultivate his ability to be ashamed.
Stryver tells him that he, Stryver, is very careful about how he presents himself, especially
because he plans on courting Lucie Manette. Stryver feels Lucie is fortunate because he is
"already pretty well off, and a rapidly rising man, and a man of some distinction." Carton,
meanwhile, has begun rapidly drinking down bumper after bumper of punch, while
claiming to approve of Stryver's plans. Stryver tells Carton he really ought to get a wife
himself.

Analysis
Poor Sydney Carton is not quite prepared for another claim on the hand of Lucie Manette,
and his sudden increase in drinking speed and equally sudden inability to say much at all
gives away how he really feels about Stryver going after Lucie as a possible wife. Carton
knows very well that any man would want to have Lucie for a wife, as she is beautiful,
kind, and sweet; she is nearly faultless. But that doesn't erase the feelings of jealousy that
crop up when Stryver makes his announcement. As usual, Carton shuts down emotionally
and doesn't tell Stryver his feelings because Carton thinks he doesn't deserve Lucie
anyway. Carton's silence on this matter is a kind of self-sacrifice; it may stem from self-
doubt, but Carton is willing to step out of his friend's way.
It is clear that Stryver thinks highly of Carton's abilities but also that he considers Carton a
friend. Not only does he give Carton advice meant to help him, but he accepts Carton's
pointed comments with equanimity. For example, Carton says to his employer, "It should
be very beneficial to a man in your practice at the bar, to be ashamed of anything ... you
ought to be much obliged to me [for making you feel ashamed]." Stryver understands this
as a joke and shrugs it off, returning to his point. Jokes at the expense of lawyers are
common in Dickens's novels. He wrote 15 novels, and there are lawyers in 11 of them.
From Dickens's three years as a law clerk, his own law studies, and a later experience as a
lawyer's client in a lawsuit, he came to believe that the law rarely served anyone but the
lawyers, who earned money from every case while others suffered. In Bleak House, for
instance, an extended suit over an inheritance ultimately puts the inheritance in the
pockets of the lawyers involved, while the heirs miss out. When reading Carton's quip,
Dickens's devoted audience would have immediately recalled his many legal characters—
most of them much less admirable than Stryver.
 Because Carton loves Lucie, she and her family are really the only force that can lift him
out of his inactivity and sadness. Readers may suspect that, after this conversation, he will
begin to think about how he presents himself at the Manette household and resolve to
change.

Book 2, Chapter 12
The Fellow of Delicacy:
Summary
On his way to the Manettes, where he intends to ask Lucie Manette to marry him, Mr.
Stryver stops in at Tellson's Bank and announces his intentions to Mr. Jarvis Lorry. To his
surprise, Lorry is doubtful Lucie would agree. Stryver is shocked: How could he, the most
excellent Stryver, successful lawyer, be the wrong man for Lucie? Lorry tells him that if
he is correct and Stryver states his interest, it would be embarrassing for him and for the
Manettes. Lorry offers to go and speak with them himself to ascertain surreptitiously how
they might feel about Stryver's proposal. Stryver agrees.
By the time Lorry returns, confirming that it's not a good idea for Stryver to court Lucie,
Stryver has convinced himself the whole idea would not have been to his benefit: "I could
have gained nothing by it. ... I am by no means certain ... that I ever should have
committed myself to that extent."

Analysis
Mr. Stryver seems very confident at first that his success and status will gain him a wife
immediately, but just as he accepts Sydney Carton's faults every day and seems to forget
about them from one day to the next, he smooths out the criticism from Jarvis Lorry and
makes it sound like it was his idea all along not to pursue Lucie Manette's hand in
marriage. It is typical of a lawyer to take the evidence and twist it around to what he
would like it to represent, and Stryver's personal life is no exception to that rule.
In the previous chapter, Sydney Carton joked to Stryver that he should cultivate some
shame as a lawyer—another light moment in an otherwise dark novel. In this chapter,
however, Lorry is very careful not to hurt Stryver's feelings, but stresses that his proposal
could prove embarrassing for all involved. This stems from both his own careful,
 considerate nature and the nature of his relationship with Stryver: Unlike Carton, Lorry
has a strictly professional relationship with Stryver, one he would not want to jeopardize.
At the same time, he is such a considerate man that he would not want to hurt Stryver's
feelings. He has saved the lawyer from embarrassment. He may not even have visited the
Manettes, but, if he did, readers may be sure they never knew the true purpose of his visit.

Book 2, Chapter 13
The Fellow of No Delicacy:
Summary
Sydney Carton, who has been a regular fixture at the Manette household, has rarely shown
any of his inner goodness. However, having learned that Mr. Stryver has "thought better
of that marrying matter," he decides he must tell Lucie Manette how he feels about her,
that she has been "the last dream of [his] soul." He tells Lucie he knows she cannot return
his feelings and is glad of it because "he would bring [her] to misery, bring [her] to sorrow
and repentance, blight [her], disgrace [her], pull [her] down with him." He says he
"draw[s] fast to an end" and begs her to keep his confidence, which she assures him she
will. Both cry. He tells her to "be comforted" because he is "not worth such feeling" and
will shortly return to his debased ways. But he also asks her to remember that inwardly,
his feelings for her will not change and to "think now and then that there is a man who
would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you!"

Analysis
Sydney Carton may seem a failure in most aspects of his life, but he has performed
brilliant miracles in the courtroom, saving Charles Darnay's life in the process. Now
readers see how well he knows himself and witness another proof of his capacity for self-
sacrifice. He will not even attempt to win Lucie Manette because he knows doing so
would ruin her. For her sake, he is glad she would never be able to love him. His
declaration that he would give his life to ensure hers is happy and filled with love is
sincere. His devotion will be tested at the end of the novel, and Carton will pass with
flying colors, giving up more than just his chance at love.
 In making this declaration, Carton predicts not only his own future, but also Lucie's. She
will marry—"new ties will be formed about you"—and have a child—"the little picture of
a happy father's face, ... your own bright beauty springing up anew at your feet."

Book 2, Chapter 14
The Honest Tradesman:
Summary
Jerry Cruncher and his son are sitting outside Telson's Bank when they notice a funeral
procession approaching. Jerry is alarmed at his son's "exultant" exclamations. As the
procession nears, they see there is only one mourner and the crowd is "bawling and
hissing" and "calling out: 'Yah! Spies!'" Jerry asks another spectator who the dead man is,
and is told that it's an Old Bailey spy, Roger Cly. The mourner flees the crowd, who take
over the procession, filling the carriage and clinging to its roof. After burying the spy, the
crowd becomes a mob, hassling passersby, breaking windows, plundering pubs, and
perpetrating general destruction. The crowd breaks up when they hear the Guards are on
the way. Jerry, who has stayed in the graveyard, discusses the deceased with the
undertakers and notes the location of the freshly dug grave. He stops in to see a surgeon
before making his way back to Tellson's, where young Jerry tells him no jobs came up
while he was gone.

After abusing his wife verbally yet again at the table, Jerry goes out to do his nighttime
job, which is not legal, but helps the family make ends meet. His son, young Jerry, sneaks
out to follow him, because his father claims he's going fishing, but doesn't bring a pole.
Jerry is joined by two other "fishermen." Young Jerry follows and watches them
"fish[ing] with a spade" and eventually pulling out a casket. When he sees his father is
about to open the casket, he is so terrified he runs all the way home and hides in the
closet, falling asleep. He wakes to the sound of Jerry beating Mrs. Cruncher while
blaming her for "opposing ... his business."

As he walks to work with his father that morning, young Jerry asks what a "resurrection
man" is; Jerry pretends he doesn't know. The boy asks if it has to do with dead bodies, and
Jerry says it does, for scientific purposes. Young Jerry announces he wants to be a
 resurrection man when he grows up, which pleases his father.

Analysis
The narrator tells readers that Jerry Cruncher is "joined by another disciple of Izaak
Walton"; the reference is to the author of one of the most famous books on fishing, The
Compleat Angler, published in 1653. Of course, this is meant ironically, as Jerry is not a
fisherman, or angler, but a body snatcher, who digs up bodies and sells them for surgeons
and their students to dissect for research or for teaching purposes.
It's interesting that young Jerry, who was so scared of what he'd see in the casket the night
before, decides the next day that he wants to dig up bodies for science. Part of the reason
he is insisting to his father that he follow in his footsteps, one can assume, is that the
violence inflicted in his home may abate a little if he does something that pleases his
father. He has spent the night in the closet listening to his mother being beaten and is
likely willing to do anything to soothe his father's anger.

This rapid acceptance of a rather grotesque profession may also be due to the popularity
of public executions at the time. Young Jerry has likely attended them and seen dead
bodies. It's a testament to the culture and social conditions of the day that young Jerry not
only accepts the idea of digging up freshly dead bodies, but also of doing something
illegal in order to make enough money to live on.

Book 2, Chapter 15
Knitting:
Summary
Monsieur Defarge comes into his wine shop with the mender of roads and introduces his
guest to his wife and to three men, all called Jacques. He explains that he himself is
Jacques Four and that the mender of roads is now Jacques Five.
The mender of roads tells about an execution he witnessed. The tall man he saw last year
hanging from the chain below the Marquis's carriage was accused of having killed the
Marquis and condemned to death. But Monsieur Defarge and others petitioned the king,
saying that the man was only reacting to the Marquis having killed his only child. A few
days later, despite the petition, a gallows was erected over the village fountain, and the
man hung, poisoning the village's only source of drinking water. This report infuriates
everyone, and they decide to register the entire family of the Marquis to be put to death by
encoding their names in Madame Defarge's knitting.
The mender of roads accompanies the Defarges to watch a procession of the king and
queen in their golden coach, surrounded by their noble entourage. On the way, someone
asks Madame Defarge what she's knitting, and she calmly answers, "Shrouds." During the
procession, everyone in the crowd cheers for the passing royalty. The mender of roads is
particularly enthusiastic, and Monsieur Defarge compliments him on it, saying that his
actions will keep the king thinking that, although he would dearly love to crush the
peasantry, they still idolize and adore him. In his complacency, it will be easier for the
revolutionaries to take over.

Analysis
This chapter balances two evils: the first is the fact that the king doesn't care at all that the
tall man's child was killed by the Marquis. Despite petitions from witnesses who saw the
Marquis's carriage run over the child, the king sentences the man to death for the murder
of an aristocrat. This event virtually ensures the king will not stay alive very long. The
themes of violence and injustice go hand in hand.

The second evil is that Madame Defarge registers the family of the Marquis, though it is
only the Marquis who is guilty of killing the child. The desperation of the peasants is
understandable, but the brand of vengeance practiced by people like Madame Defarge is
just as relentless, sweeping, and violent as that practiced by the aristocracy. It is also a
form of injustice, as Charles Darnay is included on the register, even though he has
completely renounced his family and condemns the way the common folk are treated.
In addition, it is becoming clear that revolution is seething beneath the surface of
adoration for the king, but this farce is being continued only to keep the king thinking he
doesn't need to protect himself. This will leave him open to attack later in the novel, and
an already chaotic France will experience violence that is explosive and boundless.
The symbol of knitting is explored in this chapter. Madame Defarge's knitting contains the
names of people who will later be condemned to die. This is what she means when she
says she is knitting shrouds. He shrinks away, sensing that here is a woman who hates
nearly everyone. Her knitting is a symbol of the secretive way that the revolution built its
 power—an even more foolproof code than the name "Jacques."

Book 2, Chapter 16
Still Knitting | Summary
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Summary
In this chapter, when the Defarges come into Paris, headed for Saint Antoine, their
quarter, Monsieur Defarge stops to talk with soldiers and police at the barrier gate. As
they are walking from their vehicle to their house, Madame Defarge asks Monsieur
Defarge what "Jacques of the police" told him. Monsieur Defarge replies that there has
been a spy assigned to their quarter: John Barsad, an Englishman. Monsieur Defarge gives
his wife a description of Barsad, and she says she will register him.
The next day, Barsad shows up at the shop to dig for information. Madame Defarge picks
up a rose and pins it to her headdress. Barsad tries to flatter Madame Defarge by making
small talk and complimenting her. As he is talking, two men come to the door, see the
rose on Madame Defarge's headdress, and leave. Madame Defarge tells Barsad that
business is bad because the people are so poor. Barsad says, "So oppressed, too—as you
say." Madame Defarge corrects him: "As you say!" She knits an extra punishment into his
registration. Barsad then begins to talk about Gaspard's execution, trying to get Madame
Defarge to admit that the neighborhood sympathizes with him, but she feigns innocence.
Just then, Monsieur Defarge walks into the shop, and Barsad calls him "Jacques," but
Monsieur Defarge corrects him and says his name is Ernest. Now Barsad is confused.
Monsieur Defarge also pretends he knows nothing about Gaspard. But when Barsad
says Lucie Manette is about to marry Charles Darnay, the new Marquis who is
in England now, Monsieur Defarge is visibly affected. Barsad leaves, having gleaned at
least a little bit of information.
After Barsad leaves, the Defarges stay put in case he comes back. Monsieur Defarge is
disconcerted that Darnay should be on the register, his name beside Barsad's. His wife is
unconcerned: "I have them both here, of a certainty; and they are both here for their
merits; that is enough." She takes the rose out of her headdress. Soon after, people begin
to come into the shop, as usual. Madame Defarge goes out to speak with groups of
 knitting women.

Analysis
Readers have met Barsad before; he and Roger Cly testified against Charles Darnay in
court. Because of how people in London reacted to Cly's funeral—by ridiculing the
procession and using it as an excuse to go on a mob rampage—it is clear that spies for the
police are liked as little in London as in Paris. This chapter shows how Parisians respond
to being spied on, and provides readers with the information they need to assess the threat
to Barsad when he reappears later in the novel.
Madame Defarge knits throughout her conversation with Barsad, the knitted piece in her
hands growing continually as the spy speaks. The knitting changes in direct relation to
how aggravated she becomes at Barsad. Although he is trying to get information from the
Defarges, Barsad gives them information and, in so doing, signs Darnay's death warrant.
Readers might be tempted to think Barsad is getting back at Darnay for escaping
conviction in London after he and Cly had tried to frame Darnay.
Barsad's use of the name "Jacques" and his expectation that Monsieur Defarge will reply
in kind shows that the revolutionaries' code name is known. But Monsieur Defarge
corrects him by saying, "You mistake me for another. That is not my name. I am Ernest
Defarge." Barsad has failed again to get the Defarges to reveal their complicity in the
revolution. Moments later, he manages to get a faint rise out of Monsieur Defarge, so he
can leave the shop feeling he has succeeded after all.
The end of the chapter brings the symbol of knitting together with the theme of violence,
as Madame Defarge wanders among groups of knitting women. The narrator says they are
preparing for the days when they will sit "knitting, knitting, counting dropping heads."
This is a direct reference to the guillotine, which would be the main method of execution
used during the popular revolt and the reign of terror: Thousands of people would lose
their heads and their lives, and the street would run red with their blood.

Book 2, Chapter 17
One Night
Summary
 In London, Lucie Manette is talking with Dr. Manette on the evening before her wedding
to Charles Darnay. She tells her father that she would have been perfectly happy with him
had she not seen Darnay, and that she would never leave him. He tells her how he used to
watch the moon out of his prison cell window and wonder who his unborn child was and
if it had lived. A son might have avenged him, he says; a daughter might marry and have
children of her own. Would they know of his existence? Lucie says she is that daughter
and assures him of her devotion and her love. Dr. Manette tells Lucie that the reason he is
sharing all of this from such an unpleasant time is to let her know how grateful and happy
he is with her—and will be. That night, she sneaks into his room and as he sleeps, prays
over her father and kisses him.

Analysis
This is the first time Dr. Manette has been able to speak of his time in prison without
falling apart or reverting to his old shoemaking insanity. It is also the first time he has told
Lucie he knew her mother was pregnant when he was imprisoned. It is a testament to the
healing effect that Lucie has on her father that he is able to broach such a sensitive subject
and remain calm.
Readers should note, however, that seeing Charles Darnay has made Lucie unable to be
happy with only her father. This statement confirms to Dr. Manette that he has done the
right thing by agreeing to support the marriage. However, this also means that he will
have to hear Darnay explain who he really is. Dr. Manette is willing to risk his sanity for
his daughter's happiness—more evidence of the theme of self-sacrifice—and can only
hope that he will recover.

Book 2, Chapter 18
Nine Days
Summary
On the morning of the wedding, Mr. Jarvis Lorry and Miss Pross are fussing over Lucie
Manette and bickering with one another, with Miss Pross teasing Lorry for being a
confirmed bachelor. Miss Pross thinks it would have been a perfect day if her brother
Solomon had been the bridegroom.
Then the doctor comes out of his room with Charles Darnay, and Lorry sees with concern
 that he has gone completely pale. The happy couple are then married in a small ceremony,
and as they go off on their honeymoon, the doctor is cheerful with them both, repressing
his distress. But once the newlyweds have left, he wanders up to his room. Miss Pross and
Lorry decide to give him some time alone to compose himself, Lorry thinking all the
while about Defarge, the wine shop, and the ride away from that garret so long ago. Lorry
goes to Tellson's Bank to work for a while, but when he comes back, Miss Pross is wild
with worry because the doctor is making shoes again and doesn't have any idea who she
is.
Lorry goes in to speak with the doctor but finds him fixated on his shoemaking and
oblivious to anything else. Lorry suggests they go out for a walk; Dr. Manette simply
says, "Out?" and then continues working. There is nothing Lorry or Miss Pross can do
except to watch over him in shifts and make sure that he is fed and taken care of. Nine
days later, his shoemaking is "growing dreadfully skillful."

Analysis
This chapter seems to pose more questions than it answers. For example, this is the second
time the reader has encountered the name Solomon Pross, Miss Pross's profligate brother.
It frequently occurs in Dickens's novels that characters hide their true identities. Charles
Darnay is an obvious example in A Tale of Two Cities, but it may be that Solomon Pross
is also among the cast of characters, masquerading as someone else. If so, it is likely his
reasons are not as pure as Charles Darnay's.
The reader will guess that Darnay has confirmed that he is actually the Marquis St.
Evrémonde, which is a huge blow to Dr. Manette's stability and sense of self. But why
should the doctor be so distressed by this announcement? If this revelation has driven him
back to making shoes, it has reminded him of his imprisonment. This deepens the mystery
of what the relationship might be between the Marquis and Dr. Manette. The answer will
come later in the novel, but in the meantime, the doctor has again lost all connection with
the world around him.

Book 2, Chapter 19
An Opinion
Summary
It is the tenth day since Dr. Manette lost touch with reality. The doctor comes out of his
room for breakfast and acts normal, but seems to think only one day has passed since the
wedding. Jarvis Lorry asks him questions about a "friend," and both of them know that he
is asking about Dr. Manette, wanting to know what put him over the edge and how he
recovered. Dr. Manette has to ask Lorry how long the friend was in this state, because he
truly doesn't know. He asks if this friend engaged in activities he did before, and Lorry
says yes. He reveals, still speaking of this friend, that he doesn't remember what
happened, but that it clearly came about through an extremely unpleasant association.
Lorry also says that he has not told the friend's daughter about the episode and will keep it
a secret. He then asks whether it mightn't be best to remove the tools used in the friend's
"blacksmith's work," suggesting that it might be best if the friend were to let go of his
"little forge." The doctor expresses concern that the friend might need it to avoid having to
focus on the things that so upset him, but Lorry insists that the "forge" should not be kept
for the friend's daughter's sake. The doctor asks only that Lorry dispose of the "forge"
when his friend is away.

The next three days pass peacefully. The doctor then leaves to join Lucie and Charles
Darnay. That night, Lorry chops up the shoemaking bench while Miss Pross holds a light
for him. They burn the pieces and bury the tools in the yard. As they work, it feels almost
as if they are committing and then covering up a murder.

Analysis
The tenderness between Dr. Manette and Mr. Jarvis Lorry is remarkable, and the way
Lorry begins his conversation with the doctor about a truly terrifying episode of madness
is ingenious. He gets the doctor to report everything he knows about what happened and
why, without sending him back into an emotional pit of terror. The doctor knows he is
doing this and plays along, which allows him to truly open up to Lorry.
In addition, Lorry makes very clear that he is not going to tell anyone about this episode,
because he knows that if he did, it would break Dr. Manette's heart (and possibly affect
his sanity) to have Lucie know that he is still so fragile. It would also hurt her terribly to
know that this break with reality was sparked by learning who her new husband really is.
This is further evidence of Lorry's gentle and considerate kindness and his determination
to protect his friends.
 The doctor's willingness to allow Lorry and Miss Pross to destroy his shoemaking
materials while he is gone is a sign that he is putting the past behind him and feels strong
enough to take on whatever happens with his daughter and his new son-in-law. Later in
the novel, his strength in this regard will be tested when he has to stand up for Darnay and
try to free him, and he will need to keep himself from lapsing back into that "scared, lost"
state of mind.

Book 2, Chapter 20
A Plea | Summary
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Summary
The chapter opens with a discussion between Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay,
reflecting on their conversation over dinner after Darnay's trial. Carton tells Darnay not to
make light of his inability to move forward with his life and improve himself, and Darnay
tells Carton not to make light of the huge debt he owes Carton for saving his life. Carton
tells Darnay he knows he's rather useless and morose but would like to be a "privileged
person" in the family and spend time with them when he chooses, which, he promises,
would not be too often. Darnay agrees.
At dinner that night, Darnay tells Lucie, Dr. Manette, Miss Pross, and Jarvis Lorry about
the discussion and casts Carton "as a problem of carelessness and recklessness." Lucie
later confronts him, saying she feels he was harsh on Carton and asks him to show Carton
"more consideration and respect." She tells Darnay Carton has a deeply wounded heart
and "is capable of good things, gentle things, even magnanimous things." Darnay agrees.

Analysis
Lucie really is the "Golden Thread" (the title of Book 2) that runs through all of the
relationships in this chapter. She makes a plea for empathy and compassion for Sydney
Carton, because she sees in him something genuine and beautiful. She is remarkable in
that she is able to find the best in everyone and bring it out.
Carton may believe that there is nothing redeemable about him, but he knows that he is as
good as he will ever be when he spends time with Lucie, Dr. Manette, and Darnay. This is
why he asks to spend time with the family as he pleases. Because he has promised Lucie
 he will do everything in his power to make sure she lives a happy life, he has to spend
time with the family in order to protect them. In this way, he can make sure that Lucie and
her family have what they need. He is sacrificing his own needs for that of the family—
not that he has ever been all that good at taking care of his own needs.
In earlier chapters, readers have had the chance to examine the relationship between the
Defarges, who are united in their work for revolution, share mutual goals in business and
politics, and seem to support one another in these areas; Monsieur Defarge certainly
admires his wife. Readers have also met the Crunchers, who share a mutual distrust; Mrs.
Cruncher disapproves of Jerry Cruncher's moonlighting as a body snatcher, and he feels
undermined by her disapproval and expresses his anger in physical violence. In this
chapter, readers observe another husband–wife relationship—the one between Lucie and
Darnay, which is characterized by mutual trust and respect and by kindness and
gentleness that extends to all around them.

Book 2, Chapter 21
 Echoing Footsteps | Summary
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Summary
Lucie hears the "echo of footsteps" of her family all around her and feels surrounded by
love. Years pass. Lucie has a baby girl, little Lucie, and a baby boy, who doesn't live long.
Carton spends time with the family, coming uninvited, as they said he could. Little Lucie
becomes extremely fond of Carton, and he of her. But other, darker echoes are
"rumbl[ing] menacingly." One day in 1789, when little Lucie is six, Lorry stops by for tea
and mentions that Tellson's Bank has been unusually busy because their Paris customers
are insisting on sending their property to England, which Darnay finds worrying.
Meanwhile, in France, the Defarges and thousands of Jacques storm the Bastille. They
batter the prison with cannons and muskets and send wagonloads of blazing straw across
the drawbridge. After four hours the prison surrenders, and the revolutionaries release the
prisoners. They search for records as well. Monsieur Defarge orders a guard to take him to
the North Tower and asks him what "One Hundred and Five, North Tower" means. The
guard tells him it is a cell, and Defarge orders him to lead the way to the cell. He finds the
initials A.M.—Alexandre Manette—scratched into the stone wall along with the words "a
poor physician," and a calendar. They search the cell, find nothing more, and burn the few
furnishings.
Returning to the yard, Defarge finds the revolutionaries waiting for him. They have
captured the prison governor. Once Defarge is with them, the mob bears the governor to
the Hotel de Ville, where he is stabbed to death. Madame Defarge has stayed close to him
the entire time; she now steps on "his neck, and with her cruel knife—long ready—hew[s]
off his head."
The revolutionaries carry off with them seven released prisoners, who are stunned and
confused by the hubbub around them; "seven gory heads on pikes"; the keys to the prison;
and various belongings of dead prisoners. The narrator prays their bloody, "loudly
echoing footsteps" stay out of Lucie Darnay's life.

Analysis
The Darnays have a wonderful life together, but there is a shadow hanging over them, and
that is Charles Darnay's heritage, his connection to the aristocracy against whom the
peasants have revolted and declared war. Dickens uses the image of the storm and the way
it sounds, like the footsteps of a crowd, to connect to the actual thundering footsteps of the
swarm of peasants and the sounds of the cannons at the storming of the Bastille, where
there is no mercy for anyone who is not with the revolutionaries.
The storming of the Bastille has become an iconic symbol for the beginning of the French
Revolution. The Bastille was used to hold people who were waiting for trial, but it was
also used to hold political prisoners who were imprisoned by order of the king, which
could not be reversed. It came to represent the corruption and overreach of power that the
French monarchy had exerted with no input from the people. The day the peasants
stormed the Bastille, they actually came to the prison wanting to ask the governor (the
person whose head Madame Defarge cuts off after he is already dead) to give them the
weapons and ammunition held inside the prison. He avoided them and wouldn't answer,
and they stormed the prison, burning everything that would burn and releasing the seven
prisoners who were still there. The revolutionary government later took down the entire
complex. Bastille Day, July 14, did not become a national holiday until 1880, but by the
time Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities, the prison was already an icon for the
revolution.
The differences in the characters of Monsieur and Madame Defarge is in the forefront in
this chapter. Monsieur Defarge is considered the leader of the revolutionaries; Madame
Defarge is influential enough to make them wait for her husband before executing the
prison governor, but she is not their leader. She is, however, the commander of the woman
revolutionaries. The main difference between them is that Monsieur Defarge is clear-
 headed; even in the midst of battle, he sets off to find Dr. Manette's cell and search it. His
wife, on the other hand, is bloodthirsty. Even though she has waited for her husband
before taking action, she won't move from her position beside the governor as he is taken
to the city hall; as soon as he is dead, she cuts off his head. This bloodthirstiness was
hinted at in the intensity of her knitting when she heard the story told by the mender of
roads, and it will play an important role later in the novel as well.
At the end of the chapter, the narrator expresses a hope that Lucie Darnay will not come
into contact with the bloody footsteps of the revolutionaries, but it seems that whenever
the narrator hopes something won't happen at the end of one chapter, it happens within the
next few chapters. Dickens uses this to foreshadow what will happen as well as to arouse
the reader's interest in buying the next installment.

Book 2, Chapter 22
The Sea Still Rises | Summary
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Summary
The poor people of Saint Antoine quarter still look hungry and desperate but have added
to their demeanor the knowledge that they can kill their oppressors. There is news that an
official named Foulon, who is infamous for telling the hungry they can "eat grass," is not
dead but only faked his funeral. He has been taken prisoner by the revolutionaries.

Monsieur Defarge rounds up the crowd, The Vengeance beats her drum, and the peasants
stream through the streets, weapons in hand. They storm down to the Hotel de Ville,
where Foulon is tied up with a bunch of grass on his back. They drag him out to the lamp
and try to hang him there, while people stuff grass into his mouth. The first two times, the
rope breaks, but finally, he is hung, and they put his head on a pike with grass in his
mouth. They kill Foulon's son-in-law as well, putting his heart and head on pikes, and
parade them through the streets with the head of Foulon.
The peasants still go home to nothing to eat and get in line at the bakery for bad bread;
still, they sleep well because they have taken down yet another symbol of oppression and
made him eat his words, literally. Even though they are still starving, they have a kind of
cheerfulness they haven't had in years because they have prevailed together.
 Analysis
The Vengeance and Madame Defarge shriek through this chapter, as do all the women,
and they are wild-eyed with murderous rage. But the narrator points out that the trouble
with causing so much bloodshed is that afterward, they haven't improved their lives. The
feeling of power is fleeting, which can only mean that they're not done killing yet; they
need to do more and change more to feel they have erased the evil that has oppressed
them. Dickens evokes the powerlessness of the poor to effect real change through
bloodshed alone. The themes of vengeance (and its uselessness) and injustice come
through as the chapter reveals how the urge to kill takes over in a crowd once it starts.
It should be noted that Foulon was a historical character, as was his son-in-law. When
asked how the people could feed themselves if a certain financial measure were passed, it
was rumored that the government minister Joseph-François Foulon (1715–1789) said,
"The people may eat grass." To save himself, Foulon spread rumors of his death. After his
capture and execution, the crowd carrying his head met another crowd that had captured
Foulon's son-in-law, a taxman who was similarly despised, and meted out the same
punishment.

While it is clear from the narrator's comments that Dickens did not feel that the
aristocracy were the good guys in France—as exemplified by the horrific abuses inflicted
by the Marquis and his cavalier attitude about taking lives—he didn't see the
revolutionaries as heroes either. This is because, instead of simply taking over and
demanding a part in government, the revolutionaries don't stop at killing their oppressors.
They adopt the same cavalier attitude toward human life that the aristocracy has shown
for so long. By making the revolutionary characters so uncaring and by describing mob
mentality in detail, Dickens made clear he believed the revolutionaries had become
completely mad and as evil as their oppressors had been. In other words, two wrongs don't
make a right.

Book 2, Chapter 23
Fire Rises:
Summary
The chapter opens with a description of the difference felt in the villages after the
storming of the Bastille: In place of the aristocrats showing their faces periodically,
peasants from the city come through on a regular basis. One particularly ragged individual
arrives in the village over which the Marquis had once lorded, and meets up with the
mender of roads. They exchange the familiar greeting, calling each other Jacques, and
each one asks the other to touch, or take hands, as code. The ragged man, who is wearing
tattered clothes, has leaves and grass in his shoes, is blistered and covered with sores, and
needs a rest, as he hasn't slept for two days. He asks the mender of roads to wake him
when it's time. Then the mender of roads, on awakening the man, tells him where the
chateau of the Marquis can be found.

Later, as night falls, the mender of roads keeps looking toward the chateau. Gabelle, who
is now the Marquis's representative in the village, also comes out of his house to look up
at the chateau on the hill. People stay outside after supper and whisper to each other
instead of going to bed. Four lights move toward the chateau and then away again until
they disappear. Suddenly, there is a glow from within the chateau, and then a flickering
light, and then a sudden burst of flames. A rider from the chateau hammers at Gabelle's
door, but Gabelle has bolted the door and climbed up on the roof, determined to throw
himself off it if his door is breached. The messenger shouts for help from the villagers, but
no one moves; he rides to the prison, but even the soldiers there refuse to budge. The
villagers start ringing the bell—not as an alarm but as a celebration. The chateau burns all
night. Gabelle is lucky because, though the villagers hammer at his door for hours, he is
still alive in the morning.

The same thing is happening throughout the country. On some estates, the functionaries
and the military defeat the rebels; but on others, the rebels kill anyone associated with the
oppressors.

Analysis
The chapter begins with several paragraphs of trademark Dickensian verbal irony (saying
the opposite of what one means). For instance, the narrator says, "Monseigneur (often a
most worthy individual gentleman) was a national blessing"; what he actually means, as
the description of the village and lands around the chateau shows, is that the greedy
 aristocracy has ruined France and starved its people. Dickens often used irony to make his
points because it amused his readers while driving home his point.
Dickens uses an interesting technique to keep readers engaged in this chapter: He never
says what, exactly, is planned or happening. Instead, sentence after sentence describes
only in the most superficial fashion what is being said and done. There's only a glow from
the chateau, then a flickering light, for instance—the reader isn't told the chateau is on fire
until the flames are visible from outside. The secrecy of the plots against the aristocrats is
mirrored by the way Dickens tells the tale of this particular plot: He keeps the main
objective secret until the moment it becomes deadly.

The burning of aristocrats' homes was part of the peasant uprising, a way of eradicating
anyone who opposed their revolution. It seems strange, though, that they hung the
servants of aristocrats, people who were only workers, much like themselves. By
highlighting this, Dickens adds to his message regarding the revolution. Gabelle is safe for
now, but other functionaries were hung, and yet these people were probably treated nearly
as badly by "the Monseigneur" as the peasants themselves. But the denouncing of the
servants and functionaries of the aristocracy happens anyway because the killing gets out
of hand. This idea will be explored further in the last book of the novel, where Dickens
shows even more graphically just how vengeful and unjust the revolutionaries become—
more bloodthirsty than those they are rebelling against.

Book 2, Chapter 24
Chapter 24 : Drawn to the Loadstone Rock |
Summary
Three years have passed, and in France, the aristocracy has been "scattered far and wide."
Those who foresaw what was coming sent their property to England and are now coming
to Tellson's Bank to collect it. Those who did not share that foresight, gather there to look
for help and to learn the latest news on their homeland. Tellson's even posts the news in
its windows.
Charles Darnay is at Tellson's speaking with Mr. Jarvis Lorry. As a longtime employee
who knows the bank's business in both England and France, Lorry has to go to Tellson's
Paris office tonight. Darnay, who wishes he could go back to France himself to try to calm
the situation there, is worried about his friend's safety. Lorry explains that the situation is
precarious: No one knows from one day to the next whether Paris will be set alight or
whether important papers will be stolen or destroyed; he refers to clients escaping the
barriers of the city with their heads "hanging on by a single hair." Lorry will be taking
Jerry Cruncher with him as a bodyguard.
An assistant brings Lorry a letter and asks if he has found the addressee yet. Darnay looks
down at the letter and is shocked to see his own real name there. Lorry doesn't know who
Darnay really is, and neither does Darnay's wife; only Dr. Manette knows. The former
French nobles gather round and discuss the missing heir, calling him "degenerate" and a
coward who "abandoned [his] estates ... and left them to the ruffian herd." Stryver, who is
also present, finds this behavior reprehensible. Angrily Darnay says, "I know the fellow,"
and points out that Stryver "may not understand the gentleman." But Stryver and the
others remain unconvinced and leave. Lorry asks Darnay if he can deliver the letter, and
Darnay agrees to do so.
Darnay slips away and reads the letter, which is from Gabelle, who has been jailed and
will be executed for treason against the people, for aiding the emigrant marquis—Darnay.
He begs Darnay to save him. Darnay realizes he must go to Paris because Gabelle's only
crime has been loyalty to him. But he can't tell Dr. Manette or Lucie because they would
try to stop him or go with him. Darnay tells Lorry he has delivered the letter and asks him
to take a reply to Gabelle that the man is coming. Lorry agrees to do so and leaves for
Paris. That night, Darnay writes letters to both Dr. Manette and Lucie, and the next day
tells them that he has an engagement which will take him out of town. He packs a valise,
mounts his horse, and heads for Dover and the ferry.

Analysis
As is pointed out in the chapter, Mr. Jarvis Lorry is close to 80 and has been working for
Tellson's Bank for some 60 years. He is very familiar with the bank's French business and
is therefore the best person for the job. Moreover, as he points out, his age and nationality
should protect him from the revolutionaries. He is also wise enough to take Jerry
Cruncher with him to protect against violence and crime on the road.
Charles Darnay is pulled to France, of course, because it is his home, his "loadstone," and
he wishes that he could help the unfortunate people more than he already has by lessening
the financial burden on the peasants on his lands. His uncle left the estate deeply in debt,
and Darnay has asked Gabelle to take from the land only what is needed to keep the debt
current. He doesn't realize the peasants don't know he tried to help them, and he has no
sense of how much they hate him because of who his family was. Darnay's innate
generosity and nobility of spirit blinds him to the realities of the revolution.
The peasants have a similar hatred of Gabelle because of his loyalties, and Darnay feels
entirely responsible for this terrible turn of events in Gabelle's life. Gabelle may have
survived the burning of the chateau, but his loyalty to Darnay will soon cost him his
freedom if not his life. Interestingly, the film version of this novel has Barsad and Gabelle
using the letter to lure Darnay to Paris. Another possibility is that the Defarges have
imprisoned Gabelle but allowed him to write to Darnay, hoping to get Darnay to come to
Paris so that they can kill him. Dickens doesn't mention any of these ideas, but later critics
noted this weakness in the plot.
 In Secret | Summary
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Summary
It is 1792, and Charles Darnay is traveling from the ferry port to Paris, but he is constantly
stopped for identity checks and observed along the roads. One night while sleeping at a
village inn, he is awoken by the "local functionary and three armed patriots" and told he
will have an escort to Paris. Darnay says he would love to get to Paris, but doesn't need an
escort. He is given no choice; he must have an escort and pay for the privilege. He pays an
exorbitant price and sets off at 3 a.m. with two armed patriots riding beside him, both
ragged and one drunk. When the trio reaches Beauvais, the postmaster there protects
Darnay from the crowd, who want to hang him right away for being an emigrant and an
aristocrat. The postmaster says that there was a decree to sell the land of anyone who
left France, and there may be a decree to condemn to death any emigrant who dares to
return.
When Darnay and his escort reach Paris, Darnay is put in charge of "a resolute-looking
Book 3, Chapter 1 man in authority," who reads Gabelle's letter with surprise. Darnay is separated from his
escort, who ride off. In the guardroom, Darnay is immediately identified as "the emigrant
Evrémonde" and condemned to La Force prison. Paperwork is completed, marked "in
secret," and handed to the "man in authority," who turns out to be Monsieur Defarge.
Defarge asks Darnay if he is the same person who married the daughter of Manette, the
prisoner from the Bastille. Darnay says he is and asks Defarge to help him, but Defarge
will do nothing for him. Defarge asks why, "in the name of that sharp female newly-born,
La Guillotine," he came to Paris, and Darnay explains again that he is there because
Gabelle asked for his help. Darnay begs Defarge to let Mr. Jarvis Lorry know he will be in
La Force, but Defarge refuses. As Darnay is led to prison, the people on the street scarcely
notice him because they have become so used to seeing people in decent clothes being led
to prison.
When Darnay arrives at the prison, the jailer brings him in, grumbling about
overcrowding and especially about the notation "in secret," which Darnay discovers
means he is to be kept in solitary confinement. The prisoners around him look at him with
pity as he is led away to a tiny, dark cell. Darnay paces the cell, thinking of Dr.
Manette and the golden hair of one of the woman prisoners he'd passed and listening to
"the roar of the city ... with the wall of voices that he knew."
 Analysis
Poor Charles Darnay receives a bracing dose of reality in this chapter. Not only is it
impossible to travel very far in France without being caught, but he is condemned as soon
as he arrives in Paris. He expects to have rights, but he is told that emigrants have no
rights. He finds out that this law was passed on the day he left England, and thinks he
would not have left had he known. But readers may doubt this. He is so selfless that it is
likely he would have risked the journey anyway in order to try to save Gabelle.
Dickens titled this chapter "In Secret," which is an old term for solitary confinement. By
the time Dickens wrote his novel, as mentioned earlier, he would have read the French
prison reformer Charles Lucas's works, in which the devastating effects of solitary
confinement for long periods of time are described. Lucas was against solitary
confinement, and if a harsher punishment than just being in jail was required, he felt that
"silence"—not allowing prisoners to speak—was better. Certainly, Dickens's description
of the insanity that Dr. Manette experienced after 18 years "in secret" shows that he knew
something about this terrible punishment's negative impact.
This is the first time the guillotine has been mentioned, and it is made to sound frightening
indeed. But the guillotine was actually an improvement on earlier methods of capital
punishment. It is a simple device consisting of two vertical posts with a crossbeam on top,
much like a door frame. The two posts have deep grooves in the sides that face one
another. These guide a heavily weighted knife that is dropped from the crossbeam. The
person to be executed is made to extend his or her neck through a slot below the knife,
which slices through it, cutting off the person's head. The guillotine was not developed by
the French and was already in use in other countries. It was considered a far less painful
death than beheading with an ax or sword, which could require several strokes; or
hanging, which might not snap the neck. The first French execution by guillotine took
place in 1792; the last was in 1977.

The Grindstone | Summary

Book 3, Chapter 2
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Summary
Mr. Jarvis Lorry is in Tellson's Bank's Paris office, which inhabits one of the wings in the
house of the very same Monseigneur who once needed three strong men to serve his hot
chocolate. The Monseigneur escaped the country dressed as his cook, and his three strong
servants escaped punishment for being part of his household by denouncing him and
joining the patriots, who have now taken over the main part of the house.
Lorry looks out the window to where a huge grindstone has been set up across the
courtyard. He closes the window, but still hears "the usual night hum of the city, with an
indescribable ring in it now and then, weird and unearthly, as if some unwonted sounds of
a terrible nature were going up to Heaven." He thanks God that no one he loves is in Paris
tonight. Suddenly, he hears the gate clang, and in rush Lucie and Dr. Manette. Lucie is
deathly pale and falls into Lorry's arms, panting, "O my dear friend! My husband!" In a
jumble she manages to explain that Charles Darnay is in Paris and in prison. Meanwhile,
the doctor asks, "What is that noise?" and goes to the window. Lorry begs him to stay
away from the window, but the doctor says that no one would ever hurt him, a former
prisoner in the Bastille.
As soon as he learns Darnay is in La Force, Lorry sends Lucie to wait in his room, telling
her she can do nothing to help Charles and that he must speak alone with her father
without delay. Lorry and the doctor look out the window at a terrible sight: Around the
grindstone is a crowd of people covered with blood; they have come to sharpen hatchets,
knives, bayonets, and swords taken from people they have killed. Lorry whispers, "They
are ... murdering the prisoners" and asks the doctor to use his reputation to get to the
prison to save Darnay. The doctor immediately joins the crowd around the grindstone, and
it is not long before there are cries to save the "Bastille prisoner's kindred in La Force."

Returning to Lucie, Lorry finds that Miss Pross and little Lucie are also there, and they
wait together for news, sleeping intermittently. Twice more during the night, Lorry hears
the grindstone at work, and at sunrise he sees that it is red with blood.

Analysis
Again, Lucie is being protected from knowing anything about Charles Darnay, which is
indicative of the status of wives in England at the time, but also speaks to what the men
around her view as her fragility. In reality, she is extremely sensitive to the plights of
others, and although she is prone to fainting and grabbing onto people for support, it takes
serious bravery to head back to France. After all, she knows about the law that was passed
on the day Darnay left England, so she has a much better notion than he did of how
 dangerous France might be. But her father is certain his status will protect both of
them. Dickens portrays Lucie as an interesting mix of feminine weakness and gutsy
strength, and she'll certainly need her strength now that she is in the middle of such chaos
and danger. As he did in the beginning of the novel, Mr. Jarvis Lorry serves as the rock to
which Lucie clings.
The doctor, knowing he is a hero to the patriots, makes use of his reputation to go to La
Force to try to free Darnay. He has convinced and fired up this raggedy group of
"murderers," but like Lorry, readers cannot be sure he will succeed, which provides the
cliffhanger for this chapter.

The Shadow | Summary

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Summary
Mr. Jarvis Lorry decides to find an apartment for Lucie so that the presence of an
emigrant prisoner's wife does not endanger the bank. He leaves Jerry Cruncher there to
guard them. That evening, Monsieur Defarge arrives at the bank with a message from Dr.
Manette saying Charles Darnay is safe, but the doctor can't leave yet, and that the
messenger has a letter for Lucie from Darnay. Lorry is to let Defarge see Lucie. Madame
Defarge is in the courtyard knitting, and accompanying her is her friend The Vengeance.
Book 3, Chapter 3 Monsieur Defarge says it is necessary for his wife to see Lucie and the child for their
safety. His tone is unemotional and almost mechanical, which concerns Lorry. Darnay's
note to Lucie is only a few phrases, but Lucie is so taken by having any message at all that
she kisses Madame Defarge's hand, which is limp and cold; her expression is chilly as
well. Lorry presents little Lucie and Miss Pross to Madame Defarge, who points her
knitting needle at little Lucie and asks if she is Darnay's child. Lorry says she is the
prisoner's only child, and the shadow that Madame Defarge casts on little Lucie makes her
mother kneel down and hold onto her, frightened.

Lucie begs Madame Defarge to be good to her husband and "do him no harm." Madame
Defarge responds by saying only little Lucie is her business, not Darnay, and Dr.
Manette's influence will have to suffice. Lucie pleads with Madame Defarge not to use her
influence against Darnay, as a wife and mother who understands. Madame Defarge retorts
 that wives and mothers in France have not been considered, and their husbands and
fathers have been imprisoned and worse: "All our lives, we have seen our sister-women
suffer, in themselves and in their children ... Is it likely that the trouble of one wife and
mother would be much to us now?" With that, the Defarges and The Vengeance leave,
Madame Defarge knitting as she goes. Lucie feels the darkness of their shadow long after
they have gone, and so does Lorry.

Analysis
The cold way that Monsieur Defarge speaks to Lorry seems to contradict his insistence
that he see Lucie and her child for their safety. The shadow that Madame Defarge casts on
them makes it even less likely that Lucie and little Lucie are safe from harm. Even
though Dr. Manette is protected because of his former prisoner status, it appears that his
daughter doesn't get the same protection. The reader knew this back when Madame
Defarge entered Lucie's name on the register of her knitting, and it appears that she has
not changed her mind.
Dickens has set Lucie up as such a faultless character that she serves as a foil for Madame
Defarge, who certainly has suffered enough to earn the right to be furious, and even to
take revenge on those who have hurt her and her community. However, in making
Madame Defarge the cold-hearted person that she is, Dickens reveals his sentiment that
the entire populace has become just as evil as the force they are fighting against. The
characters of Madame Defarge and The Vengeance exude that evil.
Dickens also uses the dialogue between Madame Defarge and Lucie to evoke the darkness
of events to come, not just for Lucie and for little Lucie, but for Darnay and many others
in Paris. It would be next to impossible for anyone to have hope for a loved one in prison
after speaking with Madame Defarge. She makes it clear that her suffering and that of her
fellow women have never made anyone pity them, so she sees no reason to pity Lucie.
Once a person is on Madame Defarge's register, they are there for good, just as people
condemned by the king were killed, no matter who petitioned to save them.

Book 3, Chapter 4 Calm In Storm | Summary

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Summary
Dr. Manette returns after four days, and hides from Lucie the extent of the horrors he has
seen. She knows there was an attack on the prisons and that some political prisoners were
removed and executed, but her father doesn't tell her that 1,100, including women and
children, were "killed by the populace."
Dr. Manette confides his story to Jarvis Lorry. He went before the Tribunal, which
includes Monsieur Defarge, but was unable to get Darnay released; he received the
assurance, though, that his son-in-law would not be executed. He stayed during the attack
on the prison to make sure Charles Darnay remained safe. He was called on to dress the
wounds of a man who had been released, but was accidentally stabbed with a pike by a
"savage" who was unaware of his status. The people who helped him tend the victim later
went back to "butchery so dreadful" that the doctor passed out. As he speaks, Lorry sees a
change in the doctor. Now it is Dr. Manette who has strength, determination, and
influence and who takes care of his family. Soon the doctor has become "the inspecting
physician of three prisons," including La Force. Dr. Manette visits Darnay—who is no
longer in solitary confinement—every week with messages from Lucie.
The king and later his queen are tried and beheaded. The Republic is caught up in
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, or Death"—mostly death, as "La Guillotine" is so active
that the ground is permanently red. Both the innocent and the guilty are executed. The
rivers are clogged with bodies of people drowned at night, and prisoners are lined up and
shot if they aren't beheaded. The terrors swirl around Dr. Manette, who treats anyone who
needs medical attention; his special status makes him untouchable. An entire year and
three months pass like this, without Darnay being released.

Analysis
In this chapter, Lucie and her father have switched roles, says the narrator, and Dr.
Manette regains his authority as a father and his confidence as a doctor. He is kept busy,
and this sustains him. Meanwhile, the doctor tends any patient, guilty or innocent, making
no distinction between the two. He is a shining example of a doctor who has taken an oath
to heal and not harm. His reputation sets him apart, and he is one of the few people who is
beyond suspicion. It is as if he has experienced yet another resurrection. In fact, the
narrator comments that it is as "if he had indeed been recalled to life some eighteen years
before, or were a Spirit moving among mortals."
Still, Dr. Manette can't get Charles Darnay released. Eventually, the doctor will be able to
 get Darnay out of prison, but it won't be for long. It almost seems as if he and Darnay are
being set up so that when Darnay is finally brought to trial, there is no way he will be
declared innocent of the crimes for which he has been accused.
Dickens devotes several paragraphs to describing the Reign of Terror, in which many
innocent people were killed based on suspicion alone. Mad with their new power, the
formerly oppressed have become the oppressors, wreaking vengeance not only those who
have wronged them but on many who have not. Dickens describes the guillotine as taking
off 22 heads in as many minutes. (These were the heads of the leaders of a moderate
political party that was defeated by the Jacobins and guillotined in October 1793. One had
committed suicide but was beheaded anyway.) But apparently, one death per minute was
not fast enough; the people also drowned and shot their victims.

The Wood-Sawyer | Summary

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Summary
Since Charles Darnay's reprieve, Lucie has remained strong, keeping their home and
teaching little Lucie as if Charles were there. One day, her father tells her that if she
stands in a particular place at 3 p.m. each day, Darnay may be able to reach a window
from which he can see her. So every day she stays in that place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Sometimes she brings little Lucie, but often, she is alone. On the third day, a woodcutter
nearby, who used to be a mender of roads, notices Lucie and speaks to her; as required by
Book 3, Chapter 5 law, they address each other as "citizen" and "citizeness." The next day, she is there with
little Lucie, and he speaks to the child, too. The woodcutter refers to his saw as his little
guillotine and gleefully uses it to cut off bits of wood, saying, "And off his head comes!"
He then pretends to behead the rest of the family, including a child. Lucie shudders, but to
stay in his good graces, she always speaks to him first and even gives him money for
drinks. She frequently catches him staring at her as she waits there; when that happens, he
often says, "But it's not my business!"
One day in December of 1793, the woodcutter is not in his shop; his saw is in the window,
though, with a sign that says "Little Sainte Guillotine." Lucie hears a terrible noise coming
down the road, and it is a mob of men and women, singing the theme of the Revolution at
the top of their lungs, dancing and whirling, "like demons." The woodcutter is there,
holding hands with The Vengeance. Lucie feels she has never seen anything as horrible as
this dance, the Carmagnole. Then they are gone, and snow covers their tracks as if they
had never been there. Dr. Manette shows up at Lucie's side and calms her. He tells her
Darnay is just climbing to the window and, because no one is there, to wave to him. She
does so, but suddenly Madame Defarge walks by, greeting them in passing, moving "like
a shadow over the white road." The doctor tells Lucie that Darnay is to appear in court the
next day, and will be home afterwards. Just then, three tumbrils rattle past, carrying the
condemned to the guillotine.
The doctor and Lucie walk back to Tellson's Bank to see Jarvis Lorry, who comes out of
another room and embraces Lucie. She tells him the news about Darnay, and he repeats it
to someone inside they cannot see: "Removed to the Conciergerie, and summoned for to-
morrow?"

Analysis
Again, Lucie shows herself to be the epitome of grace and decency, not only greeting the
woodcutter but offering him tips. When she sees the crowd of people dancing, however,
she is overwhelmed by fear. Dr. Manette is the only person who can really calm her, just
as she calmed him in his worst episodes of fear after she rescued him. The theme of
violence is present, as the crowd has been looting churches and is likely off to watch
people being executed at the guillotine. Lucie is constantly aware of what her husband is
up against and won't be truly calm until he is back at her side.
One of the most influential leaders in the French government at this time was Maximilien
Robespierre. Among other things, he established a form of deism as the state religion
known as the cult of the Supreme Being. (Deism was a product of the Age of Reason that
held that God could only be known through reason and innate understanding of natural
law, not through church teaching or revelation.) The guillotine was viewed as a protector
of the people and referred to as "La Sainte Guillotine"; guillotines were even dressed in
blue robes like the Virgin Mary for the festival of the Supreme Being in June of 1793.
Meanwhile, Catholicism had been renounced, even by priests and nuns (if they knew what
was good for them); the mob of dancers who so disturbed Lucie Manette were probably
celebrating after vandalizing a church, a common pastime in November and December of
that year.
Dickens doesn't reveal the identity of Mr. Jarvis Lorry's mysterious visitor, but he does
leave a few clues: Lorry is agitated, for one, and the visitor seems to have come by
horseback, because he has left his riding coat across a chair. It could be that he has
traveled all the way from England. Also, it seems to be someone who is interested in
 Darnay's appearance before the Tribunal the following day.

Triumph | Summary
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Summary
At La Force prison, the jailer reads the "evening paper"—the list of prisoners to be taken
before the Tribunal the next day. Charles Darnay's name is on the list. The prisoners are
transferred to the Conciergerie to await trial. The Conciergerie was a Gothic palace that
was converted into a palace of justice in the late 1500s, at which time some sections
became prison cells. Under the revolutionary government, its importance as a prison grew,
and it housed the revolutionary tribunal.
After waiting in the Conciergerie, the prisoners are called one by one into the Tribunal.
Fifteen are called before Darnay, and all of them are condemned to die. Finally, Darnay is
called. The courtroom is packed with coarsely dressed and well-armed ruffians, and the
Defarges are seated near Darnay. He notices that Madame Defarge is knitting and has an
extra piece of knitting under her arm. He also notices they will not look at him. Darnay is
Book 3, Chapter 6 charged as an emigrant, and the crowd shouts, "Take off his head! ... An enemy to the
Republic!" But Darnay counters the accusation, saying he's not an emigrant; he was
in England because "he had voluntarily relinquished a title ... and a station that [were]
distasteful to him, and had left his country ... to live by his own industry in England,
rather than on the industry of the overladen people of France." Gabelle and Dr.
Manette could bear witness to this. The President of the Tribunal reminds him that he
married in England, but Darnay explains that he married a French woman, Dr. Manette's
daughter. Because of Dr. Manette's status, this information has a positive effect on the
onlookers. Darnay also explains he came back to France to save a fellow citizen, Gabelle,
who confirms this. Dr. Manette explains that Darnay was tried by the English "Aristocrat
government" as an enemy for supporting the United States, and Lorry confirms this. The
jury votes unanimously to acquit Darnay.
Before Darnay leaves the building, another five prisoners are condemned to die. But their
trial has no audience. Everyone has followed Darnay to celebrate his reprieve. The
onlookers lift him up onto a chair and process through the streets with him. He looks for
the Defarges in the crowd but doesn't see them. He is carried home and reunited with his
loved ones. The crowd then lifts a young woman into the chair to represent the Goddess of
 Liberty and moves off through the streets, dancing the Carmagnole. Darnay tells Lucie he
is safe, and that "no other man in ... France could have done what [her father] has done for
me." As she hugs the doctor, he tells her, "Don't tremble so. I have saved him."

Analysis
The presence of the Defarges near Charles Darnay during his trial is unsettling, especially
because they won't look at him. Madame Defarge's knitting is a reminder that, although
the crowd is emotionally moved by Darnay's marriage to Dr. Manette's daughter, not
everyone thinks this absolves him from the charge of treason. In fact, marrying him
condemns Lucie, especially in Madame Defarge's mind. Darnay is concerned about them
and looks for them in the crowd. They aren't there, of course, as they are not about to
celebrate his release.
The onlookers may go wild when Darnay is acquitted, but they are not to be
trusted. Dickens mentions several times how fickle the people are. Many an innocent
person have already been sent to the guillotine without a trial, accused of plotting against
the revolutionary government.
This is the second time Charles Darnay has been on trial, but the courtroom atmosphere in
this chapter is very different than that of the English courtroom at the Old Bailey in
London, where readers were first introduced to him. The Old Bailey is positively peaceful
compared to the Tribunal, where the atmosphere reflects the mob mentality. There are
other differences as well. Here, Darnay speaks for himself and introduces his own
witnesses. In the Old Bailey his barrister, Mr. Stryver, was in charge of his defense. Also,
in London the prosecution called witnesses against him. But in Paris, all that is required is
an accusation; the burden of proof falls on the accused.

A Knock at the Door | Summary

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Book 3, Chapter 7 Summary
That night, Lucie still can't shake her fears for her husband's safety, whereas her father
feels triumphant and sees Lucie's worry as womanly weakness; she can lean on his
strength, he feels, because he has overcome his feebleness and his insanity. He has
saved Charles Darnay from death, and has had Darnay's name—"Charles Evrémonde,
called Darnay"—added to the list of residents on their doorpost.
Even though neither speaks French, Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher (who is now living
with the Manettes) do the family's shopping "every evening, in small quantities and at
various small shops"; this prevents potential thieves from noticing the household. They
are getting ready to go on this nightly errand when Miss Pross asks Dr. Manette when
they will be returning to England, but the doctor says it isn't safe for Charles to leave yet.
Miss Pross tries to respond cheerfully and says, "We must hold up our heads and fight
low, as my brother Solomon used to say." She and Jerry leave.
Sitting with her family by the fire, Lucie is feeling "more at ease than she had been."
Suddenly, she shouts, "What is that?" and explains she thought she heard footsteps on the
stairs. Her father replies, "My love, the staircase is as still as Death." But there is a hard
knock on the door, and Lucie begs him to hide Darnay. Again, the doctor chides her for
overreacting, because he has "saved" Darnay already. "What weakness is this," he says;
"Let me go to the door."

At the door are four armed men wearing red caps who demand "the Citizen Evrémonde."
Darnay asks who wants him, and they reply that he is "again the prisoner of the Republic"
and is to be taken to the Conciergerie to go before the Tribunal the following day. Dr.
Manette asks them to explain and is told the Defarges and one other person have
denounced him. The doctor asks, "What other?" One of the four, who is from Saint
Antoine, says, "Do you ask, Citizen Doctor? ... Then ... you will be answered to-morrow."

Analysis
For all of Dickens's portrayals of Lucie as a typical soft-voiced, gentle woman of her age,
in need of direction by a man, he has moments where he portrays her as a woman with
nerves of steel and an incredible ability to understand the psychology of everyone she
meets. In this chapter, he shows the latter quality: Lucie is completely in tune with the
environment in which she hides. She is very much aware that no one is ever safe from the
populace, and that one person's hatred can condemn another person to death. It is strange
that Dr. Manette doesn't see that the populace is fickle, but his elation at having special
status clouds his understanding of just how bad the situation has become in Paris. Sure
enough, Lucie's assessment of Charles Darnay's safety is spot on: He is free for less than a
day before the Defarges cast their shadow over him again, denouncing him to the
Republic. Injustice is rampant, and Darnay is not safe. No one is.
 Dr. Manette no longer has as much influence as he has had in the past, and this is
seriously disturbing to him. He can't even get information out of the four men who show
up to take Darnay away, much less save his son-in-law a second time. It is the doctor, not
Lucie, who is delusional, much as Darnay was when he first came to Paris to save
Gabelle.

In Chapter 2, the reaction of the people on the mail coach to Jerry Cruncher's arrival
showed how great the fear of crime was in England; it was everyone's first thought that he
was a highwayman, and any stranger at all might be a criminal. But this chapter
demonstrates that things are much worse in France. People are not only afraid of
strangers; they're afraid of their neighbors. That's why Jerry and Miss Pross must shop
together and shop so frequently. They even change the stores they buy from every day and
buy only small amounts in each. This way no one around them can figure out how much
money the family has to spend on food and other necessities.

A Hand at Cards | Summary

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Summary
Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher are doing the shopping, and Miss Pross finally finds a wine
shop that is somewhat safer than others. She and Jerry go inside, and while they're waiting
for their order to be filled, Miss Pross comes face to face with a man on his way out the
door. She screams, claps her hands, and addresses the man as Solomon. The man shushes
Book 3, Chapter 8 her, saying not to call him that or she will "be the death of me." Solomon tells her to come
outside if she wants to talk to him and to have Jerry come out, too. He asks if Jerry has
seen a ghost. Jerry certainly looks as if he has but doesn't answer.

Once they are outside and away from the shop, Solomon asks Miss Pross what she wants,
and she gets upset, calling him cruel for not even greeting his sister. For this man is
Solomon Pross, her long-lost brother. Solomon, however, has no interest in seeing Miss
Pross. Jerry, who is confused, asks Solomon if his name is Solomon John, or John
Solomon, and his name surely wasn't Pross back in England. Jerry remembers that he
"was a spy-witness at the Bailey." A voice from behind Jerry supplies the name: "Barsad."
It's Sydney Carton, who has been waiting, under the care of Lorry, to step in when he is
needed. Carton says he needs to have a chat with Miss Pross's brother, whom he calls a
"Sheep of the Prisons," meaning he is a spy for the jailers. Carton tells him he saw Barsad
come out of the Conciergerie and followed him here, where he listened in on Barsad's
conversation. Carton suggests Barsad follow him to Tellson's Bank, where he has a
proposal he would like to make.
On the way, they leave Miss Pross at her door, and Jerry goes on with the men to
Tellson's, where Carton introduces Barsad as Miss Pross's brother, and Lorry recognizes
him from Charles Darnay's trial at the Old Bailey. Carton says he has discovered from
Barsad that Darnay has been arrested, and Carton finds it alarming that Dr. Manette could
not prevent it. Also, because Dr. Manette is now linked with Darnay, his life may be in
danger, too. Carton says, "Let the Doctor play the winning game; I will play the losing
one ... Anyone carried home by the people to-day, may be condemned to-morrow."
Carton then sets about blackmailing Barsad into helping him. He says he knows not only
that Barsad was once an English spy, but that he is "still in the pay of the aristocratic
English government, is the spy of Pitt, the treacherous foe of the Republic." When Barsad
is not convinced, Carton tells him that he saw him meeting Roger Cly, the other spy from
the Old Bailey. Smiling, Barsad produces Cly's burial certificate. Now Jerry steps in and
asks Barsad if he put Cly in his coffin. Barsad replies that he did, and Jerry asks, "Who
took him out of it?" He says he and two others know there were paving stones in the
coffin and, angry again that he was cheated out of his pay that night, Jerry says he'd be
glad to denounce Barsad himself. Barsad gives up, and asks Carton what he wants. Barsad
confirms that he can enter and leave the Conciergerie at will, and Carton takes Barsad into
another room to speak privately.

Analysis
Dickens has finally revealed the identity of Lorry's mysterious visitor; it's Sydney Carton.
Now that Charles Darnay has been rearrested, perhaps Carton, who is so committed to
ensuring Lucie's happiness, can apply his formidable intellect to an effective fallback
plan.
This chapter is full of "aha" moments for readers. Dickens has masterfully tied together a
number of threads. First, he connects John Barsad to Miss Pross, as her long-lost brother
who once took all her money and made off with it. Barsad is every bit the scoundrel
Stryver accused him of being back in London. Dickens also ties Barsad to Charles
Darnay's trial at the Old Bailey and, by extension to Roger Cly. Jerry Cruncher also
 recognizes Barsad from Darnay's trial, having been the messenger who was hired by
Jarvis Lorry to report the trial result to the bank. Sydney Carton also recognizes Cly when
he sees him with Barsad in the wine shop where Miss Pross recognized Barsad as her
brother. Finally, Dickens connects both Barsad and Cly to Jerry's illegal grave-digging
business. Because Jerry saw Cly's fake funeral and subsequently tried to dig up his body,
he knows that there was no body in the casket. The reader isn't told this in the chapter
where Jerry digs up the body, which is a classic Dickens technique: revealing a crucial
detail near the end of a novel in order to tie subplots together.

Dickens also reveals Barsad's complete web of duplicity: a web that spans two countries
and three governments. Carton says that he is willing to lose the bigger game, but Dickens
doesn't reveal how this will happen or what the bigger game is. In having Carton speak
privately with Barsad but not revealing what they say to each other, he draws out the
suspense so that the reader is intrigued enough to want to read the next chapter.

A Hand at Cards | Summary

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Summary
Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher are doing the shopping, and Miss Pross finally finds a wine
shop that is somewhat safer than others. She and Jerry go inside, and while they're waiting
for their order to be filled, Miss Pross comes face to face with a man on his way out the
door. She screams, claps her hands, and addresses the man as Solomon. The man shushes
Book 3, Chapter 9 her, saying not to call him that or she will "be the death of me." Solomon tells her to come
outside if she wants to talk to him and to have Jerry come out, too. He asks if Jerry has
seen a ghost. Jerry certainly looks as if he has but doesn't answer.

Once they are outside and away from the shop, Solomon asks Miss Pross what she wants,
and she gets upset, calling him cruel for not even greeting his sister. For this man is
Solomon Pross, her long-lost brother. Solomon, however, has no interest in seeing Miss
Pross. Jerry, who is confused, asks Solomon if his name is Solomon John, or John
Solomon, and his name surely wasn't Pross back in England. Jerry remembers that he
"was a spy-witness at the Bailey." A voice from behind Jerry supplies the name: "Barsad."
It's Sydney Carton, who has been waiting, under the care of Lorry, to step in when he is
needed. Carton says he needs to have a chat with Miss Pross's brother, whom he calls a
"Sheep of the Prisons," meaning he is a spy for the jailers. Carton tells him he saw Barsad
come out of the Conciergerie and followed him here, where he listened in on Barsad's
conversation. Carton suggests Barsad follow him to Tellson's Bank, where he has a
proposal he would like to make.
On the way, they leave Miss Pross at her door, and Jerry goes on with the men to
Tellson's, where Carton introduces Barsad as Miss Pross's brother, and Lorry recognizes
him from Charles Darnay's trial at the Old Bailey. Carton says he has discovered from
Barsad that Darnay has been arrested, and Carton finds it alarming that Dr. Manette could
not prevent it. Also, because Dr. Manette is now linked with Darnay, his life may be in
danger, too. Carton says, "Let the Doctor play the winning game; I will play the losing
one ... Anyone carried home by the people to-day, may be condemned to-morrow."
Carton then sets about blackmailing Barsad into helping him. He says he knows not only
that Barsad was once an English spy, but that he is "still in the pay of the aristocratic
English government, is the spy of Pitt, the treacherous foe of the Republic." When Barsad
is not convinced, Carton tells him that he saw him meeting Roger Cly, the other spy from
the Old Bailey. Smiling, Barsad produces Cly's burial certificate. Now Jerry steps in and
asks Barsad if he put Cly in his coffin. Barsad replies that he did, and Jerry asks, "Who
took him out of it?" He says he and two others know there were paving stones in the
coffin and, angry again that he was cheated out of his pay that night, Jerry says he'd be
glad to denounce Barsad himself. Barsad gives up, and asks Carton what he wants. Barsad
confirms that he can enter and leave the Conciergerie at will, and Carton takes Barsad into
another room to speak privately.

Analysis
Dickens has finally revealed the identity of Lorry's mysterious visitor; it's Sydney Carton.
Now that Charles Darnay has been rearrested, perhaps Carton, who is so committed to
ensuring Lucie's happiness, can apply his formidable intellect to an effective fallback
plan.
This chapter is full of "aha" moments for readers. Dickens has masterfully tied together a
number of threads. First, he connects John Barsad to Miss Pross, as her long-lost brother
who once took all her money and made off with it. Barsad is every bit the scoundrel
Stryver accused him of being back in London. Dickens also ties Barsad to Charles
Darnay's trial at the Old Bailey and, by extension to Roger Cly. Jerry Cruncher also
 recognizes Barsad from Darnay's trial, having been the messenger who was hired by
Jarvis Lorry to report the trial result to the bank. Sydney Carton also recognizes Cly when
he sees him with Barsad in the wine shop where Miss Pross recognized Barsad as her
brother. Finally, Dickens connects both Barsad and Cly to Jerry's illegal grave-digging
business. Because Jerry saw Cly's fake funeral and subsequently tried to dig up his body,
he knows that there was no body in the casket. The reader isn't told this in the chapter
where Jerry digs up the body, which is a classic Dickens technique: revealing a crucial
detail near the end of a novel in order to tie subplots together.

Dickens also reveals Barsad's complete web of duplicity: a web that spans two countries
and three governments. Carton says that he is willing to lose the bigger game, but Dickens
doesn't reveal how this will happen or what the bigger game is. In having Carton speak
privately with Barsad but not revealing what they say to each other, he draws out the
suspense so that the reader is intrigued enough to want to read the next chapter.

The Substance of the Shadow | Summary

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Summary
Dr. Manette's paper is read to the court. It tells how the doctor was compelled by two men
to go with them to a house to treat a patient. They were armed and rude, and he could not
refuse. At the house, the two men hit the person who answered the door across the face for
being too slow and then brought the doctor to the patient—a beautiful young woman tied
Book 3, Chapter 10 to a bed with strips of gentlemen's clothing. One binding was a scarf embroidered with a
crest and the monogram E. She kept crying out "My husband, my father, and my brother!"
then counting to 12 and saying "Hush."
The two men, who were twin brothers, told Dr. Manette there was another patient. This
was a young boy dying from a sword wound. The boy told Dr. Manette the woman was
his sister; she was a "good girl" with a sickly husband, but the younger Evrémonde
brother wanted to sleep with her. To force her husband to agree, the Evrémonde brothers
harnessed the husband to a cart and drove him all day every day. At night, they kept him
on their property in the cold "to quiet the frogs." One day they let the man go at noon to
try to find food; he lay in his wife's arms, "sobbed twelve times, once for every stroke of
the bell," and died. Then the younger brother took the woman away and had his way with
her. Upon hearing what had happened, the boy's father had a heart attack and died. The
boy hid his younger sister and went after the younger Evrémonde brother. The Marquis's
brother threw money at the boy, then whipped him, and when the boy still came at him,
plunged his sword into the boy. The doctor supported the boy, who confronted the
Marquis, saying, "I summon you and yours, to the last of your bad race, to answer for
[your deeds]. I mark this cross of blood upon you, as a sign that I do it." After repeating
his curse for the Marquis's brother, the boy fell dead.

The woman lived a week before lapsing into unconsciousness. The Marquis asked the
doctor not to say anything about what he had witnessed, but Dr. Manette avoided
answering. Finally, the woman died, just before midnight. The Marquis congratulated his
brother and tried to give the doctor money, but the doctor refused it. Soon afterward, the
Marquis's wife showed up at the doctor's door, asking if he knew the family name of the
peasants, as she wanted to find the younger sister and help her, but the doctor didn't know.
The Marquise made her little son, Charles, promise to turn over whatever he inherited
from her to the dead woman's sister.

Dr. Manette delivered a letter to a government minister recounting what had witnessed,
and that same night a man arrived and followed the doctor's servant, Ernest Defarge, up to
where the doctor was sitting with his wife. The man said he had a coach waiting
downstairs to take the doctor to an urgent case. In the coach, the doctor was gagged and
tied. The Evrémondes met the coach, identified Dr. Manette, and burned the doctor's letter
in front of him. The doctor was imprisoned in the Bastille and 10 years later wrote this
paper denouncing the brothers "to the last of their race."

The crowd goes wild, and Madame Defarge happily murmurs, "Save him now, my doctor,
save him!" Darnay is unanimously condemned to death, to be executed within 24 hours.

Analysis
This terrible story further explains Dr. Manette's suffering in prison and his descent into
insanity. In addition to the many years of solitary confinement, Dr. Manette had to suffer
his own guilt. He hadn't been able to save any of the patients in the peasant family, and he
couldn't make the Marquis or his brother pay for what they had done. The feelings of
desperate frustration and failure nearly did him in. The letter that had reported the incident
 was burned, and the only consolation was that one member of the peasant family was still
alive, hiding somewhere. Dickens doesn't yet reveal who she is, but he will.
The story of the Marquis and his brother reveals more evidence of their view of peasants
not only as animals to be herded and killed as necessary, but also as property. Women in
the village were seen by people like the Marquis as available for their pleasure no matter
what their family status was. Whether or not such a right existed is still a matter of debate.
If it did exist, the droit du seigneur ("the lord's right") actually pertained only to the
woman's wedding night, when the lord could sleep with her if he wanted. But it is
generally believed that such rights were just another type of tax; the vassal could pay the
lord a sum of money instead of acquiescing to the demand. In Victorian England, the
perception of women as sex slaves was abhorrent, and this letter was Dickens's way of
completing the picture of a truly evil character.
Dr. Manette's testimony from so long ago denouncing the entire "race" of Evrémondes is
the key testimony that seals Charles Darnay's fate. The onlookers are baying for his blood.
These are the very same people who carried him home on their shoulders the day before,
celebrating his reprieve. Sydney Carton's earlier statement that the same crowd that carries
people home will take them to their death is proven correct.

Dusk | Summary
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Summary
As the court room empties, Lucie asks to hold her husband one more time and is brought
near him. Wrapping her in his arms, Charles Darnay tells her they will meet again. He
sends his daughter a blessing and a kiss, and Lucie replies that she is not sure how long
Book 3, Chapter 11 she will last without him so they will not be apart for long. She says she will pray their
daughter finds friends as she did to support her when Lucie is gone.
Dr. Manette approaches, about to fall to his knees before them. Darnay tells him he has no
reason to kneel, and that the paper gave them a new understanding of the horrors he went
through and how hard it was for the doctor to accept Darnay, knowing who he really was.
When Dr. Manette continues his agonized shrieking, Charles says, "It was the always-vain
endeavour to discharge my poor mother's trust that first brought my fatal presence near
you. ... [A] happier end was not in nature to so unhappy a beginning. Be comforted, and
forgive me." Then Darnay is led away, Lucie watching him with love and "a comforting
smile." Then Lucie turns to her father and faints. Sydney Carton carries her to a coach and
lays her on the seat. Her father and Jarvis Lorry get in with her, and Carton climbs up next
to the driver.
When they get home, Carton lowers Lucie to a couch, to be taken care of by Miss Pross.
Little Lucie throws herself at Carton to embrace him, begging him to save her mother and
father. Carton gives her mother a kiss, with her permission, and whispers to her, "A life
you love." He then goes into another room with Lorry and the doctor. He asks Dr.
Manette to use his influence again to at least try to save Darnay, but recognizes that it is
probably futile. Carton says he will return at 9 p.m. to find out what has happened. As
Carton is leaving, Lorry whispers to him that the prisoner "will perish; there is no real
hope." Carton echoes his words.

Analysis
Lucie shows her strength again in this chapter, even fighting off unconsciousness long
enough to get to her husband and comfort him, smile at him, and embrace him. She does,
however, know herself well enough to know that if he is put to death, she will not be able
to bear living without him for long, and she tells him so. Her honesty adds to her many
admirable qualities, and by saying this to Charles Darnay, she hopes it will comfort him to
know they will soon meet again in the afterlife. But, when Darnay finally leaves the
courtroom, Lucie can't hold on any longer and falls to the ground. Given the
circumstances, this is completely understandable, and Dickens doesn't portray it as
weakness; it is simply intense, overwhelming shock and grief.
As for Darnay, his reaction to the doctor shows what a truly good man he is and reinforces
the idea that all along, he has wanted to turn his family heritage around, and follow his
mother's wishes that he be a force for good and peace. At this point, the only way he can
manage that is to be put to death, so that the male part of the family line is out of the
picture. He is extremely sympathetic to Dr. Manette's plight and lets the doctor know how
moved he is by the doctor's suffering and his subsequent strength in putting his love for
Lucie and for her happy life before his own revulsion towards the Evrémonde family.
Speaking of putting Lucie's happy life above all else, Carton now knows what he has to
do. His statement to Lucie as he kisses her is a goodbye and a gift. He wishes fervently
that the doctor can change the sentence, but in his heart he knows it's not possible, so he
proceeds with his plan, which still has not been completely revealed to the reader,
building the suspense almost to the end of the novel.
 Darkness | Summary
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Summary
Sydney Carton decides he should be seen in the neighborhood, especially in Saint
Antoine. First, he has a meal and then a good sleep. He has stopped drinking anything
more than "light thin wine." He wakes at 7 p.m.—two hours before he must meet Dr.
Manette at Tellson's Bank—and goes to the Defarges' wine shop, where he finds the
Defarges, The Vengeance, and Jacques Three in conversation over a drink. He orders a
glass of wine in halting French. While pouring it, Madame Defarge remarks to the others
how much Carton looks "like Evrémonde." After toasting the Republic, Carton pretends to
be struggling to read a Jacobin newsletter while actually eavesdropping on the Defarges'
conversation.
Madame Defarge favors complete extermination of the Evrémonde family, but Monsieur
Defarge wants to stop at executing Darnay because "this Doctor has suffered much." His
wife counters that Dr. Manette is "not ... a true friend of the Republic" and makes clear
Book 3, Chapter 12 she wants to send Lucie to the guillotine, too. Jacques Three and The Vengeance support
her enthusiastically. Madame Defarge says to her husband, "Thou wouldst rescue this man
even now," and he denies that. Then Madame Defarge admits something to Jacques Three
and The Vengeance that she told her husband on the night he brought home the doctor's
paper from the Bastille: "That peasant family so injured by the two Evrémonde brothers ...
is [her] family." She says to her husband, "Tell Wind and Fire where to stop ... but don't
tell me." Then customers enter the shop, and the conversation ends. Carton leaves, asking
Madame Defarge for directions to the National Palace. As she raises her arm to point the
way, he considers stabbing her beneath it, but instead goes on his way, stopping at the
prison before returning to the bank.
At Tellson's, Jarvis Lorry tells Carton the doctor hasn't returned yet. By midnight, he still
hasn't arrived. When Dr. Manette finally shows up, he has no hat or scarf and drops his
coat on the floor, saying "I cannot find it ... and I must have it. Where is it?" He is asking
for his shoemaking bench. When he doesn't get it, he throws a childish tantrum. Carton
says that the doctor must be taken to Lucie, but first, he lays out a plan for Lorry. He tells
Lorry what he overheard at the Defarges' shop and that he suspects Madame Defarge will
wait to gather as much evidence as possible against Lucie, little Lucie, and even the
doctor. He explains that the wood-sawyer can testify that Lucie has been signaling to
prisoners; also, it is considered treason "to mourn for, or sympathise with, a victim of the
Guillotine," and he believes Madame Defarge will wait until everyone has seen the
family's sorrow. In the doctor's coat, he finds papers allowing Dr. Manette, Lucie, and the
child to leave the city; he entrusts these papers, as well as his own, to Lorry and tells him
to have a carriage readied and everyone in it at 2 p.m. the next day. Lorry is to wait only
for Carton and to leave as soon as Carton joins him in the carriage. Lorry promises
"solemnly that nothing will influence [him] to alter the course on which [they] now stand
pledged." Carton kisses Lorry's hand and helps the older man bring the doctor to Lucie.
Then he stands in her courtyard, sending a blessing up to her window.

Analysis
Sydney Carton, who has played the part of a careless drunk who only helps his employer
when push comes to shove, stages a brilliant stakeout to get information from the
Defarges, proving that he is a much better spy than the professionals readers have met in
the book. He completely convinces the Defarges that he can't understand what they are
saying to each other so they talk about their plans in front of him without censoring
themselves. Carton not only has a gentle heart but his cleverness extends beyond legal
cases, and his heroism is genuine. It looks like Carton's reconnaissance mission at the
wine shop will save everyone's life but Charles Darnay's. But why must Lorry and the
family wait for Carton to join them? Right now, he has no obvious connection to Darnay,
so his life isn't in danger. Yet, he insists Jarvis Lorry hang on to his traveling papers.
Again, Dickens builds the suspense. The reader suspects that whatever Carton ends up
doing, it will be self-sacrificing, in order to keep his promise to Lucie.
In just two days, Carton has completely reversed Lorry's opinion of him. Before, he found
him rather distasteful, but now he trusts him completely and does as asked without
question. In two days, a relationship has formed between the childless Lorry and the
fatherless Carton that seems as close as family. Both men seem to have a limitless
capacity for love. Before they part, Carton kisses the older man's hand in a gesture a son
might make toward his father—a gesture Carton makes knowing they will never meet
again.

The other big piece of news dropped in the conversation at the wine shop is the identity of
the young girl from the peasant family, the girl who was hidden away. That young girl
is Madame Defarge. Her coldness and seemingly heartless desire for vengeance on the
Evrémondes is explained by this revelation. It seems less terrible that she wants revenge
because her pain is real and understandable. However, it is still inhumane to blame and
 condemn someone who was a baby at that time and to extend this condemnation to his
wife and child now that he is an adult. Dickens doesn't give Madame Defarge a pass to act
the way she does, but he does give the reader an opportunity to see that her rabid
insistence on vengeance may not be the product of evil but of madness. Her personal
history also explains why her husband's attitude toward Darnay has seemed so ambiguous
and even remorseful.

Fifty-Two | Summary
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Summary
Fifty-two people are awaiting execution in the Conciergerie. Charles Darnay is one of
them. After hearing Dr. Manette's document, he fully understands that there is no hope.
He writes a letter to Lucie, explaining that he had not known why her father was
imprisoned and that it was a condition of their marriage that he not tell her his real name.
He writes to the doctor to tell him he hadn't known about his connection with the
Evrémondes. He commends Lucie and his daughter to the doctor's care and the care of the
entire family to Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Sydney Carton doesn't even cross his mind.
Then he sleeps and dreams he is back in Soho with his family. In the morning, he doesn't
Book 3, Chapter 13 realize where he is "until it flashed upon his mind, 'this is the day of my death!'" He hears
the hours striking and knows he will never hear those hours struck again. He is supposed
to be executed at 3 p.m.; the tumbrils move slowly, so he thinks he will be leaving around
2 p.m. He paces back and forth in his cell, calmly counting the hours.

Then he hears "footsteps in the stone passage outside the door." The door is unlocked, and
in walks Sydney Carton. Carton says he has a message from Lucie that Darnay is to do
everything he says without argument. He tells Darnay to switch clothes with him and
shake out his hair like Carton's. Darnay protests the switch won't work and Carton will
just die with him but does what he's told. Carton insists he's not asking Darnay to escape
and if he should, to refuse. Then Carton dictates a letter addressed to no one and undated.
The letter begins, "If you remember ... the words that passed between us, long ago, you
will readily comprehend this when you see it. You do remember them, I know. It is not in
your nature to forget them. ... I am thankful that the time has come, when I can prove
them. That I do so is no subject for regret or grief." As Darnay writes, Carton leans down
and puts his hand near Darnay's head. Darnay starts getting woozy and eventually passes
out. Carton puts the paper in Darnay's breast pocket and orders John Barsad to take
"Sydney Carton" out and say that he had already been weak with emotion going in and
became fainter once inside. He reminds him to take him to the courtyard, place him in the
carriage, and remind Lorry of his promise. Barsad has two men carry Darnay out, and he
says to Carton, "The time is short, Evrémonde." Carton replies, "I know it well. Be careful
of my friend, I entreat you, and leave me." Barsad leaves with Darnay on a litter, carried
by the two men.

Carton is led out of his cell to be bound with the rest of the 52 prisoners to die that day.
He sees a young seamstress, who recognizes him, calls him Citizen Evrémonde, and asks
if she can hold his hand to give her courage. When he squeezes her hand and brings it to
his lips, she gets a better look at him and realizes he is a stranger. She whispers, "Are you
dying for him?" He whispers back, "And his wife and child." She asks if she can hold his
"brave hand," and he tells her he will hold her hand until the last moment.

Meanwhile, Lorry is answering questions at the barrier and refers to Darnay as Sydney
Carton, who is unwell and "has separated sadly from a friend who is under the displeasure
of the Republic." After a few more questions, they are waved on. Lucie worries constantly
that they are being pursued, but Lorry can see no one. They change horses and postilions
several times without incident. Suddenly, the postilions begin arguing and stop the coach
to ask how many heads were to roll today; Lorry tells him 52, settling the argument. They
start to move again. As it gets dark, Darnay begins to regain consciousness, but thinks he
is still with Carton, calling him by name and asking what is in his hand. They drive on
through the night, safe.

Analysis
In this chapter, it becomes clear what Sydney Carton's real plan is, and it is nothing less
than to give his own life to save Charles Darnay's. He knows that Lucie has said she can't
live for long without Darnay, and he wants her to have a long life filled with love. The
only way he can do that is to give her Darnay, alive, and there is only one way to make
sure Darnay lives. Carton uses his resemblance to Darnay to bring him back to life,
reinforcing the resurrection theme.
Darnay has no time to react, although he protests the plan at every turn, believing it to be
futile and that it can only end in Carton dying alongside him. Carton knew Darnay would
 protest and purchased chemicals that, when mixed, would render Darnay unconscious and
therefore unable to give the plan away. When he delivers Darnay to Jarvis Lorry, John
Barsad shows him Darnay's face. In the carriage, only Lorry knows it is Charles Darnay
and not Sydney Carton who is traveling with them. Lucie is too busy to notice as she is
occupied with her daughter and especially her father, who is "helpless, inarticulately
murmuring, wandering" and therefore requires all her attention. It is not until Darnay
awakes that Lucie will realize he has been resurrected—and how.

Carton's connection with the seamstress gives him strength, as it does her, especially when
she realizes he is dying for Evrémonde. In a way, the two are parallel. She is dying for the
Republic, though she doesn't see how her death can benefit it, and he is dying for Lucie.
Carton is a hero not only for saving Darnay and keeping his promise to Lucie, but also for
comforting a stranger who has been wrongly condemned to death.

The Knitting Done | Summary

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Summary
Madame Defarge fears her husband may warn Dr. Manette and his family that she intends
to denounce them because of his feelings for the doctor. On the day Evrémonde is
scheduled to die, she meets with Jacques Three, who is on the jury of the Tribunal;
The Vengeance; and the wood-sawyer who can attest that Lucie has been signaling
Book 3, Chapter 14 prisoners in La Force. She herself witnessed Dr. Manette doing so. She gives her knitting
to The Vengeance and asks her friend to save her a seat at the execution. Madame Defarge
sets off to the Manette apartment, where she hopes to find Lucie and the doctor mourning
Darnay, which will help to condemn them.
While Madame Defarge is approaching, Miss Pross and Jerry Cruncher are making their
plans. Jarvis Lorry has charged them with hiring a small, rapid transport in which they can
leave at 3 p.m. and overtake Lorry's heavier carriage and ensure changes of horse have
been arranged for the carriage. They know the identity of the man John Barsad brought at
2 p.m., and Jerry is frantic with worry; he suddenly understands the value of prayer. Miss
Pross suggests he arrange the transport and pick her up at the cathedral, so that two
carriages won't be seen leaving their courtyard. He sets off to do so, and she gets ready to
leave.

Madame Defarge is suddenly in the room with Miss Pross and demands to see Lucie. But
Miss Pross doesn't speak French, and Madame Defarge doesn't speak English. A
conversation ensues in which Miss Pross insults Madame Defarge, and Madame Defarge
becomes increasingly angry and abusive. Each understands the tone of what the other is
saying. Eventually, Madame Defarge suspects that no one is there and makes a lunge for
the closed door to a back room. Miss Pross throws her arms around Madame Defarge's
waist and holds on as tightly as she can so that Madame Defarge can't move. Madame
Defarge claws at Miss Pross's face and hair, but Miss Pross buries her face and hugs
harder. She can tell that Madame Defarge has a knife in her belt and keeps her arm over it.
Madame Defarge reaches for the gun stashed in her bosom, Miss Pross sees it and swats at
it. There's a flash and a bang. When the smoke clears, Madame Defarge is lying on the
floor dead. Miss Pross straightens her clothes as best she can, puts on a bonnet and veil to
hide her scratched-up face, and leaves, locking the apartment door behind her. She runs to
the cathedral to meet Jerry, throwing the apartment key in the river along the way. She
asks Jerry if there are sounds in the streets but can't hear his answer; she is deaf. Jerry
postulates she will never hear again, and she never does.

Analysis
Readers may understand that there are reasons why Madame Defarge is so vengeful and
merciless. But Dickens does not feel this exonerates her. Lest readers forget, he reminds
them in this scene between her and her closest supporters. The Vengeance and Jacques
Three seem to share her passion. Jacques, in particular, feels the more executions, the
better. His ravings are so clearly evil that they serve to remind readers such feelings
deserve no sympathy. And, despite the praise of The Vengeance and Jacques Three,
Dickens does not let readers forget the fear Madame Defarge inspires; the poor wood-
sawyer is so afraid that he's willing to lie to make her happy. She is a terrifying woman
who, with her knife and her gun, feels completely invincible and never doubts her right to
vengeance. The narrator says, "She was absolutely without pity. If she had ever had the
virtue in her, it had quite gone out of her."
Miss Pross is already very strong, but she is also filled with protective courage and
desperation to make sure that no one hurts her "Ladybird"—her nickname for Lucie.
Dickens describes her strength in holding Madame Defarge away from the door as "the
vigorous tenacity of love, always stronger than hate." Miss Pross's version of love is
 certainly vigorous and tenacious. Jarvis Lorry has always admired Miss Pross for her
strength and faithfulness, even to her errant brother, Solomon. But in this chapter, readers
see proof of her cleverness, her reliability, and her determination. Miss Pross does what
she plans without paying much mind to anyone else. She is ready to sacrifice her life for
Lucie's family, but in the end sacrifices her hearing. She loves fiercely and can sometimes
be obnoxiously overprotective, but it serves her and those she loves well.

 The Footsteps Die Out Forever | Summary

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Summary
The tumbrils, full of prisoners, rumble through the streets, which are unusually crowded.
People are constantly looking for Evrémonde, who is in the third cart, holding a girl's
hand. John Barsad arrives and looks for him, too. A man in the crowd comes up and
stands beside the spy, crying "Down, Evrémonde!" Barsad tells him "He is going to pay
the forfeit: it will be paid in five minutes more. Let him be at peace." Sydney Carton looks
intently at him as he passes. At the foot of the guillotine, The Vengeance looks in vain
for Madame Defarge, crying in frustration that her friend is missing the best part.
Carton and the seamstress are lifted down from the third tumbril and wait for their turn to
Book 3, Chapter 15 be beheaded. They face each other, and Carton keeps her back to the guillotine so she
doesn't have to watch. As each head falls, the knitting women count the number. They talk
together calmly. The seamstress asks Carton if it is better that she wasn't able to tell her
only relative her fate, and Carton agrees it is. She wonders if she will have to wait long "in
the better land" for her cousin, and Carton reminds her that in that better land, there is no
time and no trouble either. This comforts the seamstress, and as it is her time to go, she
kisses him and calmly goes to her death. Hers is the 22nd head. Carton thinks of the
prayer "I am the Resurrection and the life," and everything disappears for him and the
women count 23.
Later, the crowd is said to have remarked that Carton had the most peaceful face of
anyone they had ever seen go to their death at the guillotine. As he goes to his death, he
imagines Lucie with another child with his name, and her father at peace. He sees Darnay
and Lucie laid to rest together when they are old and the son with his name making good.
He sees him with his own child, telling him Carton's story. Carton's last thoughts are
these: "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."

Analysis
Sydney Carton has grown as a heroic character and an honorable man in this final chapter,
as he and the seamstress keep each other calm before they go to their deaths. For Carton,
to be the force of love in this young woman's life helps him to also remember that he is
the force of love in Charles Darnay's and Lucie's life and their children's lives as well. He
has kept his promise to Lucie and knows that his story will live on in the tales they pass
down through their family. Carton may have thought that he could never improve himself,
but he has gone above and beyond to do just that. It may seem like a terrible end, and it is
extremely sad that Carton has to lose his life in order to save Darnay. There is nothing
joyful about the terror and the destruction of life that plagued France like an illness during
that time. But the man who could never find peace and was always held down by his own
darkness is at his most peaceful just as he loses his life, because he has given the gift of it
to those that he loves.
The resurrection prayer that Carton recites in his head before he dies brings back all of the
ways in which he has resurrected others. He saved Lucie and her father and daughter from
certain death by warning them of the dangers headed their way, and he snatched Darnay
from the jaws of death not once, but twice.