A Tale of Two Cities

“It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done”. It’s a very strong line, made even stronger and more tragic when you’ve actually read the book and know the context behind it. Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities is a true classic in the literature canon I feel. A tale of great divide, love, and politics, it ticks all the boxes for an epic read (though not epic in length when compared to Hugo, Dumas, or Tolstoy). 

Doctor Alexandre Manette, an 18-year political prisoner of the Bastille, has finally be released and reunited with his daughter Lucie in England. After some years the lives of two men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a brilliant but disreputable British lawyer, become entwined as they work to gain Lucie’s affection. Drama strikes as their story takes them to the bloodstained streets of Paris where riot and revolution hang thick in the air and the city itself lives in the shadow of the horrible La Guillotine. 

Dickens is not to be taken on lightly. This is something that everyone needs to know now. You have to prepare yourself mentally for the power and strain of what you’re about to read. Once you’ve done that though, then the experience of reading Dickens is one of thrills, emotional turbulence, and a little feeling of class and pretentiousness (which is always enjoyable in a smug sort of way). A Tale of Two Cities proves to be quite a clever novel because it actually encompasses a cluster of different stories. One the one hand, it’s a historical and political work of social commentary, with Dickens openly making asides to the reader voicing omniscient narrator opinions about the state of events. This is where the book’s comedy comes in to play, as Dickens’ cheeky little asides often tend to make fun of the characters. One gets the feeling that the narrator knows it can voice its opinions without the subjects’ knowledge and in this way, the book is a little metafictive. 

The social commentary viciously paints a strong image of the difference between two cities (London and Paris) with the French Revolution working as the perfect backdrop against which to create fear of the foreign Other. When reading his descriptions of Paris, you become haunted by images of bloodstained streets and spectral dark shadows, violent mobs being driven by rage, and the glinting sharp edge of La Guillotine. The imagery created by the words is absolutely breathtaking! 

Then we have the devoted love story of two men that includes everything from rivalry, to declarations of love, to self-sacrifice. The love story element of this book is deeply moving and it’s only at the very end that you get rewarded with the teary release, so perseverance is key. 

As if revolution, public executions, and men fighting for the love of a woman is not enough, a mysterious revenge story is revealed during the book’s climax, which suddenly makes everything that much richer and juicier and provides further drama to the already drama-soaked events. 

As I said, it’s not to be entered into lightly, but all fans of literature would do well to read A Tale of Two Cities. It’s gripping and dramatic and when you pull it apart, you can see how ‘modern’ it is. 

Author: Charles Dickens 

Published: 1859