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A TALE OF TWO CITIES BY CHARLES DICKENS-A STUDY

Submitted by:

SHUBHAM CHOUDHARY (SM0114038)

DEBANGA BHUSAN GOSWAMI (SM0114012)

VISHWAJEET NETAM (SM0114036)

Faculty in Charge

Mrs. Aparajita Dutta Hazarika

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERISTY AND JUDICIAL ACADEMY, ASSAM


GUWAHATI

16 NOVEMBER 2014
SUPERVISORS CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this project report for first semester entitled A TALE OF TWO CITIES
BY CHARLES DICKENS- A STUDY has been submitted by SHUBHAM CHOUDHARY
(SM0114038), DEBANGA BHUSAN GOSWAMI (SM0114012) and VISHWAJEET
NETAM (SM0114036) as a part of their B.A., LL.B (Hons.) degree course in this University.
The Project Report is their bonafide research satisfactorily carried out by them under our
supervision. This work has not been presented or submitted in any other university or like
institution for whatsoever reason.

Mrs. Aparajita Dutta Hazarika DATE: 16 NOVEMBER 2014


Assistant Professor of English
NLUJA, Assam
STUDENT CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project entitled A TALE OF TWO CITIES BY CHARLES DICKENS- A
STUDY is a piece of original and bonafide research undertaken by us. It is further certified
that no part of this project has been submitted by us for any else purpose whatsoever.

Place: Guwahati Signature of the Candidates

Date: 16 NOVEMBER, 2014

SHUBHAM CHOUDHARY

DEBANGA BHUSAN GOSWAMI

VISHWAJEET NETAM
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

On the completion of this project report, at the very beginning of our address of
acknowledgement we would like to place on record our sincere gratitude towards all those
people who have been instrumental in its making. We would like to extend our heartiest
thanks Mrs. Aparajita Dutta Hazarika, Faculty of English, as our instructor for providing her
valuable guidance, unfailing help and timely negotiations and criticisms on the topic. She
assisted us during the time of research on the topic and supervised us for the completion of
this project.

SHUBHAM CHOUDHARY (SM0114038)

DEBANGA BHUSAN GOSWAMI (SM0114012)

VISHWAJEET NETAM (SM0114036)


Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. Introduction
1.2. Literature Review
1.3. Scope and Objective
1.4. Research Questions
1.5. Research Methodology

2. About the Author

2.1. Life
2.2. Works
2.3. Admiration and criticism

3. The French Revolution

3.1. Europe in the pre-revolution era

3.2. The uprising

3.3. The consequences

3.4. Emergent ideologies and concepts

4. The tale

4.1. A prcis of the novel

4.2. Significant Characters

5. Themes, symbols and concepts

5.1. Love and sacrifice

5.2. Resurrection

5.3. The broken wine cask

5.4. Doubles

5.5. Knitting

5.6. The Guillotine


6. Conclusion

References

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1. Introduction

A Tale of Two Cities is a famous novel written by the famous English writer and social critic
Charles John Huffam Dickens, popularly known as Charles Dickens. A novel is an extended and
fictitious prose narrative, but otherwise peculiarly difficult to define, since it is a literary form
that is constantly evolving.1 Interestingly, this novel also carries some significant elements of
a drama within it, and the fact that it has been dramatised successfully over the years suffice
this argument well. This novel can be stated as an exquisite manifestation of Dickenss
creative genius The central story of the novel is set in London and Paris at the backdrop of
the great French Revolution2.It is one of the few fictional works done taking the revolution as
the context .Dickens attributes his vivid description of Paris and the revolution to Thomas
Carlyles book The French Revolution.3The story is basically a love saga between a French
clergymen and a daughter of a French Doctor in the period of revolution. It nicely depicts
how the identity of persons can at times become their own rival. It is replete with amazing
use of literary devices and themes, motifs and symbols. It is a unique work of Dickens, which
is different from all of his previous works.4 Though not a historical account, it reflects to a
great extent the socio-political relations and patterns that existed during the French
Revolution and the radical changes that it initiated.

1 Dominic Head, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, Cambridge


University Press, Cambridge, 2006, P.812.

2 Dominic Head, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, Cambridge


University Press, Cambridge, 2006, P.1090.

3 Dinah Birch, The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 2009, P.973

4 Aditya Sabharwal, Critical Interpretation of Charles Dickens, Wisdom press, Delhi, 2012,
P.42
1.2. Literature Review

The research topic i.e. A tale of two Cities is regarded as one of the classics of the modern
English literature. So naturally that a wide volume of literature is available on it, of which a
substantial portion has been reviewed.

Books

The First and the foremost is the book itself. Published by the Oxford University Press, it
contains the whole text as well as a beautiful introduction and notes by Andrew Sanders. The
introduction gave a short but comprehensive of Charles Dickens and acted as a prologue to
the novel.

Relevant portions of The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English and the The
Oxford Companion to English Literature have been also reviewed. These books helped us to
get a crisp and preliminary idea about the book and the author.

Two notable other books, A Critical Study of Charles Dickens and Critical Interpretation
of Charles Dickens respectively have also been reviewed. They provide a critical insight into
the novel and help explore the writing style of Dickens as well as the various themes which
are perpetually present in his writings.

Articles

Apart from these, various articles published in various magazines such as the Nation and
Generation in A Tale of Two Cities by Albert D. Hutter and Charles Dickens by Eric Pooley
have been reviewed. They provided additional information which proved to be very much
pertinent to the topic and gave us a wider perspective to look into its various aspects.
1.3. Scope and objective

The scope of research encompasses the whole of the topic i.e. the novel A Tale of Two
Cities as a whole and the various themes, concepts and symbols present in it.

The objectives of the research are

1. To find out the socio-political context in which Dickens wrote this novel.
2. To sort out the prime human traits and values on which Dickens has emphasised on
this novel.
3. To find out the themes, symbols and concepts used by Dickens in this novel.
4. To find out the political situation of Europe, contemporary to the French Revolution.
5. To find out the causes of the revolution and the approach of the various sections of
the society towards it.
6. To critically appraise the manner in which Dickens simultaneously narrates the
contemporary events at two places, London and Paris respectively.

1.4. Research Questions

A number of research questions have been formulated after the literature review. It is done in
such a way that they will act as the guiding principles and will also show the direction in
which the research has to be carried out

They are as follows

1. Why did Dickens choose a French clergyman as a protagonist in a novel where the
story takes place in the backdrop of French revolution?
2. Why did Dickens choose to depict an insolent, indifferent and alcoholic man like
Sydney Carton as an embodiment of sacrifice at the climax of the story?
3. Why did Dickens choose a central theme like love which did not seem suitable to the
context? What were the sub themes which were present parallelly to the central
theme?
1.5. Methodology
The doctrinal method has been used for the purpose for this research. It is essentially a library
based research where the researcher gathers the necessary knowledge and information from
books and journals available in various libraries and online databases available on the
internet.

We have gone through the various books and journal articles pertinent to the topicavailable in
our library. Moreover we have referred to various online databases and reliable websites in
the internet which added to our understanding of the topic .All these sources have helped to
formulate our objectives and research questions which formed the basic framework of our
study.

CHAPTER 2
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

1.1. Life

Charles John Huffam Dickens was born on 7th February, 1812 at Portsmouth, England to John
and Elizabeth Dickens. His father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office. In 1815, John was
called back to London and he went back along with his family. When Charles was four, the
family went to Chatham in Kent and remained there till he was eleven. According to him,
those years were the best years of his childhood. He was sent to school and began to read
voraciously, as if for life.5 He was greatly interested in reading the novels of Henry
Fielding, Tobias Smollett and Oliver Goldsmith. Looking back to his own childhood, he saw
a very small and not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy.6 He was very imaginative since
his childhood and used to stare at the streets of London with awe.

But his good days didnt last long. When Charles was 12, his father was arrested for debt and
his whole family, except Charles and his sister fanny, joined him in the Marshalsea Debtors
prison. Charles boarded with Elizabeth Roylance, a family friend, at 112 College Place,
Camden Town, where he had to leave school and resort to menial labour at to pay for his
board and to help his family, Warren's Blacking Warehouse, on Hungerford Stairs, where he
earned six shillings a week pasting labels on pots of boot blacking . This phase of life made a
lasting impression on Dickens and later influenced his work too.

In 1832, Dickens starts his career as political journalist and became famous by his work
Sketches by Boz. He rose to popularity with the publication of Pickwick Papers in 1836.
Publication of Oliver Twist in 1838 bought him immense fame and established him as a
significant Victorian author. In November 1836 Dickens accepted the job of editor
of Bentley's Miscellany, a position he held for three years, until he fell out with the owner. On
2 April 1836, after a one year engagement, Dickens married Catherine Thomson Hogarth the
daughter of George Hogarth, editor of the Evening Chronicle.

After this, Dickens had no looking back. All of his immortal works like David Copperfield,
Hard times, A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol started coming out from his pen.
5 Sabharwal Aditya, A Critical Interpretation of Charles Dickens, Wisdom Press, New Delhi 2012

6 ibid
During his lifetime, he made two visits to America, one in 1842 and another in the 1850s, and
both were hugely successful. After a divorce from Catherine,[83] Dickens undertook a series of
hugely popular and remunerative reading tours which earned him great fame along with
lucrative remunerations.

On 9 June 1865, while returning from Paris, Dickens was involved in a rail crash in
Staplehurst. The first seven carriages of the train plunged off a cast iron bridge that was under
repair. The only first-class carriage to remain on the track was the one in which Dickens was
travelling. Before rescuers arrived, Dickens tended and comforted the wounded and the
dying. Between 1868 and 1869, Dickens gave a series of readings in England, Scotland, and
Ireland, popularly known as Farewell Readings. But before completing them, he became
sick. He made his last public appearance at a Royal Academy Banquet, paying a special
tribute on the death of one of his friends.

Dickens suffered from a stroke at his home on 8 June 1870 after a days work on Edwin
Drood and died the next day at Gads Hill Place. He was buried in the Poets'
Corner of Westminster Abbey, in contrary to his wishes to be buried at Rochester
Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner.
1.2. Works

Dickens was equally good with writing novels, novellas and short stories. He wrote more
than sixteen novels and novellas, more than twenty short stories and many other poetry, plays
and non-fictional works. Given below are introductions to some of his popular works, apart
from a tale of two cities:

Oliver Twist: It was the second novel of Dickens. The central story revolves around
an orphan boy who first worked as a menial labourer and then was placed in an
orphanage, from where he runs out and joins a gang of juvenile pickpockets. The
novel is an unromantic one, which coldly describes the hardships faced by the poor
young boys and orphans in Victorian England. Authors personal sympathy with
persecuted childhood left a striking impression in this novel.7

David Copperfield: The most important thing about the novel is that it has been often
called as the half-autobiography of Dickens and he never refused it. The story
revolves around the protagonist, young boy named David Copperfield, who was
abandoned by fortune as soon as his father expired. According to his critics,
Copperfield was not only partly what Dickens was, but what Dickens couldnt be and
would have liked to be.8

Hard Times: Hard Times, popularly known as Hard Times- For these Times is the
Tenth novel of Charles Dickens. It does a critical analysis of the industrial society of
the Victorian era. It lucidly describes the perpetual poverty and sufferings of the
working classes. Through this book, Dickens also targets the utilitarian philosophy,

7 Boden Donald V., A Critical Study of Charles Dickens: Humour, Satire and Pathos of the Victorian Era,
Dominant Publishers And Distributors, New Delhi, 2009.

8 ibid
which was getting highly popular at that time. Shaw and Macaulay criticised the book
due to its inaccurate portrayal of the trade Unions and the political scenario.

Great Expectations: It is the thirteenth novel of dickens, and the second only to
David Copperfield to be narrated in the first person. Like David Copperfield, it traces
the growth of an orphan called pip. It explicitly portrays the human qualities like love,
compassion as well as hatred. The work is replete with poetic devices. Dickens states
it to be his best work. Though dismissed by Thomas Carlyle as the all that pips
nonsense, it was highly adored by others like George Bernard Shaw.

Other novels of Dickens include Barnabay Rudge, A Christmas carol, Bleak house, Little
Dorrit, Nicholas Nickelby, Dombey and son, The old Curiosity Shop etc.

He also wrote a number of short story collections and significant among them are Sketches
by Boz, The Mudfog Papers and The Uncommercial Traveller.

His selected poetry, plays and non-fiction works include The Village Coquettes Plays, The
Fine Old English Gentleman, The Life of our Lord: As written for His Children and
Speeches, letters and sayings.
1.3. Admiration and Criticism

Dickens rose to the zenith of popularity during his own lifetime and this is testified by the
fact that many of his works had been adapted for stage performances while he was alive. He
was both admired as well as mocked at by his critics.

He was mostly admired for his passionate advocacy for the downtrodden proletariat class of
England and the orphans and the poor children who were forced to perform menial labour in
hazardous circumstances. Marx asserted that Dickens revealed more social and political
truths to the world through his writings than all other politicians, thinkers and statesmen
combined. George Bernard Shaw even went to the extent of saying that Great Expectations
was more seditious than The Das Kapital. He was often praised by other writers like Tolstoy
and Orwell for his realism, comic voice, strong presentation of characters and use of history
in a creative way.

On the other hand, he was severely criticised by many of the great literary geniuses. First
among them comes the name of the famous English poet William Wordsworth who thought
Dickens as a very talkative, vulgar young person. Dickens in turn thought about
Wordsworth as an old and useless fellow. Many others like Henry James thought Dickenss
works to be too superficial and away from reality to admire. Virginia Wolf disapproved him
for his sentimentalism and a commonplace style.

But nevertheless, Dickens will be always regarded as one of the greatest literary geniuses that
England had ever produced9. And when it comes to the Victorian era, he would always be
regarded as an able representative of the literary era to which he belonged.

9 Sabharwal Aditya, A Critical Interpretation of Charles Dickens, Wisdom Press, New Delhi 2012
CHAPTER 3

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

3.1. Europe in the pre-revolutionary era

Europe had a pre-dominantly feudal social structure in the pre-revolutionary era. Society was
strictly divided into the clergy, nobility and the rest. There was extreme economic equalities.
Maximum wealth was concentrated in the hands of the clergy and the nobility and they also
enjoyed tax exemptions. The condition of the common people was very piteous. Maximum
tax was imposed upon them. They led a very deprived and unhappy life. Monarchy was the
prevalent form of govt. The rulers often became autocratic. They led a very lavish life and
didnt pay heed to the demands of the common people. And they often ruled according to the
advices of their nobles who were very corrupt and often practiced nepotism. All these factors
culminated in growing discontent and anger among the common people. The French
revolution was nothing but s manifestation of an outlet of this cumulating grief of the
common people.

3.2. The Uprising

The regime of Louis VII France was nothing but exploitative machinery for the poor. The
royal family and the nobility led an extravagant life on the taxes of the poor whom they
humiliated as the pests of the hell and leaved them to starve to death. Due to the enormous
spending on wars and luxuries, the French state faced an acute financial emergency. Various
efforts by officials like Necker and de Callone to improve the condition by reducing the
privileges of the aristocracy failed due to stiff opposition from these classes. So, the king had

no option left than to call for a meeting of the Estates General in May 1789, which
comprised of three estates- the clergy, the nobility and the rest of France, the last one having
the maximum number of representatives. The third estate couldnt agree with the other two
estates on the issue of verification of power. Thus a few days later, they separated out and
formed a National Assembly and declared themselves to the representatives not of any
particular estate, but of the people. Thus, they initiated a series of radical activities, together
termed as the famous French Revolution.
3.3. The consequences

The revolution drastically changed the social, economic and political structure of France.
Storming of the Bastilles indicated fall of the monarchical system. The absolute power of the
monarch was eradicated and he was reduced to a nominal figurehead. The clergy and the
nobility lost all their power and privileges. Feudalism was formally abolished by the National
Assembly and the tithe tax collected by the first estate was banned. On 26 August 1789, the
Assembly published the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which vested a
set of rights on the adult male citizens of France. The assembly also endeavoured o create a
new egalitarian constitution. Control of the church in the affairs of the state was highly
resisted and religion was deemed as a private affair. The status of French women was also
enhanced due to their strong presence throughout the revolution.

3.4. Emergent ideologies and concepts

The ideologies which dominate the modern democratic polities trace their origin to the
French revolution. The central ideology and purpose of the revolution was to establish a state
based on the principles of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity. The elementary tenets of
secularism also originated during this revolution. The principles which guided the revolution
and those which evolved during it were articulated in a document called the Declaration of
the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which for the first time in the human history argued for
a set of natural and universal rights for men which were natural, unalienable and sacred.
Thus, it can be concluded that the French Revolution played a key role in framing what we
visualise today as the institution of state.
CHAPTER 4

THE TALE

4.1. A Prcis of the novel

The novel begins in the year 1775, described by the author as the best as well as the worst of
times, with a scene where an employee of the Tellsons Bank, Jerry Cruchrer stops the Dover
mail coach with an urgent message for another employee, Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Lorry meets a
young woman named Lucie Manette and tells her that her father and famous French doctor,
Mr. Alexander Manette, who was known to be dead, is actually alive. Then he takes her to
Paris, where he makes her meet her father for the first time. Then they return to England. In
England, a case was going on prosecuting a young man named Charles Darnay of trason, of
which the Manettes happened to be the witnesses. Darnay is acquitted due to a trick played
by his lawyer Stryvers assistant Sydney Carton. After that, a romantic relationship begins
between Darnay and Lucie which culminates in their marriage. Before their marriage, Darnay
confesses to Dr. Manatte that he is a member of the infamous Everemonde family, which was
instrumental in sending him to bastilles. Nevertheless, Dr. Manette gives his consent to the
marriage. In between, the uncle of Darnay, the Marquis of Evremonde is assassinated by a
revolutionary as a revenge for running down a plebeian child with his chariot. After a few
years of happy family life of Darnay had passes, the French revolution starts in 1789.
Gabelle, the man who maintained the property of the Evremonde family writes a letter to
Darney, pleading for his rescue. In spite of the waiting dangers, Darnay decides to go and as
soon as he reaches Paris, he gets arrested. Dr. Manette, uses his influence and emotional
appeal to rescue his son-in-law, but he gets arrested again on the same night for the crime
committed by his ancestors, due to the conspiracy of the Defarges. This time, Dr. Manette
fails to rescue him and he is sentenced to death. But Sydney Carton, who has immense love
for Lucie and has striking physical similarities with Darnay, rescues Darnay from the prison
and faces the guillotine on his place, leaving behind a great example of sacrifice.

\
4.2. Significant Characters

Charles Darnay: He is a member of the infamous Evremonde family. He lives in


England and earns his bread by teaching French. He is ashamed by the cruelties of his
anceators and hence doesnt want to associate him with them. He falls in love with
lucie and marries her, but only after revealing his true identity to Dr. Mannette.

Sydney Carton: He is the assistant of an ambitious lawyer named Stryver. He is a


drunkard and is disinterested in al the worldly affairs. But he develops such an intense
love for Lucie that he sacrifices his own life for the sake of happiness of Lucie.

Alexander Manette: A French Doctor, who was imprisoned in Bastilles by the


Marquis of Evremonde because he was an witness to his brutal rape and murder of a
peasant girl and the annihilation of almost her entire family.

Lucie Manette: An ideal Woman, she is the daughter of Dr. Manette and the loving
and caring wife of Charles Darney.

Jarvis Lorry: He is an employee of the Tellsons bank. He is a middle-aged business


oriented bachelor gentleman with a strong sense of morality and human values. He
becomes a close friend and advisor of Dr. Manette, Lucie and Darnay.

Other small but circumstantially significant characters include those of Marquis of


Evremonde, Stryver , The Defarge couple, Miss Pross and John Barsad.

CHAPTER 5
THEMES, SYMBOLS AND CONCEPTS

5.1. Love and sacrifice: These are the two most important themes in the novel. Dickens
depicts Love and sacrifice at two levels. At first, he depicts it in the personal level, i.e. love
between Lucie and Darnay and Cartons sacrifice for Lucie. Dickens then depicts the same
themes in the national level, i.e. the of the revolutionaries towards their nation.

5.2. Resurrection: This biblical theme is used by Dickens in a beautiful manner. Here, it is
present in the sense that though Sydney Carton sacrificed his life for Lucie, he will resurrect
and come back in the form of happiness and peace to Lucies family

5.3. The broken wine cask: When a wine cask broke in the Defarges shop
and wine spilled on the floor, the masses suddenly accumulated for
drinking it. Dickens used it as a symbol to depict the hunger of the masses
for freedom and political power, flowing out from the kings hand, like the
wine spilling out from the cask.

5.4. Doubles: The novel beginning of the novel with the famous
sentences, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . . itself
emphasised the emphasis of doubles in this novel.

5.5. Knitting: Madame defarges continuous knitting indicates the creation of a big network
in terms of material as well as like-minded people in a secret manner to launch a sudden and
massive rebellion.

5.6. The Guillotine: The guillotine aptly describes how the revolution bought radical socio-
political changes against the sacrifice of thousands of innocent lives. The guillotine is a
symbol of the phase of destruction and terror, that the revolution bought with it.

Conclusion
A Tale of Two Cities is a very unique novel which is a fascinating combination of creativity
and imaginative use of history.

The author uses a combination of themes, motifs and concepts to advance his central story.
The novel depicted all the aspect of French Revolution and shows the people are forced to
work against their wishes by the circumstances but ultimately shows the triumph of the power
of the love.

The novel is undoubtedly a masterpiece of Dickens and is the highest manifestation of his
creative ability as well as commitment towards the readers.

References
Books

1. Boden Donald V., A Critical Study of Charles Dickens: Humour, Satire and Pathos of
the Victorian Era, Dominant Publishers And Distributors, New Delhi, 2009.
2. Head Dominic, The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, 2006.
3. Birch Dinah, The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford University Press,
Oxford, 2009.
4. Sabharwal Aditya, A Critical Interpretation of Charles Dickens, Wisdom Press, New
Delhi 2012
5. Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two cities

Articles

1. . Hutter Albert D., Nation and Generation in A Tale of Two Cities Journal of
Modern Language Association, Vol. 93, 1978, P. 448-462.
2. Eric Pooley Charles Dickens, RSA Journal, Vol. 151 , 2004, P. 58.

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